| Author: | | Junior Member Registered: November, 2012 Location: East Coast, Canada Posts: 26
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 4, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Nice focus throw, Solid Construction | | Cons: | Little unbalanced when camera hanging around neck, some PF wide open | |
I got this lens used on eb@y. Nice lens on a dslr effectively making it a 300/4
This lens is quite sharp wide open but sharpens up nicely when stopped down to 5.6-8
It does however exhibit some purple fringing when shot in high contrast situations wide open. This is usually remedied by stopping down a click or two.
Overall a great medium telephoto and a great bargain on the second hand market.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2011 Location: Delaware Posts: 344
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 13, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $24.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, price, easy to clean | | Cons: | It's a screw mount, weight, long focus throw | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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I got this lens at a thrift shop, including the case and metal lens hood. I can't say enough good things about it. Pretty cool to be able to use a 40 year old lens on a modern camera. Very sharp, good colors, good bokeh. Just a good lens.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2010 Location: California Posts: 2,223
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 22, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Great IQ, sharp, useful, no PF, no sun, no aberrations | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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I have both, the SMC and the Super Takumar versions (I also have the Pentax K 200 f4). I love both of these two lenses for the reasons expressed above by others. I use this lens on a Kx and has replaced my 300mm f2.8 that is too heavy. The bokeh is great. No signs of CA, or PF. That is a great thing. I will post pics soon.
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SMCTakumar200mmf4-RedIbis by Palenquero, on Flickr
SMCTakumar200mmf4-GrapeLeaves1 by Palenquero, on Flickr
SMCTakumar200mmf4-abcdef3-2 by Palenquero, on Flickr
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SMCTakumar200mmf4-Blackbird by Palenquero, on Flickr
SMCTakumar200mmf4-Plumeria by Palenquero, on Flickr
SMCTakumar200mmf4-Eagle by Palenquero, on Flickr
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: Ohio, USA/ India Posts: 478
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 1, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: N/A |
| Pros: | IQ | | Cons: | a bit heavy | |
Do not let the cheap asking price of this lens fool you. This is one of the most overlooked takumar (in my opinion). From my own experience I put off using this tak quite a while. Maybe the lens was too heavy to carry around? Maybe there were other telephoto AF lenses always available and prevented me from trying this out? Whatever the reason, within a year or two of buying this I put his up for sale. In order to upload a sample image in the 'for sale' thread I went out and shot extensively on my K20D and came back with fantastic pictures. Thankfully, I withdrew the lens before someone seriously committed to buying the lens. I doubt that i will let it go.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia Posts: 2,924
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 20, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good quality affordable prime, very solidly build with excellent optical properties | | Cons: | Sort of a no-man’s land focal length with film cameras, colors are a little muted, focus throw is long, minimal focusing distance is quite far (2.5m) | |
Why: High quality, affordable telephoto prime, very Pentax, and the reason I stayed with the brand. 200mm became one of my favourite focal lengths after owning this lens. A little useless on film (IMHO), but a very nice length on digital.
Build Quality: This lens is a tak through and through. Very nice butter focusing but with extra size. Very nicely build and inspires confidence. My lens have oily blades (and is the reason for the cheap price) but it doesn’t affect its use on K-mount bodies
Usability: Obviously 200mm is quite a specific use lens. My favourite use for this lens is surprisingly for landscape. I often use it when I can get a good vantage point and isolate objects far away. I’m sure some people will find use for it in street situations, but imho holding a 200mm and manual focusing at someone bound to get you noticed. Manual focusing with this lens takes some time due to the long throw. I think using the DA 50-300mm would be better in those cases as it has AF and still performs decently at this length.
Focus throw is considerably long, which allows for accurate focusing but can be good or bad depending on your demands. Size is big but not unreasonably so. One caveat though is that since it’s all-metal, it’s a little hard to use in cold weather as it loses heat faster than the Pentax K-5 can lock focus. This doesn’t keep me from using it as it is one of my to-go lenses in winter when it’s hard to shoot anything at shorter lengths.
Optical quality: Sharp lens, definitely much better than the DA50-200mm at 200mm. Resolution is also much better. Color is a little muted compared to the DA zoom, and to be honest even though you increase the saturation, it will not get to the DA colors. The colors that results from increasing saturation is still quite nice though. Stopping down after 5.6 doesn’t seem to give it much benefit as it’s already quite good at its widest. Bokeh is decent; focusing at objects up to 5 meters away will still give you some bokeh, which is a property of the long focal length. I haven’t experienced any CA with this lens. Flare is not a problem with the super deep hood and the fact that at 200mm it’s rare for the sun to be in the frame unless you intentionally wish it to be so.
Conclusion: Don’t have money for DA* 200mm and don’t need AF? Get this lens, you won’t be disappointed.
20090226-9096 train station by endiro, on Flickr
20090728-2039 by endiro, on Flickr
20090728-2021 by endiro, on Flickr
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: September, 2007 Location: Brantford, Ontario, Canada Posts: 77
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 3, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Beautiful Super Takumar Colour/Contrast, stunning bokeh, razor sharp (stopped down ) built solid enough for time travel!! | | Cons: | It is pretty heavy, I'd cut off a finger to make this an 'A' | |
I bought this lens at a 'Cash Converters' ( aka pawn shop ), which is a great place to satisfy my L.B.A. , and mine is MINT, the glass is perfect.....must have come out of someones collection.
It came with both original caps, and the screw mount sun shade.....AND the original Leather case!
Its a beautiful prime for taking pics of 'things'.....tough to keep up with my 6 and 4 year old girls though ( manual focus is very smooth, but I agree with the other review....it is a long throw from infinity to 8' ) .
Super Takumars just seem to 'pop' ( colour, contrast, sharpness, warmth ) The images print almost seem 3-D? I waited a long time for my K100D and my ever growing collection of SMC Super Tak's never let me down.
Highly recommended for the right price ( I got mine for $60 Cnd and the guy threw in a Vivitar m42 135mm f2.8 !! )
I'd pay $100 in a minute again and again and again.
JS
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2021 Posts: 15
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 21, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, color, build quality | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: Sony A7iii
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I wasn't looking for this lens as I've always been satisfied with my Auto Chinon 200mm. But I was looking for a Spotmatic camera, and this Takumar 200mm came with it for a good price, so why not. I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by this lens. The colors are so beautiful, and this lens is very sharp. I made a video comparison between the Auto Chinon 200 f3.5, and this Takumar 200 f4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51XBeVd0InE | | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: February, 2014 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 2,710
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 29, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $75.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Color rendition, smooth controls, build | | Cons: | Long minimum focus, not sharp until f/8 | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: K5iis, K3, K-r
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Great colors and contrast with less than stellar sharpness until f/8. The Super Takumar 200/4 Can make stunning images in good light on the right camera. Use a 10-16 megapixel APS-C DSLR like the K-r, K30 and K-50, and it’s is an “f/8 and be there Lens”. More modern 18-24 megapixel cameras highlight the lenses flaws, especially aberrations.
| | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2017 Posts: 3
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 11, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Quite handy, sharp, nice colors, bokeh | | Cons: | Chromatic aberrations, a bit soft at full aperture, screwable hood | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 5
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 8
Camera Used: Lumix GX-80
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A great lens easy to use. It looks very robust and the colors are very contrasted. The chromatic aberrations are quite annoying on a MFT sensor and made me convert shots to B&W to avoid it and it is a bit soft at full aperture. Instead of that, the bokeh is super cool and the sharpness too.
I'm not very used to tele prime lenses and this one is pretty handy to use even for a novice like me !
Here's a little set of shots I made with it : https://www.flickr.com/photos/145675450@N05/sets/72157687314042645 | | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2017 Posts: 2
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 6, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good contrast, not too heavy for a 200mm prime, great build quality | | Cons: | Nit picky, but I don't like screw on hoods, like to be able to remove them quickly | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: Fuji XT-1
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I use this lens with a Fuji XT-1 which has great options for manual focusing, like colour peaking. I mostly just use the 'focus check' though, a magnified view for checking sharpness.
The focus ring on this lens is a joy, feels much nicer than many modern lenses. It's nicely textured, easy to find when looking through the VF, and smooth as butter.
I have used this lens for shooting birds in the garden, and also for portraits.
For the money it's hard to top, and there's nothing to complain about really.
  | | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2016 Posts: 1
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 10, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $55.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Contrast, Amazing Colour and bokeh, Handling | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Sony NEX-7
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Nice lens, but heavy, result with new digital camera is very good.
| | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2012 Location: Berlin Posts: 9
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 17, 2015 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Canon 5D
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I don't use this lens a lot but I love it. It's pretty huge, but not too bad for a 200mm. Its great to hold, as all Takumars. Its nice and sharp from ƒ4, has great colours. Flares a lot into the sun but also in a lovely warm way. The pictures that come out of it are just great. And the price these go for is crazy cheap. An excellent lens.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: August, 2012 Location: Queensland Posts: 4,299
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 17, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $15.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Beautifully made and a pleasure to hold | | Cons: | Nothing in context, except the close range is a bit limiting. | | Sharpness: 9
Handling: 6
Value: 8
Camera Used: Pentax K5
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After putting this lens on my K5, I compared the results of a distant view out to an airport on the coast about 8 miles away. The other lenses were an M200 f4 and Pentax 'A' zoom 70-210 f4.
All the pictures over that distance have a scattered light haze, which is removed in one step in PhotoShopExpress. All the lenses performed very well, and the M42 gave nothing to the others. True it is heavier than the M200, but it feels so good to have that solid non plastic hunk in your hands, that it makes up for a little inconvenience.
Here is a link to the Tac 200 http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeomaster32/7806382484/
The A 70-210 F4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeomaster32/7348018952/
The M 200 F4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeomaster32/6935946724/
Arnold
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2009 Location: Ontario Posts: 550
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 14, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Sharp | | Cons: | Heavy | | Sharpness: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 7
Value: 7
Camera Used: Pentax Km
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I have a Super Takumar 200mm F4 in which I purchased along with a Super Takumar 35mm F3.5 for $100.
I found this lens fairly heavy but solid in construction. It will most likely replace my Sigma APO 70-300mm for most trips as I find that at 200mm this lens is sharper than the Sigma at the equivalent focal length.
This is a solid performer and produces sharp and colourful images. I would definite recommend this for anyone looking for a longer length lens and want to keep the cost lower. Directly comparing the Sigma and this lens at 200mm this prime handles sharpness a lot better. The Sigma is a little bit slower also at F4.5 at 200mm compared to F4 for this lens.
Samples
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| | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2011 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 31
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 15, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $51.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp, easy to focus, good colors, wel-constructed | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K7
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I have the Super-Takumar version from eBay.
It is heavy, so requires a good tripod, and might not be convenient for street photography.
This lens feels very good, which is subjective, of course.
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