| Author: | | New Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 3 | | Review Date: March 1, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $35.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Compact Utility ZOOM | | Cons: | N/A | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-3II
Focusing: 5
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I initially noticed the Takumar-F ZOOM 70-210mm 1:4-5.6F while searching for an economical auto-focus in the 200mm range.
In a review of pictures made from the lens, I remember observing consistency that I appreciated with display of subtle vintage quality.
Never impressed enough to search the lens out, I did eventually find local opportunity to pick one up.
I like this lens especially because it's comparative high quality & compact size, & despite various deficiencies.
High quality build is likely aluminum & other metal w/plastics. Aperture & focus ring seem to be plastic and may be vulnerable to brittle aging.
The lens is not easy use - as others indicate, the short throw focus ring is tiny, the auto-focus is accurate, but loud and often will slam into place.
Files (raw) from my K-3II show good sharpness. Color is saturated natural - rich w/odd pastel undertone - I think somewhat different. Bokeh is gradual, nicely smooth, but it can assume odd coloration - (spherochromatism).
Traditional aberrations seem quite low, with minimal green or purple edges. Better than Takumar 200mm f/4.
Contrast seems mostly lower side - a polarizing filter contributes to strengthen color, contrast & may negate spherochromatism. I also need to try a ND filter some time.
| | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: September, 2012 Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado Posts: 89
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 19, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Size, takes a 49mm filter, sharp to very sharp, bright colors and contrast. Mostly metal construction. | | Cons: | Front lens barrel turns when focusing. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: LX, K-3.
Focusing: 9
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Built in the 1980s, for the first AF film cameras, this lens design was not so concerned with front barrel movement as are designs today (it had no dedicated hood, so did not come with a hood as come with some of the DA series with a sliding door port for mounted polarizer functional use). It can use a circular polarizer once in focus, but its front barrel focusing circular movement would be a deterrent to grab shots of this or that non-static subject when mounted with a polarizer. So, I seldom use(d) it with a polarizer, yet get nice contrasty, sharp, and saturated shots, with details. I suspect the city shots published by another reviewer do not have a UV MC filter mounted, because its color fidelity is excellent with one mounted. It renders brighter in overall color imaging too than some DA telezooms (which can be refreshing when comparing outcomes). I found a second one at Adorama in perfect shape and gave it to my wife for her K-5 shooting. She has excellent results.
It does make screw drive AF noise, but less than the 55-300 ED DA lens. Renders are excellent. It is compact enough for travel and backpacking photography. Purchased new, and case kept, it has stayed in perfect condition for almost 30 years. No debris is found on interior element groups to this day. It has a 9 leaf aperture (which tells you it was made to be a quality build, seeking and finding quality images. It has been spot on with all types of flash use. I have a Norman system, and a 52 series German made pentaprism mountable, or otherwise mountable). The next series made later, the F 70-200mm F Takumar and Pentax lack the blade count, coatings, and element count of this first version. They are reported to include more plastic in construction. They are not rated well for image quality. This one is built like a tank.
It was and is sharper than the identically constructed Pentax SMC F version I purchased for a grown son's K-20 use (as the reviews for that lens in this P Forum reader's review section on Pentax F lenses also find). My first one was purchased new when a Colorado sporting goods store was getting out of the camera business, so I got it then in the early 90s at a very good price (list was over $400). I used it awhile with an MX (as a compact long zoom: for my first use of it), then an LX, an MZ-5n, and MZ-6, then the K-5, and now the K-3. So, I now select it from the lenses at hand of 20+ choices depending on how portable I want my kit to be, and whether or not I need "reach" from an even longer lens for wildlife photography -- opposed to street, travel, landscape, commercial subject, or bystander photography. I have used it successfully for portraits and weddings, but know it is not a silent partner (like, for example the 50-135mm DA* or the 17-70mm DA SDMs).
It now can be purchased for $50 or less (or a great deal more) on Ebay, but one must pick and choose a lens from those listed for sale carefully, and ask the right questions on a lens copy condition to find those preserved by good care and protective and temperate storage. So, avoid ones with outside visible wear, or scratches, or internal debris shown in listing images anywhere -- consider such off radar if you need these zoom focal lengths with this lens to be found, even at a reasonable price. This lens can also have a lack of infinity focus "grab", due to having ED element(s), but this can be corrected by loosening and tightening the right screws once it is acclimated in a region with a consistent climate and manually focused to infinity. One can also adjust that factor when focused manually in use. My copies do infinity AF well. But then I am known to even tear down lenses, and buy parted out copies to make final copies of various PK mount lenses. I generally do not hold onto lens copies which do not prove keepers. Three of these are presently in our household, all good. See the other reviews for their recommendations. I think the city scape shots must be posted as reduced in original resolution count, because my city shots are extremely detailed, without color or shadow blocking.
Portrait color and contrast imaging values are very good. I own three portrait lenses, which are all excellent, and, at f8 it comes very close to those. One of my copies is olive green, not black or dark gray, so I wonder if the Japanese military also was in on the original design and manufacturing lot. The reviews show mixed reports on the long end. Set it up for infinity quick capture and be surprised that the long end is sharp, though at 200-210mm, it has limited depth of field, and benefits from SR, as with any such focal length lens (which will be 300+mm equivalent on the 1.5X APS-C crop sensor). I concur with other reviewers seeing multicolored Multi Coating, finding in lens box accompanying booklet listed ED element(s) -- with all at 13 elements -- as are specifications outlined in the original booklet that came with the first copy purchased of this lens.
The administrator of this review changed the specified elements, etc. above these reviews after posting lesser elements. Those once listed were for the lenses made after this F series lens for greater manufacturer profit, coming after this lot of Takumar and Pentax F 70-210 f4-5.6 lenses, and were not good enduring optics..
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: December, 2018 Location: California Posts: 103 | | Review Date: March 4, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $54.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Compact | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-1, K-3
Focusing: 9
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Sadly there isn't too many quality options for 70-200mm or similar lenses that aren't a bank breaker. That being said this lens might be one of the few that get close to a high level of quality without the price tag.
The lens is sharp and easy to focus, only at ~210mm it drops in quality. I am super happy with the autofocus of this lens, especially on the K-1 it is quick and silent!
@210mm F11
@70mm F11
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: September, 2017 Location: Bogota Posts: 120 | | Review Date: October 9, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $16.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Color/contrast (Takumar look), center sharpness, size, weight | | Cons: | Edge sharpness | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-7, K-1
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I love this lens. It's like carrying a whole bag of Takumar primes.
Color and contrast are always superb. Center sharpness is always very good. If you're pixel peeping, the edges are always a little soft, even at small apertures, when compared to a good prime. This is true on APS-C and FF.
Bokeh is creamy like a good prime.
Build quality is very solid. The zoom ring feels nice, maybe a touch stiff. Manual focus isn't ideal - the ring is very small - but the action is good.
Autofocus is pretty good. Fast on a K-7, very fast on a K-1. It can hunt in low light. I haven't really tried subject tracking yet.
The image is very nearly indistinguishable from my Super Takumar 200mm f4 at regular resolutions with identical raw processing. Pixel peeping shows that the prime is sharper to the edges; who cares. The prime has more CA before correction.
I got mine for $15 shipped, but I'd happily pay a lot more.
See the images below - one of them was with the Tak-f 70-210, and one was with the Super Takumar. Can you tell which lens made which shot without looking at the exif data? I rest my case.
  | | | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: December, 2012 Location: IOWA Where the Tall Corn Grows Posts: 3,695 | | Review Date: January 31, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Well built, Fast Focus | | Cons: | could have better contrast outdoors | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
Camera Used: K-3
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What a pleasant surprise. For a $25 lens I am very impressed. Sharp at 70mm. At 210 less sharp but still acceptable. Contrast so so, but hey it's not a DA or Limited lens so did not expect it to be. All in all a great find. Although not as long, I can see this as an acceptable substitute for the DA L 55-300 lens.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: November, 2014 Posts: 56 | | Review Date: January 23, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, fast focusing, sturdy, cheap | | Cons: | slight AF hunting, needs hood to avoid flare | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K10D
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I got this for a bargain price as an impulse buy and had low expectations. But what a pleasant surprise this was and in like new condition too. This lens is quite good, sharp, fast focusing (with some hunting on my K10D, more than I'm used to, guess I need an upgraded body, haha).
Personally I like that it is so sturdy and a little heavy, not a fragile plastic job. It harkens back to manual focus era.
I suspect this has pretty good coatings because colors were wonderful, and flare was not so terrible. Since it is a "Takumar F", I really don't know if they skimped on the coatings, but just to be safe, I did put a collapsible rubber hood on it right away, to avoid any spurious effects from flare. I'm beginning to wonder if these non-SMC lenses are just a Pentax marketing ploy, to offer a lower priced Takumar F item with full coatings (same as Pentax F) and keep budget buyers happy . I'll never know for sure, but this particular lens is a keeper.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2009 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,520
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 5, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $55.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp through most of range, solid build, Pentax rendition | | Cons: | Noisy, odd F-era cosmetics, not quite SMC, slow long | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-3, K-30, K-01, K20D
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Even at its weakest setting - 210mm, f/5.6 - the lens can yield above average results in high contrast situations. Up to about 190mm the lens performs well at wide open. CA is not a factor except in very bright, high contrast situations - and then only toward the edges. Flare is possible, but only when shooting directly toward the sun (or allowing strong light to hit the front element) - typically pretty easy to avoid with this zoom length.
It is entirely possible that some of the Takumar 70-210 lenses had mediocre coatings based on reports, but my example has a full array of tones (spanning yellow to orange, red, blues and purple) similar to what is seen on m- and A-series Pentax lenses. As far as I can tell, this lens is very similar or an exact match to the Pentax F 70-210; certainly not 10-8 optical construction. Focusing is excellent and speedy on the K-30 and K-3 - but noisy.
| | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 4
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 23, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $75.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good overall IQ, good price | | Cons: | AF hunts a little | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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I had a DA 55-200mm that was pleasant to use but didn't produce very good shots for me. I also have a Tamron 70-300m that is fantastic on close-ups but is bulky, slow, and not very good at the long end. Having read reviews on this site and finding a good condition used Tak 70-210mm I bought it. The lens is better than I expected it to be. I kind of like the extra weight for balance, it is still relatively compact, and the results have been very pleasing. I do mostly landscapes and travel shots, so I don't need to invest in an expensive tele-zoom. This one meets my needs perfectly. Here are the first batch of photos I've taken with this lens and a k-01 on a trip to Naples, FL.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobbielecki/tags/takumarf70210mmf456/ | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: San Luis Obispo Posts: 146
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 21, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, nice color, light | | Cons: | Can think of in this class, but quality is issue | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-5
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Great color, I love the color (different from SMC)
Pretty light and easy handling.
Really sharp
Problem is that, the quality is low, it's basically plastic and mine broke after a few uses (2nd handed)
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: January, 2012 Posts: 85
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 15, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $24.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, sturdy | | Cons: | stiff, heavy | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 6
Value: 10
Camera Used: pentax ist, KX
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I don't know where the last reviewer gets a sharpness rating of 6. I have had two of these lenses after the first was stolen and find them sharp with high contrast and a great bargain. I always ended putting my other zooms away after I buy one these, granted I have Sigma and Tokina for the other ones and I don't have a lot of money to spend. They are a little stiff to zoom with, definitely no creep. Macro is not really much of a macro, I end up using a Hoya + filter. Works with good resolution with my tamron 1.4 tele for long shots without much loss.
| | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2010
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 20, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $90.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | fast, sharp, | | Cons: | heavy, noisy autofocus | |
Someone state the differences between this lens and "F-" were the Optical Construction and SMC, however this lens is multi-coated (is it SMC?), and 13 elements in 9 groups (I got a manual from pentaximaging). I think this lens was just the early version of F70-210 with Red. It is a good lens, a sharp imaging can be got ever in the 210 and with aperture 5.6.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: May, 2008 Location: Seattle, WA USA Posts: 55
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 17, 2009 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Overall good IQ, build quality | | Cons: | heavy, slow AF, loud | |
I bought this lens new in 1988 for $449, and for the most part it's the only long zoom i've ever used on both my film & DSLR, so I appreciate the comparison of the above review to the 50-200 kit lens. The sharpness and overall image quality is excellent for this type of zoom, particularly from about 70mm- 150mm and still quite good all the way out to about 190mm. Only at the very end 190mm-210mm does the sharpness does drop off noticably. I've never had a problem with purple fringing as seen with alot of other similar range zooms. I'd highly recommend this lens for image quality. The only drawbacks are, it's a bit heaver than the newer lenses of the same ilk, no macro, can be quite loud and its slow to AF in less than optimal light. Bottom line is you will some very good images from this lens, but you won't get fast or quiet.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: December, 2008 Location: MN, US Posts: 139
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 25, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $64.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Better corner resolution and faster than DA 50-200mm | | Cons: | Center resolution, heavy, front element moves when zooming, | |
I got one like new in box from National Camera Exchange for $64.
The 1st expression is that this lens is a solid build and heavy monster compare to DA 50-200mm.
Except the image center resolution, the IQ of this lens is better than my DA 50-200mm. This is a keeper. I decided to sell my DA 50-200mm after I compared these 2 lenses.
Although most people said that Takumar lens do not have multi coating, but I did find that my copy of this lens has MC. The coatings shows beautiful colors under light. Maybe I get a newer version?
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2007 Posts: 3,381
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 6, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $95.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Solid Build, Quick focus, EX Colour&IQ, Compact | | Cons: | Rotating front element, noisy autofocus | |
Sharper than the DA50-200mm but cosmetically 'unique', like its sibling, the Pentax F 70-210mm. Very good IQ and sharpness, rate it 8.3. Focus is quick on the K20D but can be noisy when trying to lock on. It's sharp in the center all the way to 210mm. I recommend it to anyone looking for a quality zoom (if you don't need f2.8) as it is an excellent bargain compared to current lenses in its focal range. Its compact size and reach is a definite plus for a walk about lens or daytime sports events. Average ebay price is $125.
Optics
Optical Formula 13 elements in 9 groups
Aperture Range f/4 (5.6) ~ f/32 (45)
Number of Aperture Blades 9
Minimum Focusing Distance 1.1 m
Maximum Magnification 0.25 X
Special Features extra-low dispersion element(s)
Mechanics
Filter Diameter 49 mm
Maximum Diameter 71 mm
Length 99 mm
Weight 555 g
Special Features rotating front element
Accessories
Cap plastic clip-on cap, 49 mm
Fitting Hood(s) screw-on hood: RH-RB49
Fitting Case(s) soft case: S80-160
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