Senior Member Registered: January, 2012 Posts: 241 | | Review Date: February 26, 2020 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Color rendering | | Cons: | Zoom creep | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Camera Used: K1
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I got this lens a few years ago when I bought a Spotty for my collection. I shot a roll of film and it is still sitting undeveloped in my desk. I finally got an adapter to try this lens on my K1. I am amazed at the colors! These sample shots are not post processed...only cropped. This lens is now my new favorite, and all my other favorites are my A* lens.
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New Member Registered: July, 2013 Location: Ancona - Marche - Italy Posts: 6 | | Review Date: July 12, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $240.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | IQ, 3D effect, sharpness, vintage colors, bokeh, velvety rendering | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-1
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Amazing lens, the optical quality is comparable to a prime lens and the onstruction of very high quality.
Perfect lens for portraits and close-ups. Has a characteristic rendering that gives the photos a look similar to a painting. A lens absolutely to have, probably the best zoom I've ever used.
Portrait taken whit PENTAX K-1 + SMC Takumar Zoom 45 - 125 / f4 @ f5.6 
Portrait taken whit PENTAX K-1 + SMC Takumar Zoom 45 - 125 / f4 @ f4
The photos was resized to 900px... for more details see my site: www.tonipierdome.com | |
Site Supporter Registered: March, 2016 Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada Posts: 158
1 user found this helpful
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New Member Registered: March, 2014 Posts: 3
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 3, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | SHARP , BUILD , TAKUMAR , FOCAL LENGTH | | Cons: | PURPLE FRINGING , BOKEH , SPEED | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-30
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ITS MY BEST BUY EVER !
this takumar is a hidden gem.
its not talked about as much as the others probably because its a zoom and not fast enough.
don't let that deceive you. THIS LENS IS OPTICALLY EXCELLENT - sharp , controls aberrations , easy to use , superbly built (takumar !! ) , suffers minimal purple fringing when the light hits a white background/lining/border on your subject at a sharp angle. can be removed using PP. i didn't bother doing that and all the uploads are straight from the camera.
HERE ARE A FEW SHOTS I TOOK THIS EVENING.
GENERALLY ISO 200-400 , F4-5.6-8 , 1/200-1/800
NOTICE THE PURPLE FRINGING ABOVE
   
thats my son 
LOBO - a Siberian Husky
Definitely recommend this lens if you can grab one unto 75$.
Also my copy has a 2mm crack/scratch (not sure) on the centre element. So this is a broken lens producing good quality stuff.
Cheers.
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New Member Registered: January, 2010 Location: Auckland Posts: 18
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 21, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $179.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very sharp | | Cons: | Unusual and usefull focal length range | |
I have bough this lens to use on a Sony Alpha 850 (24mpx) using an m42 adapter.
The lens is very sharp from corner to corner at all focal lengths. It is quite sharp at f4 and razor sharp by f8. The colours are good - perhaps slightly warm of neutral. The image contrast on this lens is excellent yielding that 3D effect.
I like the old fashioned zoom collar that allows zooming and focus with one hand quickly. I wish modern zoom lenses would use this technology.
The only negative is a moderate degree of purple fringing in the corners at wide aperture in the very most challenging scenarios. This is the type of CA that is easiliy edited out - I have removed about 80% of it quickly. It is not present in normal contrast shots.
This lens meets the needs of discerning portrait photographers who require a zoom in the portrait range without resorting to kit lenses of huge tele-zooms. At a constant F4 its wide enough to give good defocuused backgrounds but retaining sharp facial details. The bokeh on this lens is very acceptable.
It is a rare range of focal length, a rare lens and rarer still in M42 vs. K mount. It is a stellar performer and I count myself lucky in just having aquired one.
Summary
Build10/10
Handling 10/10
Sharpness 10/10
Bokeh 8/10
Colours 10/10
CA 7/10
Image contrast 10/10
Niche usefullness 10/10 - especially for full frame
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