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Takumar 1.8/55 and Takumar 2/55
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:51 pm    Post subject: Takumar 1.8/55 and Takumar 2/55 Reply with quote

Hello. I've heard that Takumar 1.8/55 and 2/55 are the same lenses. Is it true? Are they phisically blocked the extra 0.2 stop, or is it mechanically the same as the 1.8/55 version, just the label different, and the f2 in fact 1.8? What is the true stroy? I think they stopped down a bit, so wide open it isn't wide open, but it is a think only... Does anyone has both? Please perform a test with them wide open with the same conditions to see which one is faster?


PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No idea I have F2 very nice lens , real bokeh champion.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I asked a similar question a while back: http://forum.mflenses.com/why-takumar-f1-8-and-f2-t12259,highlight,takumar+marc.html

Hope the responses to this help

~Marc


PostPosted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:45 pm    Post subject: 55/1.8 and 55/2 Reply with quote

themoleman342 wrote:
I asked a similar question a while back: http://forum.mflenses.com/why-takumar-f1-8-and-f2-t12259,highlight,takumar+marc.html

Hope the responses to this help

~Marc


I guess those earlier responses sum up the "received wisdom" - when the Rank Organisation handled Pentax in UK back in the 1960s, their reps used to smile and say nothing when we raised the subject. They never actually denied the story but pointed out that it was in nobody's interest to delve deeply into it. There was a lot less regard for the consumer's welfare in those days - ! Sales of S1a to SV were around 5 to 1, at least where I worked which I think was quite typical. The unmarked speed on S1a bodies was usually around 1/700 when measured, which wasn't actually a lot different to the 1/1000th on the SV.

Quite recently I stumbled across a website with a comparison of the f1.8 and f2 - but stupidly didn't bookmark it - there were test chart lines/millimetre readings for both which were identical at equal apertures, something that didn't surprise me in the least. The Kodachromes I shot back then looked identical as well.

Whatever the testing charts showed back then, all the leading makers' standard lenses behaved differently - with a bit of practice you could identify what had done what in a mixed batch of slides. With just two exceptions you couldn't actually say that one was better than another, but the Contarex 50 f2 Planar and the rangefinder 50 Summicron certainly had something extra special about them. Pity you couldn't get the Planar on a decent body ... that on a Nikon F might even have made me trade my Leica. I was lucky to work in large shop that got a lot of used equipment

However the 55mm M42 Sup Tak lens is marked, it's a very good piece of kit with its own very pleasant signature.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:19 am    Post subject: 551/8 and 55/2 Tak Reply with quote

Found the website mentioned in my preceding post:

http://www.takinami.com/yoshihiko/photo/lens_test/pentax_normal.html


PostPosted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Same dicussion is here. FYR.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/98706667@N00/discuss/72157612296749138/


PostPosted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, it was my opinion too. They mechanically blocked the f1.8 with a ring...
On the other forum, they say:

"That's very interesting about the f/2 and f/1.8 versions. Now that I compare my S-M-C Takumar f/1.8 and Super Takumar f/2, I can indeed see that there is a ring added to the aperture mechanism on the f/2 lens, which permanently limits the size of the opening compared to that on the f/1.8."

"Removing the aperture stop should be possible if the lens is disassembled all the way from the front. It is not accessible from the rear (a pity, since the whole rear element group screws off as one piece, while I find disassembly from the front a rather painful procedure)."