Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!

SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

Pentax SMC Takumar 200/4
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:52 pm    Post subject: Pentax SMC Takumar 200/4 Reply with quote

Today I received my new lens; a (near) mint Pentax SMC Takumar 200/4 Smile Both the lens, the shade and the pouch look virtually unused, and are in great shape!

I didn't have time for much testing really (first observation; out-of-focus rendering is not as good as the CZJ Sonnar lenses), but here are some initial pictures:







All were shot wide open (f/4) without sharpening applied. The last one was through a window. I'll need some further testing, but my initial impressions are very positive![/img]


PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I still have not had the opportunity to try mine out yet, but I hope it comes ina t least as well as yours. Good samples thank you


patrickh


PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Which camera was used?


PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice images!!

Good lens, pretty colors.

Rino.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

no-X wrote:
Which camera was used?


Canon 30D


PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For me second picture shows lens power, great sharpness! Thank you for sharing! Congrats!


PostPosted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One more, to show out-of-focus performance:



PostPosted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of my favorite lens. Great photos..thanks for showing these.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Big Dawg wrote:
One of my favorite lens. Great photos..thanks for showing these.


Thank you Smile

I took a lot of pics with this lens today (most of them at f/4). They're here:

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/jthole


PostPosted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

eeyore_nl wrote:
Big Dawg wrote:
One of my favorite lens. Great photos..thanks for showing these.

Thank you Smile
I took a lot of pics with this lens today (most of them at f/4). They're here:
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/jthole


Oh lots of good pictures in that link that almost went unnoticed to me!
Please post at least Red and Orchid at 200/8 in our gallery here! They are masterpieces!


PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orio wrote:


Oh lots of good pictures in that link that almost went unnoticed to me!
Please post at least Red and Orchid at 200/8 in our gallery here! They are masterpieces!


Thank you Smile I am happy that you like them. I'm not real fond of that orchid picture, personally.







Last one shot from 30m away, fully open, and a bit USM applied in post processing (radius 1, threshold 10, amount 50%). I am suprised at how good contrast and color already are at f/4. Sharpness does improve a bit stopped down, but color and global contrast don't make a big difference.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All but the last two were made with the SMC 200/4:

http://www.ipernity.com/slideshow?album_id=115122


PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GREAT work on a lens that I know nothing about! This is the kind of post that equates to a great value to the forum.

Your collection of images has some really classically wonderful shots.


PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 7:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just got one of these, and it's rapidly becoming my favorite lens.


PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 7:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice ones !

How did you do those pink flowers ? Behind glass ? They are very striking.

The S-M-C Takumar 200/4 is the standard for sharpness for 200mm lenses I believe. I should use mine more, its been sitting in my bag for 30 years.


PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, I was offered this Takumar 200/4 this morning when I visit the local manual lens shops. How many version of this 200/4? which one is the recommended one?
Thanks.


PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are three versions, two Super-Takumars and one S-M-C Takumar. They all seem to have the same optical formula so the S-M-C would probably be the best, because of the improved coating.
http://www.aohc.it/tak05e.htm

Be careful when you look for the Takumar brand name. Just the word on its own, as you have written, usually refers to the later PK bayonet mount Takumars which are of much lower quality. The worst thing Pentax ever did.


PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

peterqd wrote:
There are three versions, two Super-Takumars and one S-M-C Takumar. They all seem to have the same optical formula so the S-M-C would probably be the best, because of the improved coating.
http://www.aohc.it/tak05e.htm

Be careful when you look for the Takumar brand name. Just the word on its own, as you have written, usually refers to the later PK bayonet mount Takumars which are of much lower quality. The worst thing Pentax ever did.


Thanks a lot for the information, Peter.
It's in M42 mount by the way.


PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice images! I really like the bokeh of this lens. In your initial set, the image of the fence post shot through the window has a background which is very much like a traditional "old masters" style hand painted muslin. Perfect for portraits.

I also like the image of the hanging lamp with the out of focus vehicles in the background.

Thank you for sharing.

Paul


PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I already sold this lens, and bought it again ... and now I am contemplating about selling it again Smile

It is an excellent lens, but actually I prefer the Meyer Orestegor 200mm. And I don't see much use for two 200mm lenses; I don't use that focal width very often.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 4:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

peterqd wrote:
There are three versions, two Super-Takumars and one S-M-C Takumar. They all seem to have the same optical formula so the S-M-C would probably be the best, because of the improved coating.
http://www.aohc.it/tak05e.htm

Be careful when you look for the Takumar brand name. Just the word on its own, as you have written, usually refers to the later PK bayonet mount Takumars which are of much lower quality. The worst thing Pentax ever did.


I'd strongly disagree with that statement. I've tested a lot of Pentax lenses, and many of their best are K mount lenses. The Pentax-A 50mm f1.4 is the best 50mm I've tested and that includes all of the M42 versions, Zeiss planar, OM, Nikon, Yashica, and several others. For the 200mm, the Pentax M is the version to get. This is rather odd as the M lenses are typically the worst of the Pentax's. Look up the Pentax lens database (SPLOSdb) and you'll see that most of their best lenses are K mount lenses. The M42 versions typically offer a little better value though.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

flashinm wrote:


I'd strongly disagree with that statement. I've tested a lot of Pentax lenses, and many of their best are K mount lenses. The Pentax-A 50mm f1.4 is the best 50mm I've tested and that includes all of the M42 versions, Zeiss planar, OM, Nikon, Yashica, and several others.


Peterqd referred to the K-mount Takumar lenses, I believe.

For some reason, Pentax resurrected that name for a series of low-quality budget lenses. Don't confuse those with the real Takumars!


PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

flashinm wrote:
peterqd wrote:
There are three versions, two Super-Takumars and one S-M-C Takumar. They all seem to have the same optical formula so the S-M-C would probably be the best, because of the improved coating.
http://www.aohc.it/tak05e.htm

Be careful when you look for the Takumar brand name. Just the word on its own, as you have written, usually refers to the later PK bayonet mount Takumars which are of much lower quality. The worst thing Pentax ever did.


I'd strongly disagree with that statement. I've tested a lot of Pentax lenses, and many of their best are K mount lenses. The Pentax-A 50mm f1.4 is the best 50mm I've tested and that includes all of the M42 versions, Zeiss planar, OM, Nikon, Yashica, and several others. For the 200mm, the Pentax M is the version to get. This is rather odd as the M lenses are typically the worst of the Pentax's. Look up the Pentax lens database (SPLOSdb) and you'll see that most of their best lenses are K mount lenses. The M42 versions typically offer a little better value though.


Yes, I was referring specifically to the K mount lenses badged "Takumar (Bayonet)", sometimes called the non-SMC lenses. The Takumar name was discontinued when the K mount was first introduced, but Pentax resurrected it later for this small line of cheap, poor-quality prime and zoom lenses.
http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/primes/_non-SMC/index.html
http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/zooms/_non-SMC/index.html

These lenses much poorer build quality. They were coated, but not up to the SMC spec, and I imagine the manufacturing quality standard was a lot lower too. I think it was one of a series of terrible marketing decisions by Pentax which ruined their reputation for the highest quality up till then.

I agree with you about the better-quality smc -M and -A lenses though. The 1.4/50 optical design was continued right through from the second version of the M42 Super-Takumar to the Pentax-F version.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 5:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, my mistake. Carry on then. Laughing


PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you like the f/4, you may be pleasantly surprised by the Tele-Takumar 200mm f/5.6 (preset).