[heliphoto]

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PentaxForums.com Marketplace Listing

Item for Sale
Early Takumar 300mm f/4 Excellent Cond. Case, Caps

Asking Price
$175 US.

Item Description
I got this in an ebay auction about a month and a half ago, and I've decided that for now, I'm not a lens "collector". I may be keeping the other Taks and the spotmatic or maybe not, we'll see, but if I do some more shooting on film, it won't be tele-reach I'm after (I know what crop factor's good for )...

Edit to the next sentence: I now think this is Model I and I've changed the screenshot to show that info. Why the change? Min aperture of this lens is f/22 rather than the f/32 which Model II had...
Referring to this archived m-fortytwo.info site, I'd say this is the "Model II" version of the original Tak. 300mm manual aperture lens. Here's a screenshot of that page...

This lens in Excellent condition, and would be "Like New" but for a very small amount of wear on the textured coating on the tripod mount (pictured here).

The lens exterior is mark free aside from the rub mark already mentioned, an extraordinarily small amount of brassing on the knurled ring at the rear of the lens, and a bit of minor scuffing of the chrome of the tripod mount clamp. The glass is flawless and even the amount of dust inside this lens is minuscule - really tiny - a few flecks... amazing. There are no signs of fungus, element separation, haze or any other abnormality. The aperture blades are clean and dry, and this lens has no auto-aperture function so "snappy" doesn't apply in this case... Yep it's a manual aperture lens, stays where you put it till you change it again (which is how I always use Taks on digital). 18 blades behind the front element - a thing of beauty...

The lens comes with the original front and rear caps and the original stiff leather case. The rear cap is unmarked, while the front cap does have some minor scratches and marks - probably because the felt is worn out and the cap falls easily off the lens - If you plan on using the lens a lot, you'll need to put new felt inside the cap so it will stay on (the slip on cap of my S-M-C Tak 50/1.4 used to do this too - I think it's why they invented clip on caps)... the cap's not ugly at all, but it shows more use than the lens itself. The case is in good shape, but the leather is dinged in a few spots - not bad considering they stopped making this lens in 1965 - pictures of the worst of the dings are here.

Other than cosmetic, I'll list two minor quibbles with the lens... The focus is a bit stiff - not unusable by any means, but more resistance than I find comfortable (esp. for a focusing barrel which rotates almost 360° from close focus to infinity). I would say the 45 year old grease on the helicoid probably needs cleaned out and new grease applied. Also the tripod mount clamp still allows rotation of the lens within the clamp when tightened down - this is minor, and the tripod mount is still usable and holds the lens securely, it's just that when you want to change orientation of the shot, you can just grab the camera body and rotate the lens without first loosening the clamp - it's snug, but not tight like it's probably supposed to be.

Performance wise, I find the lens a bit soft at f/4, pretty sharp by f/5.6, and quite sharp at f/8. Many sample shots in the gallery demonstrate this increase in sharpness, and for uncropped web posting, f/4 is usably sharp - for large prints or displaying tight crops you'd probably want to stop down some. Not surprisingly, CA is present wide open in high contrast scenes and diminishes as the lens is stopped down.

Many shots of the lens are available in this gallery up to full size so you can really check out the condition.

Many samples are available in this gallery up to full resolution (many at 10MP) so you can pixel peep .

Here's a sampling from those galleries...

f/4


f/4

f/4

sharpness improves stopped down (100% center crops from 2nd. sample above)...


If anyone's interested in seeing other views of this lens, let me know - I can take 'em... You may note in some of the older pictures of the lens there are the remains of a "property sticker" on the lens barrel - I was able to remove all traces of this sticker so you'd never know it was there.

Feel free to make offers... I've priced the lens based on it's rarity and excellent condition, and the market may or may not bear that, so lowball away (just don't expect to get the lens for a lowball price - I'll just keep it ). I'll consider offers after the lens has been up a while...

Are you the original owner of the item being sold?
No

Are you selling or trading this item?
Selling

Item Condition
Used
Excellent

Item Location
Central California

Shipping Charge
Actual Cost

Shipping Services
as required

Shipping Destinations
Worldwide

Accepted Payment Types
PayPal

Additional Details
Shipping to Paypal confirmed addresses or Forum members with good feedback only.

This thing is fairly heavy, and expect shipping out of the US to be over $20 (maybe over $30 - I haven't calculated it yet).

Please send me a private message if interested in the item!

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Last edited by heliphoto; 03-03-2009 at 11:49 PM. Reason: added link, updated info...

[heliphoto]

For reference, a similar model in significantly worse condition with no case just went for $125 on ebay.

Based on looking at that model, I realized that the lens I'm selling is probably Model I of the original Tak 300/4, as the min aperture of this lens is f/22... I've updated the original post with that change in presumed model #.

[Jewelltrail]

Looks like great lens + great case + great caps + great price==Great Deal. Surprised this is still hanging around.

[heliphoto]

Thanks for the bump Jewelltrail . I'm not too surprised... I think if I'd done the typical ebay, "This is the sharpest thing since the knife...works perfectly..." line it might go a little quicker, but if you're honest about a lens (not the sharpest wide open, focus is somewhat stiff) people think twice. That's fine - eventually it'll sell to someone who know's what they're getting and what they want. Someone from the Takumar club will buy it eventually .

[andyc]

That was me that bought the ebay 300mm f4. True that it does not have case. UPS delivered it today so I haven't had much chance to play with it yet. If this lens is in significantly worse condition than the one you are selling, someone should really jump on that one soon. Mine is not perfect, but for $125 shipped, I did not expect brand new perfection. Since this is my first Tak, my question is how tight should you screw the lens on to a K10D?

[vizjerei]

I will buy this if i don't have the 400mm, people should not afraid of using a full manual lens. The fact it is quite easy to use with Av (just turn the aparture ring and it meters)or M mode (with green button). Takumar are great lens.

[heliphoto]

That was me that bought the ebay 300mm f4. True that it does not have case. UPS delivered it today so I haven't had much chance to play with it yet. If this lens is in significantly worse condition than the one you are selling, someone should really jump on that one soon. Mine is not perfect, but for $125 shipped, I did not expect brand new perfection. Since this is my first Tak, my question is how tight should you screw the lens on to a K10D?

Congrats on your first Takumar (that's a hell of a first Tak. ). If I remember correctly, the instructions for the m42 adapter suggest you screw the adapter onto the lens first and then mount the lens as if it were a bayonet lens - I do this the first time I mount the lens using the k-mount adapter, but if I'm changing screwmounts, I just unscrew one, and screw in the other - as for tightness, I'd recommend snug but you don't need to crank 'em by any means - it takes several revolutions of a lens before it could fall off, and if you didn't notice that your lens had come loose and worked through several revolutions, you deserve to drop it (in the case of this beast, it would be your camera rotating as you'll be holding the lens more than the camera. Just screw it on till it stops turning, and snug it there, no need to apply a lot of force.

[andyc]

Good deal. Thank you. This lens does have a bit of mass doesn't it? It's going to be a good weekend

[heliphoto]

Reduced to $175...

[germar]

PM sent.

Regards,

germar

[heliphoto]

Lens is sold - for the historical record, the final price was $155 + shipping...