| Author: | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: February, 2019 Location: Florida Posts: 187 | | Review Date: September 26, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $70.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Light weight, Excellent Past f8 | | Cons: | Getting Used to Setting f-stops | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-50
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Ok, first off. I'm not a professional photographer. Been in the hobby since 1978 though. This write up will be a little different.
Bought this on a whim. What a fun lens!
First, the weight. My personal stress test. One hour hike in the middle of the day, in the dead of summer in Florida, on a unshaded sand path with little wind and lot of bugs. No issues at all.
Second, the handling. Incredible balance. Shot hand held with no issues, including panning to catch a hawk in flight on the first day of owning the lens.
Third, buttery focus. A long throw for sure. But it stays where it is put. And that's important with the dual f-stop ring up front. Stop to wipe sweat and there's no movement. Pull it down from your eye to double check f-stop, there's no movement.
Fourth, no flare. Shocking. If you get one, make sure it comes with the hood, and use the hood. It actually helps the balance. If there's no flare at high noon in Florida in the summer, then I'm not too concerned.
Fifth, bokeh. Yeah, really. Even my wife who does not appreciate such things said "wow the background behind that blue heron is really cool". Ok, sold.
Sixth, tripod collar. Make sure you get it. Shot a SpaceX launch with it. Rock solid.
And last image quality. It's not SMC so the colors are more typical Tak. Image are a touch soft at f6.3 on the corners. But nothing nasty. There's can be a bit of CA but nothing that processing that won't clean up.
Lastly, it's one of those lenses that make me smile when it goes on the camera.
Joel
| | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: February, 2010 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 79 | | Review Date: January 1, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $90.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Light and Fantastic Build Quality | | Cons: | f6.3 | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K3
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Not much to offer beyond what was already said but I must say this is a fun lens to use. Super smooth focus and light enough to actually carry around. I've used it on my Spotmatic mostly but is how it works on my K3.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/photo-tele-takumar-300mm-f6-3-lens-test-58418/
This is the same scene with my 16-50mm set to 50mm so you get an idea of how far away the power pole is.
The red box more or less shows what the 300mm covers before I did a 100% crop of the central area for the first photo.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/photo-16-50mm-ref-photo-58419/ | | | | | Senior Member Registered: May, 2011 Location: SE Indiana. Near Cincinnati Posts: 109
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 14, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $56.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | cheap, lightweight, fun | | Cons: | not easy to focus | | Sharpness: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K5IIs
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This is my first lens review. A big part of how I value a lens is the "fun factor." This lens ranks pretty high in that department.
I had read here that the lens was light. Still, I was very surprised at how lightweight it is, especially after the tripod mount is removed. Aside from being light, the lens is fairly slender and, overall, easily the most convenient long telephoto lens I have owned or used. For enjoyment, I frequently sit in one of my favorite lawn chairs and take random shots of birds at a nearby feeder and in the nearby plum trees. With larger lenses that I have used in the past, it is sometimes difficult to twist and turn in the chair to get shots of birds in the row of trees; with this thing, such twisting and turning is no more taxing than doing the same thing with a 50mm lens.
The long focus throw makes pinpoint sharpness difficult because the image appears to be in good focus through a pretty broad range of focus ring movement, but unfortunately, it can be deceptive. I get a good number of soft shots. I get the feeling that it will be a great lens to use for the purpose of improving my manual focus skills. It presents a challenge, and the satisfaction, associated with successfully overcoming a challenge. IOW, it is not a bad lens, just not an easy lens, out of which, to coax sharp photographs. I have succeeded in getting a couple of nice shots and am convinced the lens can perform better than I am consistently able to make it perform right now. It should be fun going forward.
I apologize to those who hope to see lenses evaluated from a more technical perspective. See this as simply an affirmation that this is a fun, unobtrusive, cheap lens. I would recommend it as a good lens for anyone who enjoys the rewards, and challenges, of the manual focus experience.
Edit:
Finally gaining some proficiency with this wonderful lens. I believe the photo below illustrates that, given the right conditions: patience, diligence, lots of sunshine, and a little bit of luck, this lens can produce some great results. I am upgrading sharpness to 9. Given the price of the thing, I am going with an overall of 10. It's fun.
 | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2011 Posts: 8,745 | | Review Date: November 29, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $52.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | nice balance and weight, build quality | | Cons: | fairly slow (hard to focus) | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
Camera Used: K100DS
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I bought mine through eBay, knowing there was no tripod mount with it. It feels very nicely balanced in the hand, and looks impressive witht he long hood on the front. I like the preset configuration, my only present lens, and it does work nicely for bokeh.
I have got the small writing on the side of a plane approaching a training airport and could see the pilot was wearing dark glasses on a very bright day (35C looking towards the sun). Also got some other technically very nice pictures of other things.
The 6.3 aperture did make focusing very challenging - had to use the ground surface, so quite a lot of wastage for that. But when I got focus right it was impressive.
A friend whom I passed it to was impressed by the light weight and good balance with DSLR body on the back.
The feel is good. But overall I rate it lower than my other Takumars. I have most of the shorter lengths. It does round out the collection, and it produces aethetics which match the others although the IQ is not quite as good.
I ahve also used it indoors in a darkened conference hall to get pictures of the keynote speaker. Many tries but a few keepers. It can be held steady even at slow shutter speeds.
| | | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: September, 2006 Location: Horn Island, Torres Straits, Q Posts: 4,715 | | Review Date: April 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $52.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Light compact, long focus throw | | Cons: | slowish | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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Light, handy,Takumar - look forward to further exploration.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: montreal Posts: 136 | | Review Date: February 6, 2011 | Not Recommended
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | Built quality | | Cons: | IQ not as good as other Takumar | |
First the built quality is very good like all Takumar lenses.
I tried mine with a K20D and i found the IQ not good enough compare to other long lenses i've used, not bad but just good. Some CA can be seen.
Minimum focusing distance is too long to be useful for wildlife. Also the tripod collar is not well designed, not smooth and the knob to release the tension is on the wrong side !
Sadly the only Takumar lens i own that i can't recommend  | | | | | Forum Member Registered: February, 2010 Location: New Delhi Posts: 81 | | Review Date: May 14, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Solid Build, Good IQ | | Cons: | Heavy | |
I Have
Asahi Optical Company / Pentax Tele-Takumar 300mm f6.3 lens Made in Japan #3269949
I Was searching for a telephoto prime for better IQ than my FA 100-300 and came across this lens on ebay. It cost me $100 including Shipping from US to India. Sample Shots are below. Use tripod for best results.
Original
Cropped
With tripod
Original
Cropped
IQ is on par with the 100-300 hence I do not use it too much now because of weight. The lens is a good buy for its price, and with a good TC gives decent long shots.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: November, 2008 Location: Illinois Posts: 40
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 29, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very light weight, smooth operating | | Cons: | Slow, use on sunny days only or get lucky with flash | | Value: 9
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I have had this lens since 1966, bought while in Viet Nam, always a sharp picture on a tripod Serial # 1203105. The front ring sets the f stop you want to use, the rear ring opens up the aperture for focusing when ready to shoot close it back down, works great with film or digital camera shooting manually, that is how I learned to take pictures on my first Pentax an SV.
It takes sharp pictures from f6.3 to f16, put a good doubler on it and it really reaches out, I don't notice any aberration or fringing.
The YMCA sign above was shot with this lens on my Pentax K10 at 1/500 f11 ISO 200
[IMG] [/IMG]
The picture of Nancy Sinatra was taken in a hanger at night on the airfield at Qui Nhon late 1966, hand held
Tele-Takumar 300mm F6.3 on a Pentax SV, hand held from about 50 feet away, shot multiple pictures trying to catch someone elses flash that was closer to the statge to get this, took about 10 shots and this one clicked just right for their flash to light the subject, it shows this lens can take good hand held shots.
In answer to johnsherwood statement that he doesn't understand the workings of the two rings, maybe this will help.
Tele-Takumar 300mm F6.3 differs from the ordinary lens in that it has two rings.
Ring (1) is for presetting, while (2) is for normal diaphragm adjustment.
First set the ring (1) at the desired aperture. Open the ring (2) fully for focusing,
and then turn it back so that it is lined up with the preset ring. This can be easily
done because the ring hits a stop, so it is not necessary to watch your hand once
you are sure the preset position is correct.
The click-stop diaphragm derives its name from the feel that as the diaphragm ring
is turned, it clicks into place at each position of the indicated scale. This is also included
in the large, super-telephoto lenses. lt affords more efficient diaphragm ring movement
when resetting after opening the diaphragm for focusing.
Simply put, set f stop ring (1) to the aperture you want to use, then
turn ring (2) to the left to open the diaphragm wide open to focus
and compose, then turn ring(2) all the way to the right to the stop
on ring (1) to shoot the picture at the chosen aperture.
 | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2006 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 18
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 3, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $49.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp, 3d quality | | Cons: | chromatic aberration wide open in contrasty situations | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 2
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 5
Value: 8
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Got this as a Keh "bargain". Image quality is excellent except that, wide open, there is chromatic aberration in the form of red and green fringing if, on a sunny day, one takes a picture of a bright object (for example, a swan). At f11 this is much reduced.
Whether or not due to the 12 aperture blades (I guess it was not hard to have that many on a preset lens) the bokeh is excellent and the images have pop - a
3d quality.
This lens is light enough to be readily hand-holdable. With in-camera image stabilization on my K20d I have taken sharp images at 1/8 of a second. Not consistently of course, but if I take 2 or 3 of the same subject one of them is likely to be quite sharp. And optically the lens is sharp, even wide open, though the limited depth of field inherent in the focal length requires very accurate focusing.
I've been using a lens shade and with it have had no flare problem.
At the price, getting this is a no-brainer if you like M42 lenses. Using the preset is no more difficult than using the stop-down lever on later M42 lenses; I generally keep the camera at AV and have found the exposures accurate (unlike with some of my other M42 lenses). If it were not for the CA wide open and to some extent at f8 I would give this a 9.5
| | | | | Banned Registered: October, 2007 Location: Savannah, U.S./Baguio City, P.H. Posts: 5,979
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 9, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $125.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | very lightweight for its size, tripod collar, excellent build quality typical of a Takumar lens. | | Cons: | 6.3 maximum aperture | |
I own Tele-Takumar 1:6.3/300 #2952893
this is an excellent choice for a hand holdable 300mm lens. it is incredibly lightweight for its size and focal length. it exhibits typical Takumar build quality which of course goes hand in hand with image quality. it suffers slightly more from flare than later lenses due to its age in the Takumar line but it is coated. however the large lens hood (which adds very little noticeable weight) almost makes the flare problem a non-issue. it exhibits very little CA or PF even wide open. it is a tad soft wide open as one would expect, but no worse than any other pentax lens in this regard. stopped down it will deliver remarkable images that are tack sharp and surprisingly contrasty for a non-smc lens. the tripod collar is very useful and can also be easily removed (a good thing when one considers this lens as mentioned can easily be hand held.) it uses a preset aperture located at the front of the lens as opposed to the back. on Spotmatics this is a useful feature to allow open aperture focusing while being able to quickly stop down for metering. this of course means it has no auto/manual switch. the preset diaphragm is also useful on Pentax digital SLR bodies for the very same reason. it has a removable front element that allows you to expose the aperture blades but I do not know what this is for. the only downside to the lens that I can find is the maximum aperture of 6.3. it just seems odd and is of course not very fast, but this is also why it is smaller and lighter than other Tele-Takumars so it is a trade off indeed.
Lens element 5 lenses in 3 groups
Filter diamater 58mm
Minimum aperture f/22
Minimum distance 18ft. (5.5 m)
Angle of view 8°
Weight 25.7 ozs. (729 gr.)
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: September, 2007 Location: Brantford, Ontario, Canada Posts: 77
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 3, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $55.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Typical Takumar Colour/Contast/Sharpness....VERY light, makes it very easy to handhold ( I was amazed ) | | Cons: | 'Preset' front mounted aperture ring takes some getting used to, focus is a very long throw to infinity | |
It seems like its two feet long, but incredibly lightweight.
Easy to handhold, and sharp even at f6.3, though its gorgeous at f16. Produces the typical ( IMHO ) almost 3d Takumar/Super Takumar images.....just beautiful.
Infinetly adjustable diaphragm is interesting ( though I don't fully understand it or the difference of front/rear mounted diaphragm.....showing my lack of experience there no doubt )
I'm on the hunt for more of that great old glass.........god bless Pentax!!
JS
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