[siamthai]

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From his sig earlier in the thread:Mike Cash's Photoblog Archive - Japan from the Driver's Seat

The last post in that blog is from January 2014.

[Pepe Guitarra]

The last post in that blog is from January 2014.

Mike is an example of a good photographer. Thanks to him I bought a lot of glass, thinking that it was the glass what did it. But it was him. check his photos. He could use the Takumar 105/2.8 Preset like no one.

[siamthai]

Mike is an example of a good photographer. Thanks to him I bought a lot of glass, thinking that it was the glass what did it. But it was him. check his photos. He could use the Takumar 105/2.8 Preset like no one.

Same here. I have bought all my Takumars because of Mike's excellent photos. Do you know why his not posting in Takumar club any more?

[leadguitarest]

All these were taken on the Pentax k7 and S-M-C 17mm Fish-eye tak. except the last pic.
100% crop





This last one was done on my New F2 S-M-C 35mm Its been a great month for takumar lenses. I got the 17mm, 35 f2, and wait for it wait for it! the S-M-C 15mm the one from ebay that just sold last night was me

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Last edited by leadguitarest; 09-08-2014 at 11:54 AM.

[Pepe Guitarra]

Same here. I have bought all my Takumars because of Mike's excellent photos. Do you know why his not posting in Takumar club any more?

No. I hope he is still alive!!
He had a bad surgery on his leg, but he recovered from it about couple of years ago.

[leadguitarest]

So now that I finally have my 15mm takumar. I need to track down one of those non spherical versions. Has anyone ever seen these? do they even exist and if they do, are they any good? are there also the two versions made by zeiss in the distagon? Because the takumar is the same as the zeiss distagon 15mm 3.5 for con tax yashica c/y.. Just wondering.. I spent way to much.. But it was still cheaper then my other options.

This is the one I got. http://www.ebay.com/itm/390925959956?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

---------- Post added 09-08-2014 at 11:03 AM ----------

Ok so before I bought the 17mm fish eye and 15mm takumars I put a bid on this one for $35 just for fun and I totally won! Now I am very very poor.. No more takumars for me for a while. We will see how long thats lasts for.. haha
Asahi Takumar Lens | eBay

For those who don't want to follow the link. its for a Preset 135 f 3.5 takumar with case and original caps.

[siamthai]

No. I hope he is still alive!!
He had a bad surgery on his leg, but he recovered from it about couple of years ago.

He was a truck driver and mostly used the camera when driving around in Japan. Maybe he retired from both the truck driving and the camera. Anyway hope he is ok

leadguitarest: Nice photos with the 17mm.

[leadguitarest]

leadguitarest: Nice photos with the 17mm.

Thanks, Yeah now I have to UV treat this F2 35 S-M-C takumar. I did not know there were any S-M-C's out there that still suffered from yellow elements. Dang radio active lenses. Any Sugestions? I might just sit it under my black light. but does it matter which end to up the light and the tin foil?

[tim60]

All these were taken on the Pentax k7 and S-M-C 17mm Fish-eye tak. except the last pic.






This last one was done on my New F2 S-M-C 35mm Its been a great month for takumar lenses. I got the 17mm, 35 f2, and wait for it wait for it! the S-M-C 15mm the one from ebay that just sold last night was me

Thanks. Theses are interesting. The projection is different than a rectilinear but it looks like it would act as a pleasing very WA on APS-C.

I would guess your 15mm will look very different. That price is within the market price range for the 15mm. That is why it is out of my range. 135/3.5@$35 is a good deal.

I have missed Mike's contributions. His commentary on some of them was very interesting, suggesting he had a serious interest in Japanese culture and awareness of their religion. He certainly could drive the camera well, he had a vision of things that would turn out interesting in the way he sliced them out of the whole scene, and pretty good timing for facial expressions etc.

[siamthai]

Thanks, Yeah now I have to UV treat this F2 35 S-M-C takumar. I did not know there were any S-M-C's out there that still suffered from yellow elements. Dang radio active lenses. Any Sugestions? I might just sit it under my black light. but does it matter which end to up the light and the tin foil?

Just place it in the sun for 1-3 weeks ought to be enough. I did so with my 50mm and had no yellow after that. But are you shure you want to take away the yellow? I think it gives a special feeling to the photos and if I get a lens with this problem again I'll leave the yellow elements as they are.

[leadguitarest]

Just place it in the sun for 1-3 weeks ought to be enough. I did so with my 50mm and had no yellow after that. But are you shure you want to take away the yellow? I think it gives a special feeling to the photos and if I get a lens with this problem again I'll leave the yellow elements as they are.

Yeah I would like to take away the yellow. I am a Film Maker by trade. I like takumars because the color is just unreal and some of them will give most cinema lenses a run for their money. I shoot a lot of stock footage with these lenses... https://www.pond5.com/artist/T_RoFilms you can check them out there.

Also I did get to shoot a small budget shoot for a pilot using all takumars. www.Foreseeable.tv

Its just neat to get to buy lenses that work this well for so cheap. I still wake up laughing.. For example the 15mm I just got which was designed by Zeiss was made into a distagon. Well Zeiss distagon also created the Super speeds used for cinema a set of those cine lenses are going to cost 30k to 80k depending on how many. 5 or 8 lenses. For 30K I can buy every takumar twice.

But with that said, there are draw backs to the takumar lenses. Like Not all of them are great. Some are slow, or not that sharp. But there are a good handful of lenses that are excellent. My favorites so far are: S-M-C 85 1.8, 50mm 1.4 8 element, 55 SMC, S-M-C 35 f2, S-M-C 17mm, S-M-C 135 f2.5 with 7 elements or whatever. and the 28mm s-m-c...

The taks I do not like are: 400mm 5.6, 20mm 4.5.
For the most part a lot are usable but those two just are bad. The 400mm has to much CA and the 20mm is just not sharp I don't know why, but It just isn't for me. I bought a Bran new looking one two and its S-M-C. Just feels like I over Paid for something that isn't that good. I own a bunch more lenses that I did not name. But I don't use them a whole lot. maybe one of these days Ill start shooting color charts and focus charts to see which lens actually out preforms the other.

[Pepe Guitarra]

... But there are a good handful of lenses that are excellent. My favorites so far are: S-M-C 85 1.8, 50mm 1.4 8 element, 55 SMC, S-M-C 35 f2, S-M-C 17mm, S-M-C 135 f2.5 with 7 elements or whatever. and the 28mm s-m-c... .

I could not agree more!! The S-M-C 35/2 is not talked about much, and it is one of the best. SMC Tak 50/1.8 is also very good.

[leadguitarest]

I could not agree more!! The S-M-C 35/2 is not talked about much, and it is one of the best. SMC Tak 50/1.8 is also very good.

Yeah the dmc is good.. The 50 1.4 8 element in my tests are not sharper then the other tak with 7 elements. However it has less breath or zoom when focusing.. Which in photography means nothing.. In video it means a lot. However it still does breath. But the 55 smc is sharper then almost all the other 50mms minus macros.

[PenPusher]

Very long time since I saw any posts from Mike Cash in Takumar club, I really liked his photos. Anyone knows if I can find photos by him anywhere else?

Hi,

I too miss Mike Cash's contributions, he really got the club excited with his photos and his appreciation of the lenses. I seem to remember him saying he was having trouble with his Flickr account, they changed something and it upset his workflow, I know he was a truck driver or in his words,I think, Logistics Facilitator, but I always thought he should have been a full time photographer. He also made some contributions in the Tammy club, maybe they have news of him.

CD

---------- Post added 09-08-2014 at 11:56 PM ----------

So now that I finally have my 15mm takumar. I need to track down one of those non spherical versions. Has anyone ever seen these? do they even exist and if they do, are they any good? are there also the two versions made by zeiss in the distagon? Because the takumar is the same as the zeiss distagon 15mm 3.5 for con tax yashica c/y.. Just wondering.. I spent way to much.. But it was still cheaper then my other options.

This is the one I got. Asahi Pentax 15mm F3 5 SMC Super Multi Coated Takumar Lens M42 Pentax Screw MT | eBay

---------- Post added 09-08-2014 at 11:03 AM ----------

Ok so before I bought the 17mm fish eye and 15mm takumars I put a bid on this one for $35 just for fun and I totally won! Now I am very very poor.. No more takumars for me for a while. We will see how long thats lasts for.. haha
Asahi Takumar Lens | eBay

For those who don't want to follow the link. its for a Preset 135 f 3.5 takumar with case and original caps.

Hi,

Having seen what the 15mm went for the other night it's going to be bread and water for a while.

Those 17mm shots are really excellent, very well done, I shall have to have a serious talk with my K 17 and see what it will really do for me, I need all the help I can get.

CD

[Andrew_Oid]

I just received an auto-Takumar 55mm f2 (10 blade model) that I bought on eBay for $59 (free shipping). The lens was overhauled by a professional repair shop in Japan and is in beautiful condition. I hope to have an opportunity to try it out soon. I asked the seller after I bought the lens if he could supply the caps (46mm) since I noticed it was sold without. He did, and they're original Pentax. That's customer service above and beyond. OK, now that I'm in the door, I've been paying attention to all this talk about extreme wide-angle lenses and looking around. I have to say that I would probably prefer a rectilinear lens to a fish-eye, and the Mir 20 20mm f3.5 lens looks very attractive. Does anyone have any experience with them? I see a few on eBay, even some brand-new ones though I would be skeptical of the quality of post-Soviet lenses.
I, too, miss Mike Cash's participation in the forum and hope he's well.