Forum Member Registered: July, 2016 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 65
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 26, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $60.00
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | Inexpensive, long reach with decent aperture | | Cons: | Size, stiff handling | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 3
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 6
Value: 8
Camera Used: K3, K1000, K-01
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I got a copy in good condition for a very reasonable price (just under $60 USD). I'm writing this review after doing primarily test shooting - I haven't really taken it out into the field yet.
First thing: this lens is quite large. It isn't especially heavy, but it is quite unwieldy. The tripod mount is highly recommended.
Additionally, the focus ring has a very long throw. This isn't a problem per se, since it enables accurate focus when you're working with the narrow depth of field you get at f4. Unfortunately, my particular copy has a fairly stiff (though not stuck or gritty) focusing ring. As a result, it takes quite a bit of work to get from infinity to the closest focusing range (which still isn't very close).
Image quality appears good at first blush. Chromatic aberration is barely noticeable wide open and disappears quickly as you stop down the aperture. Flare can be pretty bad, but that's not too different from most un-coated lenses. Sharpness is reasonable, but not quite up to modern expectations. More than good enough for film, but you notice a little softness on a densely packed sensor like the K3 has. Bokeh is nice at f4 under most circumstances, but it can look a little busy with backlit scenes (which also emphasizes the existing CA and flare issues).
UPDATE:
I took the lens apart and re-greased the helicoid, so the focus is now smooth and easy. This significantly improves my experience of handling the lens, though it is till just a little too bulky for hand-held shooting. Having shot it in a variety of real world conditions now, I stand by my previous comments about sharpness: good enough for film, and usually good enough for a 16MP sensor like the K-01, but you notice some softness on the K-3 when you do some serious pixel peeping (though it gets pretty good around f7.2 to about f11).
The ridiculous 18-blade aperture on my copy means the bokeh is almost perfectly spherical from wide open to all the way closed, and it means it stays smooth no matter the aperture or distance. It can still be a little busy under some circumstances, but I like it a lot overall.
Finally, I marked it much lower on aberrations. This lens has serious issues with purple fringing in bright sunlight, almost no matter which direction you point the lens. It doesn't have much problem with other types of aberrations, but the PF problems are occasionally bad enough that I can not correct them in post.
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Inactive Account Registered: March, 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 207
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 14, 2012 | Not Recommended
| Rating: 3 |
| Pros: | Well constructed mechanically. | | Cons: | Optically, my copy was rather "soft", somewhat disappointing. | | Sharpness: 2
Aberrations: 3
Bokeh: 3
Handling: 3
Value: 3
Camera Used: Pentax SP-F
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As I'm a sucker for "old" stuff, I succumbed to temptation and bought it thinking it interesting, though purely manual, and similar to another, manual, German-made lens of the same vintage (with almost as many aperture blades).
Unfortunately, my copy was rather soft: even with a tripod. 
My copy of the German one was better, IMO.
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Pentaxian Registered: July, 2010 Location: Clermont-Ferrand, France Posts: 363
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 22, 2011 | Not Recommended | Price: $120.00
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | Nice 18 blades aperture, look | | Cons: | Heavy and long lens | |
Despite having only 3 elements, you can expect some quality : is gave me more than I was waiting. Maybe some CA, but nothing too bad. Flare resistance is acceptable for the standards of late 50's. I used it only at sunset time yet, so I can't say a lot about its color rendition. I would not recommend it in the way that I would not say "buy it instead of X lens" but if you can get it at a good price compared to other manual focus 300/4 lenses, go ahead, it will be worth the money.
Samples : http://kajiwara.weebly.com/takumar-3004-v1-33.html | |
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