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Takumar 135/3.5.... Review
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:19 pm    Post subject: Takumar 135/3.5.... Review Reply with quote

I'm working on a writeup and review of my Takumar 135 (old style with pre-set ring).

I have scanned a couple of negatives from my first "comparison" shots, so thought I would put them up here for sort of a preview.

They are not the best scans Shocked , and I'm now thinking I had better push the scanner to its maximum resolution, then go ahead and back it down to about 5-6MP for the full crop.

That said, these are showing the difference in depth of field between wide open f:3.5, and f:8.

I'll stop down to f:22 when I set things up for a writeup and images for Attila's MF review pages.

Luckily, I have this fine waterfall and forest area near the house, so I'll be able to get some nicer shots to go with the review (I think...).

I should have a comprehensive set of images and review text next week. In it, I will get some "closest focus" shots as well, to try to represent the corner-to-corner sharpness on a subjective basis.

One thing I do like about this lens is that it is compact and light...and I think it has beautiful black and chrome styling. My jury is out on overall quality until I get all my negatives developed.

Does anyone else have experience with this older Takumar lens?





Last edited by Laurence on Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:24 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

To make a good scan not easy, some of them our members like Katastropho and Peterqd solve successfully for reviews best if you can take shoots with DSLR.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Attila wrote:
To make a good scan not easy, some of them our members like Katastropho and Peterqd solve successfully for reviews best if you can take shoots with DSLR.


Good point. Let's see how these go with my scanner, as I think I can tweak it for optimum resolution. If not, I'll borrow a friend's Olympus eVolt DSLR, he has an M42 adapter.

Of course, in "real life" I would have tweaked these in Photoshop for web imaging; these are basically "raw" scans of the negatives with all scanner adjustments turned off.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had this one.

http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/japenese/takumar/takumar_135mm_f3_5_chrome/


PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Attila wrote:
I had this one.

http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/japenese/takumar/takumar_135mm_f3_5_chrome/


That's the twin of mine. I was surprised at the small size of the lens when I took it out of the box. Looks like it has at least a single-coating on the front element.

Depth of field seems so shallow when I've worked in the past with wide lenses!

Your images look quite good, and the bokeh is moderately fine. Did you have this long enough to remember any of the performance values, Attila?


PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Did you have this long enough to remember any of the performance values, Attila?


I used one times only when I made this test, after all decided to let this lens go from following reasons.

1) I not collect Takumars just German lenses, mostly CZJ and Meyer lenses and the best ones from others.
2) All of my 135mm lenses Nikkor,Olympus, Pentacon, CZJ, Jupiter are better performer than this lens.

So I let it go , hopefully it found a good home at a collector.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have this lens (Takumar preset). In terms of sharpness, this is master... I have so many 135mm lenses, but no one can beat in terms of sharpness... but again, I got the lemon of Pentacon 135mm (some cleaned the fungus with sharp knife, seems like) and Jupiter (I have no idea, the lens is best you can think of of, but horrible quality pics.. I think some re-assembled the multiple broken lenses.. as I can smell grease from few feet)...


PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This certainly shows the divergence of viewpoints! There are certainly a lot of factors, not the least of which is a "lemon" lens that might not relate to that particular lens group in general.

Without yet making a full-rez scan, I cannot tell if this Takumar lens is going to be the sharpest kid on the block. When I had the Leicaflex SL2 with my 2.8/135 Elmarit-R, I was generally quite pleased. That old Leicaflex was my "dream" camera at the time and I used it for several years.

The Elmarit 135 was a supremely built lens, but didn't make me do any backflips for sharpness when enlarged to 8x12 or so, and seemed conducive to flare. On the other hand, I am not expecting superior results from the Takumar. But...the (subjective) proof will be in the viewing.

I've lucked out and will have a dedicated Nikon 35mm scanner! The guys in the local camera club are letting me borrow it for my "testing" comparisons! I'll pick it up in the morning. I'll feel better about the scans, I'm sure.

Avneesh, sounds like you are quite pleased with the older Tak! By the way, I saw your very nice image of Niagara Falls in your link. One thing you might want to consider is to rotate it a couple of degrees clockwise to level it out.

Laurence