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Takumar 28mm not a sharp lens?
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:29 pm    Post subject: Takumar 28mm not a sharp lens? Reply with quote

I've got a small collection of Taks, and yesterday I took a few shots with my 28mm. I used it, as being a 28mm, even being close to the subject, it should have a decent DOF, so I figured it would help me keep things sharp. Two of the better ones I took are not super sharp as I would have expected. I took a couple other shots with my 100mm tak, and it would have a shallower DOF, but those shots are a LOT sharper. Is the 28mm not normally that sharp? My variant is the Super Takumar. I think it's the third generation of this lens. First 2 pics are with the 28mm, and the last is with the 100mm for reference.







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From those first two pictures I can't tell that it isn't sharp. Have you looked it over to see if the focus was off - look at the gravel?

I presume it was not at infinity, which would suggest another problem. I had one that I sold a few months ago since buying a 28mm that I liked much better. I found the Takumar difficult to focus. Maybe it was the slowness of the lens, but I think not because I have much more success with current 28mm even stopped down. For me it just didn't feel right, but when I hit the focus well and examined pixels, it was sharp.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Torture for all lens infinity distance , closer shoots like this means no much trouble all handle it pretty well.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Attila wrote:
Torture for all lens infinity distance , closer shoots like this means no much trouble all handle it pretty well.


Generally this is true in the centre, although some wide angles perform better from corner to corner at infinity. For example, the Distagon 28/2.8 is a good example Smile


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ManualFocus-G wrote:
Attila wrote:
Torture for all lens infinity distance , closer shoots like this means no much trouble all handle it pretty well.


Generally this is true in the centre, although some wide angles perform better from corner to corner at infinity. For example, the Distagon 28/2.8 is a good example Smile


I guess reason is because they designed for infinity shoots, but interesting this lens is not same good at least at center.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Attila wrote:
ManualFocus-G wrote:
Attila wrote:
Torture for all lens infinity distance , closer shoots like this means no much trouble all handle it pretty well.


Generally this is true in the centre, although some wide angles perform better from corner to corner at infinity. For example, the Distagon 28/2.8 is a good example Smile


I guess reason is because they designed for infinity shoots, but interesting this lens is not same good at least at center.


Oops I meant that the lens is superb from corner to corner at infinity. But at close focus the center is even better with crap corners Smile

This Tak looks alright IMO!


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As was already told: the 28mm is harder to focus because on today's focusing screens almost everything looks sharp from front to back (screens have a much bigger DOF). With +100mm lenses focusing is much easier because the picture literally 'snaps' into focus.

Also, it's my experience that there are not many old wide angles which are sharp wide open. There are only a few exceptions and the 28mm f/3.5 Takumar is not one of them.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's hard to tell sharpness at these sizes, the photos are nice looking though, did you use fill flash?


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess more detail may help. On the first shot, nothings seems incredibly sharp on the original, at least not compared to my 100mm. The second one, his hands are somewhat sharp, but based on the online DOF calculator, the working distance I was at, I should have had about 5 feet in focus, and I have a hard time believing that my focus was that far off. I took about a dozen shots, and none of them as sharp as I would have liked. The 100mm, I only took a couple shots, and they were all nice and sharp, and my DOF for that lens would have probably only been about 6".

I did use flash for all the shots. I was playing with off camera flash, and these are what I got.

Thanks for the comments so far.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In my experience with both versions of Takumar 28mm lens (ST 28 with 58mm filter and ST and SMCT with 49mm filter) is very difficult to set focus on object that are 2 meters away and closer. Even with the distace scale on lens is difficult. The easiest way is with live view. When the focus is set all Takumar 28mm that I have used are very sharp. Here is one proof



PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beautiful sample , who care sharp or not Wink


PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

maybe I am wrong, and please educate me:
but I would never expect a 28mm to be as sharp as a 100mm.
am I wrong in thinking this?


PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuuan wrote:
maybe I am wrong, and please educate me:
but I would never expect a 28mm to be as sharp as a 100mm.
am I wrong in thinking this?


Well as a general question:- I did a test once and used the same film for a range of lenses from 28mm to 135mm (and zooms). And from a starting distance of 6 foot away, moved the lenses in or out to fill the frame of the subject, then enlarged the shots...and a Canon 28mm FD was up with names like 50 mm Hexanon F1.7, Olympus 50mm and Meyer, and slaughtered a super tak 135mm f3.5.
So what does these results tell anyone? well the Canon 28mm is excellent? or at that distance the 28mm had an advantage over others? So coming back to your question maybe the Tak 28mm at the shot distance wasn't at it's best compared to the Tak 100mm.


PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuuan wrote:
I would never expect a 28mm to be as sharp as a 100mm.
am I wrong in thinking this?


Exactly the impression I got, that’s why I did very little experimenting with the different manufacturers
of the wide angles and stuck with the favored Zeiss and also the Olympus OM's.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 5:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Takumar 28mm not a sharp lens? Reply with quote

eccs19 wrote:
My variant is the Super Takumar. I think it's the third generation of this lens. First 2 pics are with the 28mm, and the last is with the 100mm for reference.


. . .


There are actually 2 models of the Super Tak 28mm and the early version of it actually has 2 variants, the earliest with an f3.5-22 aperture and the second with a 3.5-16 with both having 58mm filter threads and 7 elements in 6 groups. The 2nd model has 3.5-16 aperture and 49mm filter threads with 7 elements in 7 groups with the S-M-C being an updated version of this lens.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The 4/100 has more contrast; subject has more definition against less complicated background. These illusions of greater sharpness add to whatever sharpness advantage the 4/100 lens has over 3.5/28.

The 3.5/28 photos do look slightly out of focus; an eyepiece magnifier or magnified live view may have helped, maybe a lot. Was the lens focused wide open then stopped down for photo?


PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:40 pm    Post subject: Re: Takumar 28mm not a sharp lens? Reply with quote

Blue wrote:
eccs19 wrote:
My variant is the Super Takumar. I think it's the third generation of this lens. First 2 pics are with the 28mm, and the last is with the 100mm for reference.


. . .


There are actually 2 models of the Super Tak 28mm and the early version of it actually has 2 variants, the earliest with an f3.5-22 aperture and the second with a 3.5-16 with both having 58mm filter threads and 7 elements in 6 groups. The 2nd model has 3.5-16 aperture and 49mm filter threads with 7 elements in 7 groups with the S-M-C being an updated version of this lens.


Well mine is the 49mm filter 3.5-16, but not SMC, just a Super. Thanks for that info.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

visualopsins wrote:
Was the lens focused wide open then stopped down for photo?


That is correct, I did stop it down, as it's hard to focus at F11. hardly enough light coming through to get a good look.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm actually going to drop the lens off at my dad's place tomorrow (revers), and he's going to play with it. (he's retired, so he's got more time) He'll post some results in this thread for reference.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just bought the S-M-C version from Eugene (visualopsins). Thanks so much again! I've found this one to be exceedingly sharp with great colors. This was taken with a Pentax ES on auto, stopped-down half a step, with ektar 100. Scanned on an epson v700.

Maybe a change in the version is the answer if you like the takumar aspect of it?



~Marc


PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well Mark dropped off the lens this morning but it is raining so I shot on the balcony.

Panasonic G1 on tripod shooting @ f8 & focus carefully on the gnome in the centre of the frame.




Centre crop





I do not have a 28mm to compare so I shot a Minolta 35mm





Centre crop




PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The gnome looks good in both of your pictures Revers.

I bought a Tak 28mm 3.5 a few days ago, and so far I'm liking it a lot. At the same time I bought a Soligor 35mm, and if I had bought that lens on it's own I'd have been happy with it, as I am with the Travenar 28 and the Pentacon 30 that I've had for a while.
But the Takumar trumps them - comprehensively.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuuan wrote:
maybe I am wrong, and please educate me:
but I would never expect a 28mm to be as sharp as a 100mm.
am I wrong in thinking this?


Hi Kuuan.

The question, to me, isn't easy to answer.
First, you must consider the differents brands and models. For example, the 28 mm. Hexanon 7 elements (oldest) has more resolution power than the last MC version 5 elements, and the last has more contrast.
Second. Said that, if you compare the 100 mm lenses (almost all have 4 or 5 elements), so they will be more contrast than the 28 mm with 6/7/8 elements. And about the resolution power, there is an optic effect that play for the 100 mm: the same object's image is seen more big than the one taken with the 28 mm, taken from the same place both.
In my experience, the best contrast and resolution power are, generally, in the 50 mm line. The more near focal lenght to 50 mm, the more sharp, in both ways (tele and wide).
Of course that it's only my experience and not using special lenses, only the average.

I hope that you find any help with that words.

Regards, Rino.


PostPosted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I couldn't find the gnome, but the little guy with the beard looked sharper with the Minolta.


PostPosted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am betting it is an adaptor issue.