| Author: | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 17,888
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 9, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $70.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | fast (for focal length) and easy to focus | | Cons: | | |
purchased this lens to fill out my MF collection as fast K mount primes are getting hard to find.
The lens is easy to use, and the 120 degree focusing collar rotation from minimum to infinity is a good trade off between precision and ease / speed of focusing.
the lens is very well constructed, and focusing is very smooth and consistant over the entire range. Aperature detents are firm and consistent. detents are every 1/2 stop except between F2 to2.8, and F11 to F16 (no intermediate detents)
metering on DSLRs
On the *istD the lens under exposes by about .75 stops wide open with the exposure improving so that when stopped down to F16 it is about .25 stops under exposed. Setting EV compensation to +.7 is a good way to use this lens.
on the K10D the lens under exposes by 1 stop at F2, 1.5 stops at F2.8 rising to over expose by 1 stop at F9.5 and then falling back to about .75 stops at minimum apature
 | | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: France Posts: 128 | | Review Date: August 17, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $45.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Fast, sharp, nice bokeh | | Cons: | Prone to flare when used without hood | |
I have the SMC version of this lens. Useless to say, it is built like a tank exactly as the other Takumars i use. I like to use it wide open because of its bokeh, although it is a bit soft at f/2.Nevertheless, when stopped down to f/2.8, it becomes incredibly sharp. The only issue i have with it, is the flare that shows up if you have a strong light source near the FOV, an hood is strongly needed/recommended. After spending almost a year with my Flektogon 35 f/2.4, this lens is now becoming my preferred 35mm.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2007 Location: Michigan/USA Posts: 173 | | Review Date: March 8, 2008 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Size, ease of focusing, colors. | | Cons: | Somewhat soft at f2. | |
Just a bit soft wide open, but seems to produce very beautiful colors. Also very fun and easy to focus, it feels wonderful. I have the SMC version. Looking through the viewfinder it seems yellowed, but doesn't seem to reproduce into the image.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2006 Location: West Chester, PA Posts: 1,420 | | Review Date: November 30, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $60.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Build quality, nice rendering | | Cons: | Flare (on the Super-Takumars), not the sharpest 35mm | |
I have three of these - an old and new Super-Takumar and a Super-Multi-Coated Takumar. The S-M-C version is better against flare, especially against the old model Super-Takumar with its 67mm front element. Yes, the old model is big and heavy. The late Super-Tak and the S-M-C Tak are quite compact, and all three are build solidly with typical Asahi Takumar aplomb.
None of them are particularly sharp at f/2, but by f/4 they sharpen up nicely. I haven't noticed tremendous CA from any of them. I would rate the bokeh as neutral, not as good as some I've seen from the Zeiss Flektogon, but not too bad either.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2006 Posts: 5,697 | | Review Date: November 7, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp, fast, nice bokeh | | Cons: | none that I've seen for myself | |
I haven't had this lens all that long yet, however it's become my favorite.
It's relatively sharp right from f2, beautiful colors, and plenty of contrast.
The reason why I'm only rating it as an 8 is because of a little research that I did after my purchase.
Apparently the glass on most of these lenses has turned yellow.
Which in turn gives the photographs a yellow tint.
I got lucky, and my glass is as clear as can be, but it's something to watch out for.
If you find a yellow version I would advise for you to still look at it.
See if the store will let you test it, and try to manually configure the white balance. See if that cures any problems.
And if it doesn't help it's still an ideal lens for some B&W conversions.
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