Here are links to each section: 00:00 Introduction 02:21 A look at the lenses 10:00 The earliest lenses 12:29 Number of aperture blades 13:35 Coatings, contrasts and colours 16:03 Radioactive glass 18:07 Minimum focusing distance 18:40 Sharpness 22:03 Bokeh 25:13 Conclusions
Back in the day when I worked at a camera store in Toronto. I recommended these Pentax Camera's and lenses to everyone just getting into photography. For the money they are still hard to beat. Great cameras and lenses.
I'm new to vintage lenses and I've gotta say... you do such a thorough and in-depth look at all of these, it's like watching a documentary. Thank you kind sir -- this must have been a real pain to edit!
@@Simonsutak No thanks necessary, your hard work has definitely shown here! As a (super small time) creator I know what you mean by pain, so once again thank you for your efforts!
In 1990, I went to a camera shop in Norway. I had Canon EOS1000 in my mind. The shopkeeper recommended Pentax P30n. About 55s, I had already a dozen of 50ish lenses. Last summer in a user reviews about 55 1.8, a user said, if you don't have this lens, you are not a true Pentaxian. I was disappointed, with five Pentax bodies, and some 20 lenses, I am not a Pentaxian yet. So, I ran to Ebay, and found a Super Takumar 55 1.8 in good shape and reasonable price. It came from Japan, and it was clear that the lens had gone through CLA. Everything was perfect with the lens. I put it on my K1 MKII to test it, but it stayed there for several weeks. I like it more than my ST 50&1.4. It is a radio active lens and takes excellent pictures.
Simon thank you for your excellent series on vintage glass. You’re one of the few UA-camrs out there whom I find myself revisiting. Some of your videos I watched several times and I have never found fault with your recommendations or your evaluations. UA-cam should give you a badge of honor!
This collection of videos, in my opinion is a huge contribution to the heritage of photography. I am very glad to have access to a source of knowledge that is so well structured and that appears so reliable. I like the language a lot and I feel thankful towards the work and dedication that is beeing made to inform people about this beautiful part of photography.
Thank you! Ive watched this video several times now and this week i purchased my first vintage lens, a 55mm auto takumar f1.8 zebra lens and it arrived today. Its such a beautiful lens and i got one in mint condition, now to get an adapter and get shooting, i cant wait!
Last week I finally snagged the 8-element Super Takumar 50mm 1.4-I am so impressed! Thank you for introducing me to this whole new world of vintage lenses!
Simon, I do love the careful methodology of your analyses. You begin with your own hypotheses, and observations which support them, and then run through tests of the hypotheses. Very scientific, but also interestingly done.
I started my Pentax journey with a Pentax MX and that was brilliant. I was just about to go off to university. The MX is still a very zen machine that is tiny but mighty. About five years later my friend who ran a photographic shop introduced me to the Spotmatic. What was great about that was that I could buy M42 lenses for next to nothing. The Takumars were available with cases and hoods for £15 to £25 and I was blown away by the images I was producing. The 55mm F1.8, the 35mm F2, the 28mm f3.5, the 24mm f3.5, the 85mm f1.8, the 135 f3.5 all absolutely superb. I had a few spotmatics and then I got an SV! I made so many great images especially on Ilford, Kodak and latterly Fuji black and white negative films. The lenses were absolutely stellar. Brilliant sharpness, tonal discrimination and edge acuity. I found a 200f4 and it too was a showstopper. I used a lot of that glass with an SV and a digital incident/spot meter by Sekonic and produced prints for publications and my exhibitions. I still use Takumars and various K-mount SMC Pentax lenses they make great digital images with 3D plasticity and superb rendering. I do consider the SMC Takumar 55mm and the Super Takumars to be completely valid on digital images. I have a 55mm SMC Pentax-K f1.8 and it has that Pixie-dust image rendering that makes images with 3D pop. I have a few 55mm m42 Takumars and they are tremendous lenses. There is so much to admire in what they do. Thanks for doing this review Simon, I still get excited by what Pentax glass can do. Opening an image in Lightroom reveals just how powerful the lenses are.
My Takumar 55 f2 is also one of my favorite lenses. It's so smooth and the quality is so good! I compared it to quite a few other lenses on my channel, but the Takumar is always the winner.
Thanks for the video! It just happened, that yesterday I accidentally bought the radioactive Takumar and after awesome experience of using it today, this video popped up. Yes, I can confirm, that this is one of the best ~50mm lens from my 15+ collection that I ever used.
Since my retirement 10 years ago I rediscovered my super takumar 1.8. I use it always in combination with a also 50 years old bellow for macro photography. The results are excellent ! Thank you for the very clear review of all these lenses.
Simon, I love these videos - it's exactly the type of nerdy-ness I enjoy in a gear review. I also appreciate all the example shots, as I think real-world results are much more impressive than the shots of still-life in the house.
Currently laid up sick in bed, which was a plus as i came across your videos. Very informative and i learnt a few things i didn't know. Can't wait to get out there with a few Tak's in my kit.
Did a walkaround today with one of my all time favorite lenses on my Fujifilm X-T2, that being the 55mm Zebra Takumar, coincidentally coming across this video again upon my return. Love The Taks, especially the 55s, of which I have a copy of every m42 version, including the 58mm & earliest m37 mounts.
His particular accent and tone sound almost identical to David Cornwell, the real name of the great writer John LeCarré. It’s beautifully cultured in that special British way. I’d be interested to know a bit about Simon’s background, although it really has nothing to do with wonderful lens videos!
@@Simonsutak I bought a Pentax h1 with a 55mm f2.2 auto in unknown condition on eBay last night . Hoping the lens is as good condition as it looks in the picture. It was about $30 seemed very good price . Thank you again love the videos
Agree Simon, from 1965-78, Asahi Pentax 55/1.8 super tak was my king. I also used the Steinheil 135/2.8 auto quinoa. Shooting thousands of negatives in B& W, plus-x, in Rodibal or microdol developers. All printing on leitz format 1c enlarger. The body of work is incredible. These days, I shoot Topcon black re super or super Dm, 58/1.8 Topcor another amazing lens. Regards, Don
Bought my lovely old Pentax ME Super in 1981 for a photography degree course. It came with a 50mm f1.7 SMC lens. Got my degree with it and sold my degree show B&W pics to a magazine afterwards. It's a very sharp and small lens which I use on my Canon DSLR and Sony A7 bodies. You can still get ME Supers with these lenses on and adapters for PK to Canon or Sony etc. Another excellent Pentax lens is the 50mm f4 'macro' which is 1:2 so half life size at the macro end. Amazingly sharp and versatile lens.
another excellent and informative video Simon, i have the 55mm ƒ1.8 super takumar, my very first vintage lens i got about a year ago, i had only gotten back into photography in the last two years the takumar 55mm is such a nice lens for all the reasons mentioned, maybe only over shadowed by the smoothness of your voice, with an addition of an extension tube its close up images are incredibly sharp, the camera i use is the M50 so there is the 1.6 crop of the field of view Thank you for the time and effort or should i say the time and pleasure of making these in depth videos on the various models of the similar lenses.
I also wanted to thank you, Simon, for putting these very thorough videos together. I like that you are objective when talking about each lens in each video, and that you merely highlight the pros and cons of each lens. I have the Super Takumar 55 1.8 and really love this lens as it goes with my 24 3.5, 35 2.0, 85 1.9 and 135 2.5 (6 element) lenses. I now have a complete set of Takumars that I will cherish for the rest of my life! The other thing I wanted to mention is that your comparison images for lenses are amazing! Every time I watch one of your videos and see some of your images I keep thinking of new perspectives to shoot from! Thank you for all of this! Cheers from British Columbia, Canada!
Congratulations. Very, very comprehensive. Excellent mix of facts and feelings. 100% agree on all points raised. Recommendation? "Buy 'em all! They ain't made no more!" Use 'em all, and enjoy 'em all.
Thank you for this thoughtful, well-made and interesting review. I very much enjoy your videos, despite, or perhaps due to, their encouragement of my lens buying addiction!
i bought my 28mm f3.5 50 years ago brand new. went through 3 succeeding versions of pentax bodies before changing to medium format. so the 28, along with the 50, sat on a shelf for all these years. bought an adapter 6 months ago and now fallen in love with the 28 once again , this time on my panasonic S5 full frame body. nice seeing your images taken in china. thank you. zen billings in canada.
I enjoy the education on the old lens. Just pick up the SMC Takumar 1.4 50 Macro. for my digital camera. Also, picked up a Fotasy Helicod M42 to FE mount to attach to my camera. Now I just need some good weather to test it out. I always enjoy your videos.
I had no idea the lens I used in the '70s was radioactive! I am an old, long-time Pentax user and started with the Pentax Spotmatic F and the 55mm f1.8 was my first lens. This is a great review. Thank you!
I’ve watched every video of your m42 videos and probably watched every Takumar video at least twice! Love your Flickr photos! I’m now a certified fanatic of Takumar lenses.
A most excellent presentation in every way. As an owner of a number of Takuma/ Pentax lenses I appreciate the care with which this video was prepared. So I am subscribed.
Thank you for these videos. I really enjoy your in-depth look into the lenses coupled with a wealth of experience. I'm in my 40's and have only discovered the joys of photography this year and I have the excellent Pentax cameras to thank for learning the basics of manual photography. This year will be my first foray into film photogrtaphy and these manual primes are of more interest to me now than ever before.
5 years ago I purchased a near mint Spotmatic SP that came with one of these Super-Multi-Coated lenses for around 55 USD. Sadly since buying it I've only shot 4 rolls of film and still haven't gotten around to having any of it developed but watching this was very informative and I appreciate all the details. Hopefully soon I can get those rolls of film developed to see what came out of it. Thanks again
My first quality camera was a Pentax Spotmatic II with the Super Multi Coating f 1.8 lens. I payed a little extra for a black body, I still have it and use it too along with a used version of the Spotmatic . I recently bought a later version of the lens with the rubber focus ring for attachment to a used Sony a7 I recently acquired. Back in the 70s the Pentax was up there with the best. This is by far the best Takumar review I have seen, thank you.
I really appreciate your hard work and enthusiasm. You need to write a book and document all of this along with some pictures. I will be the first one to buy it. Happy to work on editing it with you in duringy free time:)
I'll take a Takumar over just about any bulky modern standard prime. They just feel absolutely beautiful, all the Takumar lenses I have still have perfectly smooth focussing without the need for regreasing. And the 55/1.8 in particular is super cheap.
Thanks for this! Your videos always make me want to walk around and find good light to work with. For me, I have the SMC 55 f2. Love it. It's small, but has the smoothest focus of any vintage lens I have. I also have the SMC 50 f1.4 - I like it too, but it's really only sharp around the very center. Not practical in many applications. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for a detailed review. It was really interesting to see all of them compared. I made a review on 55 f2 Auto-Takumar, and I was pleasantly suprised that an f2 lens can give such a nice and creamy bokeh, but be sharp at the same time :)
Another excellent and informative video, delivered with such authority on the subject. So fascinating to learn the background history to the famous 55mm Takumar lenses. Like you, my first 35mm camera had a 55mm f1.8 lens. However, in this case it was the Pentax K-mount together with the KM camera. Just last year purchased an Auto-Takumar 55mm f2 and this is a surprisingly wonderful lens. Other similar lenses that I've purchased from this era have required a service, however not required for the Takumar and the smooth focus is a joy to behold. Good to know that only one lens model included Thorium. Always look forward to your next instalment.
Information truly worth sharing. Thank you! I have been sorting through my Takumar lenses collected over the years and stuffed away. Now I am hauling them out. 2 are Super-Takumar 55/1.8 (sr: 3473295) and SMC Takumar (sn: 5604261). I think it's also time to start listing serial numbers of the Takumars we own should someone someday wish to start a database of such. While I own a couple of older Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic cameras (both in mint condition) I am not much of a film guy anymore. But I do shoot my Takumar lenses on my Sony A6600. Good stuff!
I got my Pentax Spotmatic for my 14th birthday with a 55mm f1.8 lens, to which I added 2 more Super Takumars, 28 and 135mm f3.5’s. Loved all of them, although I wish I had been able to afford the 200mm f4.0!
The 200mm f4 on the Spotmatic was really fun! I inherited my 200mm, otherwise it would have been too expensive for me (and my Mum) too. Not so long ago, these Takumar 200mm's were selling on-line for a pittance.
Thank you for your generosity in sharing so much information. With someone who uses an H3, I'm very happy to know more about my camera and lens. Thanks
Thank you for the review! I used to shoot fashion with SPII and ESII with Super--Multi-Coated and SMC Takumars. Both lenses are just fantastic! To be honest, If I looked at the images now I would't tell the difference. As to the radioactivity, please don't try to scare us: it is so insignificant, that doesn't fog the fastest film even if you leave it in the camera for weeks! I had another radioactive lens - a huge 7"/F2.5 Kodak Aero Ektar with almost brown glass. I shot jewellery and watches for Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines. The lens was taken from a WWII American bomber plane. It was the most beautifully drawing dreamy lens I have ever had. May be you are right: because of radioactivity?
Like always, great informative videos without the narcissistic self exposure that many other dudes present on their videos. Nothing wrong with that but I prefer straight on topic presentations. Been a subscriber for quite a while and definitely enjoy learning. On an other note, I luckily found a Super Takumar 55mm 1,8 on a flee market last sunday. The aperture is almost stuck and only turns w. brute force. The focus ring is hard to turn as well but I know some guy who can fix it. I'm very impressed by the image quality of this lens when paired w. my Fujifilm X-E4. Thanks bunches Simon. Keep up the great work.
One thing to keep in mind is that (as you say) a lot of the high end Takumar lenses from that era had radioactive back elements. Not necessarily a problem, but something good to know when working with these old lenses. I own a couple of these lenses and the Geiger Counter goes crazy close to them. So you can use these lenses, but I wouldn't put them under my pillow for sleeping 😄
I owe my photography to the Takumar 55mm. The Spotmatic II with a 55mm Takumar is exactly what my 14yrs older brother had and it fascinated me so much as a boy that I wanted to get into photography and lead to me receiving my first SLR for my 18th birthday from my parents.
Excellent video as always. I adore the painterly flower pictures the 55mm f2 have given me. The colors especially the reds and yellows are jaw dropping. The background become very smooth. The thought of all these qualities has me longing for the coming spring bloom. I also have a 50 f1.4 which for me has produced a less desirable busy bokeh. Cheers.
I have the early Auto Takumar 55mm f2. There is an area where this lens excels. If your subject is reasonably close but not macro. Lets say you are taking pictures of a car for example. You get incredible 3D pop where details are sharp and fantastically smooth but also beautiful fall off to lovely background bokeh. No modern lens competes in this scenario. Some post adjustments are needed due but less contrast but it's one of my favourite lenses.
@@Simonsutak The beauty of this lens is that it's actually quite sharp wide open but also with lovely bokeh. In fact stopped down it's very sharp but that sharp near subject falling off to the beautiful bokeh is the winning combination. Often with this vintage bokeh look with old lenses the central close subject matter is not that sharp wide open. Hence this Takumar can create really great 3D pop.
@@Simonsutak I notice that you have some example photos of the Auto Yashinon 5cm f2 on your Flickr. Car shots along the lines of what I was talking about with the Takumar. I have the Yashinon. I had trouble adapting it due to the pin. I have an adapter for it now but never really used it as much. The bokeh on the Yashinon is clearly very good but I don't think It's as punchy as the Takumar. I'll have to try that one again.
What a fine, thorough and informative study and presentation, and my own experience with a super Takumar f2 and a super multi coated Takumar f1.8 corresponds exactly with all of your findings and comments. I also thoroughly agree what a big difference that extra 5mm focal length makes to a standard 50, it seems much more natural and less distorted at closer distances. In fact, it was these 55mm Takumar that led me to my favourite vintage lens, the Minolta PF 58mm f1.4 2nd generation with Takumar-like hills & valleys focusing ring, and usefully just slightly larger and therefore more comfortable in my hands than the Takumar which can feel a little fiddly especially when my hands get cold. But I love using them all and am always left with the sense of wonder at the qualities of engineering and optical character of these optical gems… just BEAUTIFUL! Well done :)
Thank you! After our correspondence, I purchased a Minolta adapter and separately a MC Rokkor PF 55mm f1.7 for £19 (it cost less than the adapter). I am enjoying the lens immensely. Great value for money. And since I have the adapter, and the 55mm was so cheap, I decided to buy a PF 2nd generation 58mm f1.4 as well. It should arrive early next week, if it's no good I'll try to send you the bill :-)
@@Simonsutak haha... I'm so pleased that you're giving the Minoltas another look, and for my own part I've ordered a Tomioka Auto Revuenon 55mm f/1.4 M42 mount, and although not an f1.2 like yours, the version I'm trying is reputed to use the thoriated glass and I think that yo have a point in believing they just have 'something' to offer... other than radiation ha! Wot fun!!
The 55 is one of my favorite lenses for digital use. I got the 1960 auto takumar 1.8 for one dollar after pulling it out of a box of random rubbish at a camera store in California. Clean glass and fully functional.
Hey!- just a quick comment on how much i will enjoy watching this video later; my fondest beginner photographer involved the sublime 70-200mm F/4 zoom Takumar- Soft blur Bokeh with fantastical colour renditions. Worst thing i ever did was sell my 35 stuff and I plan on hunting down some of those old Pentax primes which this presentation will greatly enhance SO thanks !!! Anticipation strokes the flame of expectation which either flies or falls upon what YOUR word expresses- -no pressure !! Lol.
The first camera that I bought for myself was the Pentax SV with the Super Takumar 55mm ƒ1.8 in 1964. I used this camera for many years until I went digital in 2007. Now I have the K-mount 55 ƒ1.8 on my K-1. Thanks for the very nice review of these lenses. l see your images on Flickr too.
Excellent and detailed .Im a Nikon die hard but im going for an adaptor to try some pentax gear.Thank you for this very informative video and one can only imagine all the effort in makeing of.
For lenses with the aperture cocking lever, there is a M42 to K adapter with an inner ring that holds down the pin. I use it on the 35mm f2.3. It makes the lever very easy to use - much less fiddly than the auto-manual switch. Holding down the lever lets you focus, and you release to shoot. With the pin held down, the aperture never locks open.
Ahh that explains it. I was about to ask how you could stop the lever from locking down when pushed all the way in. I've heard some people glue the pin down if they prefer using an authentic m42 to K adapter.
Excellent watch as per usual Simon, lots of Tak bling, you have a lot to answer for Simon, my wife looks at my vintage kit and especially the flight case of neatly positioned Tak lenses from 20mm to 200mm and often asks what they all cost, I love being able to say ‘all together’ less than my single standard zoom on my camera 👌🤠
Ha!!! That's precisely how I've justified my Takumar lenses to my wife. And I've pointed out that one lens (a cheaper one admittedly) costs less than a replacement lens cap for one new Pentax PK lens....
Thank you for this video. This video and others have truly helped me choosing M42 mount lenses to adapt to my Canon R7. Its been fun to adapt these 40 to 50 year old lenses to a very modern camera and have them work so well! I'm still waiting on most of the lenses I have bought to arrive, but the ones that have got here have performed so well! So smooth and solid and so different than modern lenses With this camera I have a mix or RF, EF and these M42 mount lenses. All so different! One of the best parts is the price of these M42's. Have you seen the prices of the New RF glass? Yikes! After watching this video I found a listing for three older lenses, a Pentax K mount Auto MC 28mm f2.8, a Super Multi-Coated Takumar and a Vivitar Komine 135mm f2.8 all for $35 plus shipping. The Super MC Takumar and the Vivitar 135 look to be in really nice condition. The K mount 28 is a bit unknown, but it could easily be in fine shape as well. And there is a K mount to EF adapter to be had. Anyhow, Thanks for all your great videos! You've been a wonderful help and inspiration!
I love my Takumar 58mm f2. Like the 55mm gives just a bit more than a 50mm, the 58mm gives that little more. The pre-set works wonderfully with a digital camera. And, the Sonnar design has a curvature of the field that can be interesting. Compact and well-made. One of reasons given for Pentax dropping this design was that it was an expensive lens to manufacture.
I don't like my copy much. It is not a very sharp lens compared to the other preset lenses. Even the Heliar is sharper. It was the only normal length sonnar for an slr, probably because it is difficult to arrange a normal sonnar for the flange distance of an slr and keep it light strong. So along with the expensive construction, its performance was probably another reason for abandoning it quickly. In any case, you'd use all of them as art lenses for their swirly bokeh today and round bokeh balls. Otherwise their rendering pales in comparison to the super taks from a decade later that are also much cheaper. It is true that preset lenses are wonderful for video work because they allow you to work with blend opens/closedowns easily from/to an arbitrary f-stop .
I have a Pentax Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8 lens that came along with a Pentax Spotmatic 35mm film SLR camera I bought a couple of years ago. The body and lens dates from 1969-1970 from what I can ascertain from the serial numbers. Images taken with that lens and camera very sharp with great contrast and excellent rich color rendition. Easily my best 'normal' focal length lens (and I have several Nikon 'normal' lenses..I'd put the Pentax up against those any time)
Fascinating video. Especially to learn that my yellowed Takumars might not be radioactive after all. Thanks. Edit: after a re-watch I have decided to buy your favourite one for that radioactive goodness. Bidding begun.
Thanks for a great video. The SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 from 1972 was my first lens paired with my Spotmatic f. All acquired when I was 15. Unfortunately I sold it ... Regret that now so I have got a mint version of the K mount version...
I have the Auto Takumar 55mm f1.8 (zebra). Its beautiful, especially if you consider how long its been around. One of the first lenses I bought when I started down this expensive path. Bought it more for how it looked , ended up loving the bokeh on it.
14:10 - I remember coming across the Pentax ads in the early 1970s in Time, Newsweek and Life magazines - they heavily promoted the anti-flare characteristics of the SMC lenses. I was about 10 or 11 at the time, way before my camera-buying days, but it did cause me to lust after the Spotmatic II for years afterwards.
Nice video! I've got the Super Multicoated Takumar 55mm f1.8 last September and I love it. Did some pictured during autumn vacation and it's just so good. Thanks for sharing the info about the other Takumars 55mm as well. The older look super cool, too!
I have watched this video several times over the past couple of years and at 73 I still think that it one of the best on lens information at all levels, you don’t swap and change but maintain a steady cadence that moves at just the right speed. I have just this evening bought a working Spotmatic with a super Takumar 1.1.8 55mm with the red R between the 4&8 f stop it was £32 with postage so I’m hoping that it’s in reasonable condition, I have a few Pentax cameras and lenses along with many others, I also have a Reid with two lenses that I picked up in a charity shop, I had an idea that it was a good buy and so instead of the £80 I gave them £500. Anyway I hope you continue with your videos and only ask one Question, where is the tree line park that you use quite a few photos of, I’m hoping in London as my son lives there and would love to get some winter shafts of sunlight with an early morning or late evening haze, they really evoke seasons!
I'm watching videos about Takumars while waiting for delivery of a couple of cameras and lenses to replace stolen gear, including another copy of the auto-Takumar 35mm f3.5 lens. I watched Tomas Po's very entertaining discussions of the auto-Takumar 55mm f2 lens and then discovered this new video of yours, Simon. I made this comment on Tomas's blog that I also made on a video by vyoufinder comparing six Takumar 35mm lenses yesterday. "What I've noticed about the uncoated auto-Takumars specifically the 35 f3.5, the 55 f2, and the 55 f2.2, is that tonal gradation seems to be smoother. This particularly makes for amazing skies under the right conditions, early or late light and some clouds. The later lens coatings make the lenses more "contrasty" which gives an appearance of greater sharpness (acutance?) and perhaps more saturated colors but compresses the tones causing the subtle transitions to be lost. Or that's how it seems to me. If anyone would like to offer feedback about this, I'd be interested to read it. I've never seen a mention of this before." I would be interested in what you think about this. Great video as always, Simon. One thing I saw in vyoufinder's video that really stimulated the GAS was sample photos taken with the Takumar 35mm f4. To my eye, it just might blow the rest out of the water.
Many thanks! On that Takumar 35mm f4....I wouldn't be surprised at all if it produces better images than some other lenses. I don't have such a high opinion of the Takumar 35mm f3.5 as others seem to have. I agree with your comments about the later coatings and saturation. One of the worst "sky" lenses I own is the DA Fisheye 10-17mm. The coatings are AMAZING for flare and light leaks etc. But the lens murders white fluffy clouds on a sunny, blue sky day. They can look terrible with no proper transitions.
As a K-mount user (for sentimental reasons and because I have limited budget and it's a system I know) I like all these videos but I'm often left wondering how different the first K-mounts lenses compare to the various Takumars. The mostly ~1975-1977 K lens (not the later M or A) seem to be sometimes straight copies of the latest Tak, sometimes redesigns. I appreciate the inclusion of the SMC K lens in this video
"Great vids from a collectors point of view! thanks for creating these informative video's I have just bought a pentax es2, a semi auto film camera that needs an smc lens to use the aperture priority, so I'm waiting for the smc 55mm f2 to turn up, look forward to playing around with it!👍
So much interesting information! Much more than I can remember from having sold a few of these in the early 1970s. Spotmatics were so pleasant to handle, even compared with the Nikons, Canons and Olympuses of the day. I wonder if you might ever have strayed into a camera shop in Surrey, where I might have been behind the counter playing with the stock.
Many thanks. We used to live in Weybridge, but the only camera shop I've been into in Surrey is in Dorking - to buy a couple of second hand lenses. Last weekend I was playing with a Nikon F in a shop and yes, it's a workhorse, but not so pleasant to handle as the Spotmatics.
Every time I open my drawer and need reassuring about my choice of vintage lenses I ask myself "Will my Canon L lenses be around in 60 years? .. Then get my '59 Auto Takumar 55/2 on my camera)... Hope you're well Simon and looking forward to more.. : )
Here are links to each section:
00:00 Introduction
02:21 A look at the lenses
10:00 The earliest lenses
12:29 Number of aperture blades
13:35 Coatings, contrasts and colours
16:03 Radioactive glass
18:07 Minimum focusing distance
18:40 Sharpness
22:03 Bokeh
25:13 Conclusions
Back in the day when I worked at a camera store in Toronto. I recommended these Pentax Camera's and lenses to everyone just getting into photography. For the money they are still hard to beat. Great cameras and lenses.
Well said. The other thing I like is that lenses from years ago fit the modern cameras. As you say, great cameras and lenses.
I'm new to vintage lenses and I've gotta say... you do such a thorough and in-depth look at all of these, it's like watching a documentary. Thank you kind sir -- this must have been a real pain to edit!
Thank you! And many thanks also for recognizing something that very few others have. These videos are a real pain in the xxxx to edit!
@@Simonsutak No thanks necessary, your hard work has definitely shown here! As a (super small time) creator I know what you mean by pain, so once again thank you for your efforts!
In 1990, I went to a camera shop in Norway. I had Canon EOS1000 in my mind. The shopkeeper recommended Pentax P30n.
About 55s, I had already a dozen of 50ish lenses. Last summer in a user reviews about 55 1.8, a user said, if you don't have this lens, you are not a true Pentaxian. I was disappointed, with five Pentax bodies, and some 20 lenses, I am not a Pentaxian yet. So, I ran to Ebay, and found a Super Takumar 55 1.8 in good shape and reasonable price. It came from Japan, and it was clear that the lens had gone through CLA. Everything was perfect with the lens. I put it on my K1 MKII to test it, but it stayed there for several weeks. I like it more than my ST 50&1.4. It is a radio active lens and takes excellent pictures.
Simon thank you for your excellent series on vintage glass. You’re one of the few UA-camrs out there whom I find myself revisiting. Some of your videos I watched several times and I have never found fault with your recommendations or your evaluations. UA-cam should give you a badge of honor!
Thank you so much for posting this comment - which I've also been revisiting! It's very encouraging to read your kind words.
There‘s nothing more satisfying than shooting with a good Takumar lens! Thank you for your extensive review :)
crazy how smooth my 135 is focusing after 50 years
This collection of videos, in my opinion is a huge contribution to the heritage of photography. I am very glad to have access to a source of knowledge that is so well structured and that appears so reliable. I like the language a lot and I feel thankful towards the work and dedication that is beeing made to inform people about this beautiful part of photography.
Thank you! Ive watched this video several times now and this week i purchased my first vintage lens, a 55mm auto takumar f1.8 zebra lens and it arrived today. Its such a beautiful lens and i got one in mint condition, now to get an adapter and get shooting, i cant wait!
Last week I finally snagged the 8-element Super Takumar 50mm 1.4-I am so impressed!
Thank you for introducing me to this whole new world of vintage lenses!
Simon,
I do love the careful methodology of your analyses. You begin with your own hypotheses, and observations which support them, and then run through tests of the hypotheses. Very scientific, but also interestingly done.
I started my Pentax journey with a Pentax MX and that was brilliant. I was just about to go off to university. The MX is still a very zen machine that is tiny but mighty. About five years later my friend who ran a photographic shop introduced me to the Spotmatic. What was great about that was that I could buy M42 lenses for next to nothing. The Takumars were available with cases and hoods for £15 to £25 and I was blown away by the images I was producing. The 55mm F1.8, the 35mm F2, the 28mm f3.5, the 24mm f3.5, the 85mm f1.8, the 135 f3.5 all absolutely superb. I had a few spotmatics and then I got an SV! I made so many great images especially on Ilford, Kodak and latterly Fuji black and white negative films. The lenses were absolutely stellar. Brilliant sharpness, tonal discrimination and edge acuity. I found a 200f4 and it too was a showstopper. I used a lot of that glass with an SV and a digital incident/spot meter by Sekonic and produced prints for publications and my exhibitions. I still use Takumars and various K-mount SMC Pentax lenses they make great digital images with 3D plasticity and superb rendering. I do consider the SMC Takumar 55mm and the Super Takumars to be completely valid on digital images. I have a 55mm SMC Pentax-K f1.8 and it has that Pixie-dust image rendering that makes images with 3D pop. I have a few 55mm m42 Takumars and they are tremendous lenses. There is so much to admire in what they do. Thanks for doing this review Simon, I still get excited by what Pentax glass can do. Opening an image in Lightroom reveals just how powerful the lenses are.
Yup. What he said.
One of the best lens videos on UA-cam 👏
My Takumar 55 f2 is also one of my favorite lenses. It's so smooth and the quality is so good! I compared it to quite a few other lenses on my channel, but the Takumar is always the winner.
Thanks for the video! It just happened, that yesterday I accidentally bought the radioactive Takumar and after awesome experience of using it today, this video popped up. Yes, I can confirm, that this is one of the best ~50mm lens from my 15+ collection that I ever used.
Since my retirement 10 years ago I rediscovered my super takumar 1.8. I use it always in combination with a also 50 years old bellow for macro photography. The results are excellent ! Thank you for the very clear review of all these lenses.
Simon, I love these videos - it's exactly the type of nerdy-ness I enjoy in a gear review. I also appreciate all the example shots, as I think real-world results are much more impressive than the shots of still-life in the house.
Currently laid up sick in bed, which was a plus as i came across your videos. Very informative and i learnt a few things i didn't know. Can't wait to get out there with a few Tak's in my kit.
Sorry to read read about your sickness. Many thanks for your kind words and hope you get well soon!
Did a walkaround today with one of my all time favorite lenses on my Fujifilm X-T2, that being the 55mm Zebra Takumar, coincidentally coming across this video again upon my return. Love The Taks, especially the 55s, of which I have a copy of every m42 version, including the 58mm & earliest m37 mounts.
Bro your voice is as good as your reviews. Calming and just makes me feel relaxed. Great job!
His particular accent and tone sound almost identical to David Cornwell, the real name of the great writer John LeCarré. It’s beautifully cultured in that special British way. I’d be interested to know a bit about Simon’s background, although it really has nothing to do with wonderful lens videos!
I think I just asked about the best of these lens yesterday on another of your videos. And well you already covered it thank you !
Yes - apologies for not getting back. I did read your question and was going to direct you here, but got distracted!
@@Simonsutak I bought a Pentax h1 with a 55mm f2.2 auto in unknown condition on eBay last night . Hoping the lens is as good condition as it looks in the picture. It was about $30 seemed very good price . Thank you again love the videos
Agree Simon, from 1965-78, Asahi Pentax 55/1.8 super tak was my king. I also used the Steinheil 135/2.8 auto quinoa. Shooting thousands of negatives in B& W, plus-x, in Rodibal or microdol developers. All printing on leitz format 1c enlarger. The body of work is incredible. These days, I shoot Topcon black re super or super Dm, 58/1.8 Topcor another amazing lens. Regards, Don
Bought my lovely old Pentax ME Super in 1981 for a photography degree course. It came with a 50mm f1.7 SMC lens. Got my degree with it and sold my degree show B&W pics to a magazine afterwards. It's a very sharp and small lens which I use on my Canon DSLR and Sony A7 bodies. You can still get ME Supers with these lenses on and adapters for PK to Canon or Sony etc. Another excellent Pentax lens is the 50mm f4 'macro' which is 1:2 so half life size at the macro end. Amazingly sharp and versatile lens.
another excellent and informative video Simon, i have the 55mm ƒ1.8 super takumar, my very first vintage lens i got about a year ago, i had only gotten back into photography in the last two years
the takumar 55mm is such a nice lens for all the reasons mentioned, maybe only over shadowed by the smoothness of your voice,
with an addition of an extension tube its close up images are incredibly sharp,
the camera i use is the M50 so there is the 1.6 crop of the field of view
Thank you for the time and effort or should i say the time and pleasure of making these in depth videos on the various models of the similar lenses.
I also wanted to thank you, Simon, for putting these very thorough videos together. I like that you are objective when talking about each lens in each video, and that you merely highlight the pros and cons of each lens. I have the Super Takumar 55 1.8 and really love this lens as it goes with my 24 3.5, 35 2.0, 85 1.9 and 135 2.5 (6 element) lenses. I now have a complete set of Takumars that I will cherish for the rest of my life! The other thing I wanted to mention is that your comparison images for lenses are amazing! Every time I watch one of your videos and see some of your images I keep thinking of new perspectives to shoot from! Thank you for all of this! Cheers from British Columbia, Canada!
Congratulations. Very, very comprehensive. Excellent mix of facts and feelings. 100% agree on all points raised. Recommendation? "Buy 'em all! They ain't made no more!" Use 'em all, and enjoy 'em all.
I am impressed with your presentation and especially with your narration. Professional all around.
Thank you!
I have been shooting with the latest auto-Takumar 1.8 version. I am very impressed with it's sharpness and contrast.
Thank you for this thoughtful, well-made and interesting review. I very much enjoy your videos, despite, or perhaps due to, their encouragement of my lens buying addiction!
i bought my 28mm f3.5 50 years ago brand new. went through 3 succeeding versions of pentax bodies before changing to medium format. so the 28, along with the 50, sat on a shelf for all these years. bought an adapter 6 months ago and now fallen in love with the 28 once again , this time on my panasonic S5 full frame body. nice seeing your images taken in china. thank you. zen billings in canada.
correction, it is a 55mm not a 50.
I appreciate your well-researched presentations and thorough testing. Thanks for sharing your wealth of experience and knowledge.
I enjoy the education on the old lens. Just pick up the SMC Takumar 1.4 50 Macro. for my digital camera. Also, picked up a Fotasy Helicod M42 to FE mount to attach to my camera. Now I just need some good weather to test it out. I always enjoy your videos.
I had no idea the lens I used in the '70s was radioactive! I am an old, long-time Pentax user and started with the Pentax Spotmatic F and the 55mm f1.8 was my first lens. This is a great review. Thank you!
Thank to for all your great videoes on UA-cam and photos on Flickr. 🙏
I’ve watched every video of your m42 videos and probably watched every Takumar video at least twice! Love your Flickr photos! I’m now a certified fanatic of Takumar lenses.
Many thanks, I really appreciate your kind words.
Very nice to see this, it gives me a smile, the beautiful lenses from all viewpoints, great work - thank you very much.
A most excellent presentation in every way. As an owner of a number of Takuma/ Pentax lenses I appreciate the care with which this video was prepared. So I am subscribed.
Your presentation and examination of Pentax gear is Scion’s to none Simon. I thoroughly enjoy listening to your assessments
Very glad I went for the Auto 55 f2.2 Thanks
Thank you for these videos. I really enjoy your in-depth look into the lenses coupled with a wealth of experience. I'm in my 40's and have only discovered the joys of photography this year and I have the excellent Pentax cameras to thank for learning the basics of manual photography. This year will be my first foray into film photogrtaphy and these manual primes are of more interest to me now than ever before.
5 years ago I purchased a near mint Spotmatic SP that came with one of these Super-Multi-Coated lenses for around 55 USD. Sadly since buying it I've only shot 4 rolls of film and still haven't gotten around to having any of it developed but watching this was very informative and I appreciate all the details. Hopefully soon I can get those rolls of film developed to see what came out of it. Thanks again
I love this video, I watched it so many times. I bought the S-M-C 55mm 1.8.....and love it
Glad to see a comprehensive review of the 55mm Takumar :) :) :)
My first quality camera was a Pentax Spotmatic II with the Super Multi Coating f 1.8 lens. I payed a little extra for a black body, I still have it and use it too along with a used version of the Spotmatic . I recently bought a later version of the lens with the rubber focus ring for attachment to a used Sony a7 I recently acquired. Back in the 70s the Pentax was up there with the best. This is by far the best Takumar review I have seen, thank you.
Thank you!!
I really appreciate your hard work and enthusiasm. You need to write a book and document all of this along with some pictures. I will be the first one to buy it. Happy to work on editing it with you in duringy free time:)
I'll take a Takumar over just about any bulky modern standard prime. They just feel absolutely beautiful, all the Takumar lenses I have still have perfectly smooth focussing without the need for regreasing. And the 55/1.8 in particular is super cheap.
Thanks for this! Your videos always make me want to walk around and find good light to work with.
For me, I have the SMC 55 f2. Love it. It's small, but has the smoothest focus of any vintage lens I have.
I also have the SMC 50 f1.4 - I like it too, but it's really only sharp around the very center. Not practical in many applications.
Keep up the great work.
I have a couple of these 55mm Takumars. Both with film and digital they are absolutely magic.
Thanks for a detailed review. It was really interesting to see all of them compared. I made a review on 55 f2 Auto-Takumar, and I was pleasantly suprised that an f2 lens can give such a nice and creamy bokeh, but be sharp at the same time :)
for me auto takumar f2 is the best
Another excellent and informative video, delivered with such authority on the subject. So fascinating to learn the background history to the famous 55mm Takumar lenses. Like you, my first 35mm camera had a 55mm f1.8 lens. However, in this case it was the Pentax K-mount together with the KM camera. Just last year purchased an Auto-Takumar 55mm f2 and this is a surprisingly wonderful lens. Other similar lenses that I've purchased from this era have required a service, however not required for the Takumar and the smooth focus is a joy to behold. Good to know that only one lens model included Thorium. Always look forward to your next instalment.
Information truly worth sharing. Thank you! I have been sorting through my Takumar lenses collected over the years and stuffed away. Now I am hauling them out. 2 are Super-Takumar 55/1.8 (sr: 3473295) and SMC Takumar (sn: 5604261). I think it's also time to start listing serial numbers of the Takumars we own should someone someday wish to start a database of such. While I own a couple of older Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic cameras (both in mint condition) I am not much of a film guy anymore. But I do shoot my Takumar lenses on my Sony A6600. Good stuff!
There's a database on Pentax Forums if you're interested - www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-serial-number-database/?do=viewserials&id=88
I got my Pentax Spotmatic for my 14th birthday with a 55mm f1.8 lens, to which I added 2 more Super Takumars, 28 and 135mm f3.5’s. Loved all of them, although I wish I had been able to afford the 200mm f4.0!
The 200mm f4 on the Spotmatic was really fun! I inherited my 200mm, otherwise it would have been too expensive for me (and my Mum) too. Not so long ago, these Takumar 200mm's were selling on-line for a pittance.
Thank you for your generosity in sharing so much information. With someone who uses an H3, I'm very happy to know more about my camera and lens.
Thanks
You are so welcome!
Thank you for the review! I used to shoot fashion with SPII and ESII with Super--Multi-Coated and SMC Takumars. Both lenses are just fantastic! To be honest, If I looked at the images now I would't tell the difference. As to the radioactivity, please don't try to scare us: it is so insignificant, that doesn't fog the fastest film even if you leave it in the camera for weeks! I had another radioactive lens - a huge 7"/F2.5 Kodak Aero Ektar with almost brown glass. I shot jewellery and watches for Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines. The lens was taken from a WWII American bomber plane. It was the most beautifully drawing dreamy lens I have ever had. May be you are right: because of radioactivity?
Excellent video! I own a Super-Takumar 55/1.8 myself and its one of my favourite lenses. Great to see more information abour the series, thank you.
Like always, great informative videos without the narcissistic self exposure that many other dudes present on their videos. Nothing wrong with that but I prefer straight on topic presentations. Been a subscriber for quite a while and definitely enjoy learning. On an other note, I luckily found a Super Takumar 55mm 1,8 on a flee market last sunday. The aperture is almost stuck and only turns w. brute force. The focus ring is hard to turn as well but I know some guy who can fix it. I'm very impressed by the image quality of this lens when paired w. my Fujifilm X-E4. Thanks bunches Simon. Keep up the great work.
Another top quality video Thank you...Myself as of yet hasn't used any Pentax gear, looking to rectify that soon as my Yashica fetish subsides.
The Yashica Auto Yashinon 5cm f2 looks very similar to the Auto-Takumars, but the rendering is different!
One thing to keep in mind is that (as you say) a lot of the high end Takumar lenses from that era had radioactive back elements. Not necessarily a problem, but something good to know when working with these old lenses. I own a couple of these lenses and the Geiger Counter goes crazy close to them. So you can use these lenses, but I wouldn't put them under my pillow for sleeping 😄
I owe my photography to the Takumar 55mm. The Spotmatic II with a 55mm Takumar is exactly what my 14yrs older brother had and it fascinated me so much as a boy that I wanted to get into photography and lead to me receiving my first SLR for my 18th birthday from my parents.
Excellent video as always. I adore the painterly flower pictures the 55mm f2 have given me. The colors especially the reds and yellows are jaw dropping. The background become very smooth. The thought of all these qualities has me longing for the coming spring bloom. I also have a 50 f1.4 which for me has produced a less desirable busy bokeh. Cheers.
I've got the K-mount 1.8/55, and I love it to bits...
this made me love my auto takumar 55 f2 more ❤️
Great video with excellent info and thoughtful perspective. You confirmed how I feel about several of these!
I have the early Auto Takumar 55mm f2. There is an area where this lens excels. If your subject is reasonably close but not macro. Lets say you are taking pictures of a car for example. You get incredible 3D pop where details are sharp and fantastically smooth but also beautiful fall off to lovely background bokeh. No modern lens competes in this scenario. Some post adjustments are needed due but less contrast but it's one of my favourite lenses.
Yes, this lens really does produce beautiful results - as beautifully described by you! One of my favourite lenses too.
@@Simonsutak The beauty of this lens is that it's actually quite sharp wide open but also with lovely bokeh. In fact stopped down it's very sharp but that sharp near subject falling off to the beautiful bokeh is the winning combination. Often with this vintage bokeh look with old lenses the central close subject matter is not that sharp wide open. Hence this Takumar can create really great 3D pop.
@@Simonsutak I notice that you have some example photos of the Auto Yashinon 5cm f2 on your Flickr. Car shots along the lines of what I was talking about with the Takumar. I have the Yashinon. I had trouble adapting it due to the pin. I have an adapter for it now but never really used it as much. The bokeh on the Yashinon is clearly very good but I don't think It's as punchy as the Takumar. I'll have to try that one again.
What a fantastic interesting video. Just wanted to say thanks for all your great work. Regards David
What a fine, thorough and informative study and presentation, and my own experience with a super Takumar f2 and a super multi coated Takumar f1.8 corresponds exactly with all of your findings and comments.
I also thoroughly agree what a big difference that extra 5mm focal length makes to a standard 50, it seems much more natural and less distorted at closer distances.
In fact, it was these 55mm Takumar that led me to my favourite vintage lens, the Minolta PF 58mm f1.4 2nd generation with Takumar-like hills & valleys focusing ring, and usefully just slightly larger and therefore more comfortable in my hands than the Takumar which can feel a little fiddly especially when my hands get cold.
But I love using them all and am always left with the sense of wonder at the qualities of engineering and optical character of these optical gems… just BEAUTIFUL!
Well done :)
Thank you! After our correspondence, I purchased a Minolta adapter and separately a MC Rokkor PF 55mm f1.7 for £19 (it cost less than the adapter). I am enjoying the lens immensely. Great value for money. And since I have the adapter, and the 55mm was so cheap, I decided to buy a PF 2nd generation 58mm f1.4 as well. It should arrive early next week, if it's no good I'll try to send you the bill :-)
@@Simonsutak haha... I'm so pleased that you're giving the Minoltas another look, and for my own part I've ordered a Tomioka Auto Revuenon 55mm f/1.4 M42 mount, and although not an f1.2 like yours, the version I'm trying is reputed to use the thoriated glass and I think that yo have a point in believing they just have 'something' to offer... other than radiation ha! Wot fun!!
Superb. I understand you have invested lot of time and effort, which i appreciate so much. Very detailed one to date. Thank you.
I really like my Super Mulit 55mm 1.8 Radioactive glass. It is my best Takumar lens. I use it frequently even though I have Sony GM glass as well.
The 55 is one of my favorite lenses for digital use. I got the 1960 auto takumar 1.8 for one dollar after pulling it out of a box of random rubbish at a camera store in California. Clean glass and fully functional.
Hey!- just a quick comment on how much i will enjoy watching this video later; my fondest beginner photographer involved the sublime 70-200mm F/4 zoom Takumar- Soft blur Bokeh with fantastical colour renditions.
Worst thing i ever did was sell my 35 stuff and I plan on hunting down some of those old Pentax primes which this presentation will greatly enhance SO thanks !!!
Anticipation strokes the flame of expectation which either flies or falls upon what YOUR word expresses- -no pressure !!
Lol.
The first camera that I bought for myself was the Pentax SV with the Super Takumar 55mm ƒ1.8 in 1964. I used this camera for many years until I went digital in 2007. Now I have the K-mount 55 ƒ1.8 on my K-1. Thanks for the very nice review of these lenses. l see your images on Flickr too.
Excellent and detailed .Im a Nikon die hard but im going for an adaptor to try some pentax gear.Thank you for this very informative video and one can only imagine all the effort in makeing of.
For lenses with the aperture cocking lever, there is a M42 to K adapter with an inner ring that holds down the pin. I use it on the 35mm f2.3. It makes the lever very easy to use - much less fiddly than the auto-manual switch. Holding down the lever lets you focus, and you release to shoot. With the pin held down, the aperture never locks open.
Ahh that explains it. I was about to ask how you could stop the lever from locking down when pushed all the way in. I've heard some people glue the pin down if they prefer using an authentic m42 to K adapter.
@@yanix9005 it's made by Kipon and can be purchased from Adorama
I love your content on the Pentax lenses. I love Pentax m42 lenses. They focus smooth, sharp, and feel great in the hand. Built well.
Excellent watch as per usual Simon, lots of Tak bling, you have a lot to answer for Simon, my wife looks at my vintage kit and especially the flight case of neatly positioned Tak lenses from 20mm to 200mm and often asks what they all cost, I love being able to say ‘all together’ less than my single standard zoom on my camera 👌🤠
Ha!!! That's precisely how I've justified my Takumar lenses to my wife. And I've pointed out that one lens (a cheaper one admittedly) costs less than a replacement lens cap for one new Pentax PK lens....
WOW What a fantastic review of all these retro lenses from this go to guy.... AWESOME... AWESOME... AWESOME...
Thank you for this video. This video and others have truly helped me choosing M42 mount lenses to adapt to my Canon R7. Its been fun to adapt these 40 to 50 year old lenses to a very modern camera and have them work so well! I'm still waiting on most of the lenses I have bought to arrive, but the ones that have got here have performed so well! So smooth and solid and so different than modern lenses With this camera I have a mix or RF, EF and these M42 mount lenses. All so different!
One of the best parts is the price of these M42's. Have you seen the prices of the New RF glass? Yikes!
After watching this video I found a listing for three older lenses, a Pentax K mount Auto MC 28mm f2.8, a Super Multi-Coated Takumar and a Vivitar Komine 135mm f2.8 all for $35 plus shipping. The Super MC Takumar and the Vivitar 135 look to be in really nice condition. The K mount 28 is a bit unknown, but it could easily be in fine shape as well. And there is a K mount to EF adapter to be had.
Anyhow, Thanks for all your great videos! You've been a wonderful help and inspiration!
Thanks for extensive explanations...
I just got my SMC 50mm f1.4 and it renders lovely, may have to try the 55mm also.
I love my Takumar 58mm f2. Like the 55mm gives just a bit more than a 50mm, the 58mm gives that little more. The pre-set works wonderfully with a digital camera. And, the Sonnar design has a curvature of the field that can be interesting. Compact and well-made. One of reasons given for Pentax dropping this design was that it was an expensive lens to manufacture.
I don't like my copy much. It is not a very sharp lens compared to the other preset lenses. Even the Heliar is sharper. It was the only normal length sonnar for an slr, probably because it is difficult to arrange a normal sonnar for the flange distance of an slr and keep it light strong. So along with the expensive construction, its performance was probably another reason for abandoning it quickly. In any case, you'd use all of them as art lenses for their swirly bokeh today and round bokeh balls. Otherwise their rendering pales in comparison to the super taks from a decade later that are also much cheaper.
It is true that preset lenses are wonderful for video work because they allow you to work with blend opens/closedowns easily from/to an arbitrary f-stop .
I have a Pentax Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8 lens that came along with a Pentax Spotmatic 35mm film SLR camera I bought a couple of years ago. The body and lens dates from 1969-1970 from what I can ascertain from the serial numbers. Images taken with that lens and camera very sharp with great contrast and excellent rich color rendition. Easily my best 'normal' focal length lens (and I have several Nikon 'normal' lenses..I'd put the Pentax up against those any time)
Thank you for the priceless and valuable content. Loved it.
So glad you liked it.
Fascinating video. Especially to learn that my yellowed Takumars might not be radioactive after all. Thanks. Edit: after a re-watch I have decided to buy your favourite one for that radioactive goodness. Bidding begun.
Thanks for a great video. The SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 from 1972 was my first lens paired with my Spotmatic f. All acquired when I was 15. Unfortunately I sold it ... Regret that now so I have got a mint version of the K mount version...
Fascinating review. I owned a few of tak & supertak
Just got an old SMC 35mm with thoriated glass. Wonderful lens.
I have the Auto Takumar 55mm f1.8 (zebra). Its beautiful, especially if you consider how long its been around. One of the first lenses I bought when I started down this expensive path. Bought it more for how it looked , ended up loving the bokeh on it.
have you tried the pentacon 50mm ƒ1.8, it just beats the takumar for bokeh,
14:10 - I remember coming across the Pentax ads in the early 1970s in Time, Newsweek and Life magazines - they heavily promoted the anti-flare characteristics of the SMC lenses. I was about 10 or 11 at the time, way before my camera-buying days, but it did cause me to lust after the Spotmatic II for years afterwards.
Very interesting job. Thanks a lot.
Superb video. Thank you very much.
Thanks for all the great information and detail.
Nice video! I've got the Super Multicoated Takumar 55mm f1.8 last September and I love it. Did some pictured during autumn vacation and it's just so good.
Thanks for sharing the info about the other Takumars 55mm as well. The older look super cool, too!
Many thanks - great to hear your compliments for your lens too!
I have my late uncles spotmatic sp2 and 55mm 1.8.. I think bought in much that basis!
I have watched this video several times over the past couple of years and at 73 I still think that it one of the best on lens information at all levels, you don’t swap and change but maintain a steady cadence that moves at just the right speed. I have just this evening bought a working Spotmatic with a super Takumar 1.1.8 55mm with the red R between the 4&8 f stop it was £32 with postage so I’m hoping that it’s in reasonable condition, I have a few Pentax cameras and lenses along with many others, I also have a Reid with two lenses that I picked up in a charity shop, I had an idea that it was a good buy and so instead of the £80 I gave them £500.
Anyway I hope you continue with your videos and only ask one Question, where is the tree line park that you use quite a few photos of, I’m hoping in London as my son lives there and would love to get some winter shafts of sunlight with an early morning or late evening haze, they really evoke seasons!
I'm watching videos about Takumars while waiting for delivery of a couple of cameras and lenses to replace stolen gear, including another copy of the auto-Takumar 35mm f3.5 lens. I watched Tomas Po's very entertaining discussions of the auto-Takumar 55mm f2 lens and then discovered this new video of yours, Simon. I made this comment on Tomas's blog that I also made on a video by vyoufinder comparing six Takumar 35mm lenses yesterday. "What I've noticed about the uncoated auto-Takumars specifically the 35 f3.5, the 55 f2, and the 55 f2.2, is that tonal gradation seems to be smoother. This particularly makes for amazing skies under the right conditions, early or late light and some clouds. The later lens coatings make the lenses more "contrasty" which gives an appearance of greater sharpness (acutance?) and perhaps more saturated colors but compresses the tones causing the subtle transitions to be lost. Or that's how it seems to me. If anyone would like to offer feedback about this, I'd be interested to read it. I've never seen a mention of this before." I would be interested in what you think about this. Great video as always, Simon. One thing I saw in vyoufinder's video that really stimulated the GAS was sample photos taken with the Takumar 35mm f4. To my eye, it just might blow the rest out of the water.
Many thanks! On that Takumar 35mm f4....I wouldn't be surprised at all if it produces better images than some other lenses. I don't have such a high opinion of the Takumar 35mm f3.5 as others seem to have. I agree with your comments about the later coatings and saturation. One of the worst "sky" lenses I own is the DA Fisheye 10-17mm. The coatings are AMAZING for flare and light leaks etc. But the lens murders white fluffy clouds on a sunny, blue sky day. They can look terrible with no proper transitions.
As a K-mount user (for sentimental reasons and because I have limited budget and it's a system I know) I like all these videos but I'm often left wondering how different the first K-mounts lenses compare to the various Takumars. The mostly ~1975-1977 K lens (not the later M or A) seem to be sometimes straight copies of the latest Tak, sometimes redesigns. I appreciate the inclusion of the SMC K lens in this video
Boy, that was something else! Thank you.
Thanks for an interesting watch and informative data on these lens.
"Great vids from a collectors point of view! thanks for creating these informative video's
I have just bought a pentax es2, a semi auto film camera that needs an smc lens to use the aperture priority, so I'm waiting for the smc 55mm f2 to turn up, look forward to playing around with it!👍
Thank you and happy lens hunting!
So much interesting information! Much more than I can remember from having sold a few of these in the early 1970s. Spotmatics were so pleasant to handle, even compared with the Nikons, Canons and Olympuses of the day. I wonder if you might ever have strayed into a camera shop in Surrey, where I might have been behind the counter playing with the stock.
Many thanks. We used to live in Weybridge, but the only camera shop I've been into in Surrey is in Dorking - to buy a couple of second hand lenses. Last weekend I was playing with a Nikon F in a shop and yes, it's a workhorse, but not so pleasant to handle as the Spotmatics.
@@Simonsutak Oh well, it was a long-shot. Haslemere and Guildford for me. The good old days ;-)
Every time I open my drawer and need reassuring about my choice of vintage lenses I ask myself "Will my Canon L lenses be around in 60 years? .. Then get my '59 Auto Takumar 55/2 on my camera)... Hope you're well Simon and looking forward to more.. : )