Asahi-Kogaku T-Takumar 7,5cm 1:3.5 samples

[Spotmatic]

Here are a few quick samples with this lens. It's very sunny now so I'll take this lens with me today. In the meantime I hope you will enjoy these samples...

Still not sure if this is a triplet or not... All samples are shot wide open.



1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.

[Nesster]

Peter, not shabby at all, lens wise, and the photography/light is just wonderful. It's nice to know there's a Takumar such as this...

[CarbonR]

The first pictures seem to be a little noisy, but the lens sharp for its age

[poilu]

nice samples, I like #2!

[Orio]

It is difficult for me to judge on the lens because everything you photograph looks great

[ludoo]

The pictures look great, with nice colors. But I'm puzzled by this lens: it appears to be mounted on a Copal shutter, how are you mounting it on your DSLR? And how are you keeping the lens shutter open, does it have a T speed setting?

Edit: I'm also interested in your postprocessing, as the colors and contrast look really nice. Did you shoot in raw, and if so what did do to develop it? What kind of curves if any, etc.?

[andyw]

Amazing quality there!!!!!!

[Spotmatic]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate it very much.

@Ludoo: it's the famous "Pentax colors" you are seeing. Yes, I shoot in RAW (always, no exceptions). My postprocessing usually takes a few seconds and consists of:

- Importing in Adobe Photoshop CS3 through Adobe Camera RAW
- Performing white balance (if there's a white point in the picture)
- Adjusting levels (if needed)
- Resize
- Adding a border/sharpening through Absolute Sharpening (Photoshop plugin).

That's it, I never adjust the colors separately because I don't feel this is necessary at all.

And about the shutter: it was disassembled by the former owner, and the "B" now seems to behave like a "T" setting. As you can see in the first picture I use the following set-up to mount it to my K-7:

- Asahi Pentax M42 to K adapter ring
- Asahi Pentax Variable Close-up ring (M42 helicoid extension tube)
- M42 body cap with a 25mm hole in it

That's all!

[kuuan]

wow, very impressive Peter, it's a very good lens
great portraits, #2 is so lovely, but #3 is hilarious, love it!

[Attila]

[Mal1905]

Wow Peter, you've really brought that lens back to life and made it sing

[Spotmatic]

Thank you guys! I was out of inspiration today (also I had to tidy up the front and back garden on this very nice sunny day), so youll have to do with those two shots.

BTW, I think we can be fairly sure, given the performance in the corners, that the lens is indeed a triplet.