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09-07-2016, 04:13 AM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by csbtrod Quote
I acquired a Macro-Takumar 50mm F4 (seen here - S-M-C/Super Macro-Takumar 50mm F4 Reviews - M42 Screwmount Normal Primes - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database) a few days ago and I've been attempting to use it on a K-3. I believe this lens is called a "preset" lens. There is no A/M switch. What is the exact order of steps (composition, focus, green button, etc.) that I need to take in order to get a proper exposure? I've read the Sticky on how to use manual lenses on Pentax digital cameras, but don't see where it addresses the preset lenses. I have it mounted on the camera with an original Pentax M42 to K mount adaptor. I have also set #27 in the Customization Menu to "Enable". Is there anything else I need to adjust (E-dial Programming, Button Customization, etc.)? Thanks, Sandra
Nostalgia. The 50mm f4 preset macro Takumar was my first macro lens, used on my Asahi Pentax S. The deep-set front element looks tiny, but as a magazine that tested the lens when it was introduced remarked (to paraphrase): there's a gem down there. I would post instructions, but others have long since given them in a variety of wordings.

BTW, SFAIK: The lens is a simple, 4-element reversed Tessar design. The Tessar was, as I've noted before, a major, game-changing breakthrough in lens design. A well-made Tessar is still an excellent general-purpose normal focal-length lens. There were "macro-Tessar" lenses made for strictly macro application at relatively high magnification (more than life-size).


Last edited by WPRESTO; 09-07-2016 at 04:24 AM.
09-07-2016, 09:01 AM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by RAART Quote
Here is how to use properly your macro lens with two rings up front I assume...

One of the rings will freely rotate and the other will click when you are stopping down.
The one that freely rotate you should keep it wide open as this one you will use to stop down the lens before you take actual picture. With the other one you pre-set your desired aperture, lets say you like to use F11, then you set this one to F11 and the other is wide open, in your case F4. Then you will focus the lens and when finish you turn the ring that freely rotates until stops. It will stop at F11 as you with the other ring pre-set the lens to F11 and take a picture... That's it.

I do not have this lens but this is how it is working.

Hope this helps.

P.S. This is the same set-up like Bellows-Takumar 100mm F4 lens.
Thank you, RAART! Yes, it has the two rings up front. Thank you for the info. Now to practice, practice, practice.

---------- Post added 09-07-16 at 11:05 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by WPRESTO Quote
Nostalgia. The 50mm f4 preset macro Takumar was my first macro lens, used on my Asahi Pentax S. The deep-set front element looks tiny, but as a magazine that tested the lens when it was introduced remarked (to paraphrase): there's a gem down there. I would post instructions, but others have long since given them in a variety of wordings.

BTW, SFAIK: The lens is a simple, 4-element reversed Tessar design. The Tessar was, as I've noted before, a major, game-changing breakthrough in lens design. A well-made Tessar is still an excellent general-purpose normal focal-length lens. There were "macro-Tessar" lenses made for strictly macro application at relatively high magnification (more than life-size).
Thank you, WPRESTO! Now to find the time between kids and work to get a chance to use it!

---------- Post added 09-07-16 at 11:07 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Not a Number Quote
You could tape the rings together so they turn together - and you'd have click stops that way.

The pre-set version of the 50mm f4 macro is nice because it will do 1× without an extension tube.
Thanks for the suggestion, Not a Number!
09-07-2016, 10:04 AM   #18
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@UncleVanya
QuoteQuote:
Second a one ring lens rhat stops down is just a manual Aperture lens.
@ripper2860
QuoteQuote:
Yeah -- preset would seem to indicate that one can 'preset' the aperture before shooting -- can't really do that with a one-ring
There existed preset lenses with only one aperture ring, but probably not with Asahi.
I remember I once owned such a lens (maybe with my Exakta in the early seventies).

To simulate a second ring you shifted the only aperture ring away from the body and turned it to set the hard stop.
At a second thought, I think my Pentacon 3.5/30 (= Meyer-Görlitz Lydith 3.5/30mm) is such a lens. Presently I cannot check it.
09-07-2016, 10:07 AM   #19
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QuoteOriginally posted by RKKS08 Quote
@UncleVanya@ripper2860There existed preset lenses with only one aperture ring, but probably not with Asahi.
I remember I once owned such a lens (maybe with my Exakta in the early seventies).

To simulate a second ring you shifted the only aperture ring away from the body and turned it to set the hard stop.
At a second thought, I think my Pentacon 3.5/30 (= Meyer-Görlitz Lydith 3.5/30mm) is such a lens. Presently I cannot check it.
Ah! That makes sense - in any case - a manipulation was required after setting the aperture, it didn't just stop down when turned.

09-07-2016, 10:19 AM   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by RKKS08 Quote
@UncleVanya@ripper2860There existed preset lenses with only one aperture ring, but probably not with Asahi.
I remember I once owned such a lens (maybe with my Exakta in the early seventies).

To simulate a second ring you shifted the only aperture ring away from the body and turned it to set the hard stop.
At a second thought, I think my Pentacon 3.5/30 (= Meyer-Görlitz Lydith 3.5/30mm) is such a lens. Presently I cannot check it.
Yes. My early CZ Tessar and CZ Flektogon 1-ring presets have this configuration; however, my really, really, old CZ Biotar does not. It just dials the aperture up or down with no means of presetting the stop point.

There's no denying that using vintage glass has its learning curve given the variations -- Manual aperture, 1-Ring Preset, 2-Ring Preset, Auto with cocking lever, Auto with A/M switch, A lenses and of course the fully manual PK lenses requiring Green Button stop-down metering. In using vintage lenses, I love the connection between the photographer and camera/lens. The level of involvement and interaction means you've got more invested in the shot. It's all fun and the sense of satisfaction when a really nice image is produced is through the roof!!

Have I mentioned how much I love shooting vintage glass? :-D

Last edited by ripper2860; 09-08-2016 at 11:58 AM.
09-08-2016, 08:52 AM   #21
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You are right, it is fun - because now we do it voluntarily.
In its time, it sometimes was a PTA. And things like this lead me to switch from Exakta to Pentax in 1981.

But of course, the benefits were that it kept many away from our hobby, reducing the competition.
Nowadays everything that should sell must be designed in a way any idiot can use it.

Cameras, computers, cars are the best examples.
As a student I had a job for an expedition driving a 10t truck. They gave me their oldest one from the mid-fifties - no power steering, gear box not synchronized at all. I had experience with that from my time with the German army, but anyone fresh from driving school would not even have been able to change gear. Today's trucks you can drive as easy as any small car.

It is probably more democratic this way - but sometimes it is a problem that not only every idot CAN use highly complicated equipment, but every idiot WILL do it.
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