Takumars, Anyone?

[sandymandy]

Bokeh really owns and almost(?!)  50mm 1.2L style.

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Is it just me, or does this image from the SMC Tak 55mm f/1.8 look a lot like something from the 50L?  This was taken this morning with a 5D MKII and I've only adjusted WB as it rendered a little cool.  Takumars (IMO) have a very high quality transition from focus to defocus that reminds me of very expensive primes (which they once were, of course).


Saturday Morning (In Honor of the Children) [Explored December 16th, 2012] by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Bokeh really owns and almost(?!)  50mm 1.2L style.

Wow, I just read your post.  We were really on the same wave length.

[Sporgon]

What make of adapter do you guys use ?

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

I use a couple of Ebay specials (with flange and variable aperture reporting).  This one works well with every lens save the 50mm f/1.4 (in either Super or SMC variety).  The design of that lens hangs on this adapter, so I've used a different one (Without flange) for the 50mm f/1.4.

I love my M42 lens for close to medium distance works.  I'm not blown away with any of them at infinity.  They don't seem to resolve as well as modern lens at that distance in my experience.  That is particularly true with a FF body (for me).  That may be a byproduct of the adapters that I have used and the distance of the lens from the sensor.

[pwp]

My very first "real" camera was a Pentax Spotmatic with the 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar SMC lens. I loved it and somehow missed it's almost intangible qualities when I switched to Nikon when I got more serious about my photography. (The switch to Canon happened a little later with the then amazing EOS1n film camera and Canon's great lenses and unrivaled CPS support).

My brother has our Dad's identical Pentax Spotmatic with the 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar SMC lens, plus other Takumar lenses tucked away somewhere in his store-room. I'm inspired to dig it out and get an EF/Takumar adapter. BTW where do you get EF/Takumar adapters? eBay?

-PW

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

My very first "real" camera was a Pentax Spotmatic with the 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar SMC lens. I loved it and somehow missed it's almost intangible qualities when I switched to Nikon when I got more serious about my photography. (The switch to Canon happened a little later with the then amazing EOS1n film camera and Canon's great lenses and unrivaled CPS support).

My brother has our Dad's identical Pentax Spotmatic with the 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar SMC lens, plus other Takumar lenses tucked away somewhere in his store-room. I'm inspired to dig it out and get an EF/Takumar adapter. BTW where do you get EF/Takumar adapters? eBay?

-PW

That's where I have gotten mine. They typically don't cost much more than $10 shipped.

[Artifex]

I enjoy using vintage glass as well.  I have the SMC 28mm f/3.5 (a great lens on a crop body, vignettes pretty bad on my 5D MKII), Super Takumar 35 f/3.5 (works amazing on crop, not at all on FF), SMC 55mm f/1.8 (works great on both crop and FF - kept this one over the SMC or Super variants of the f/1.4 and the SMC f/2), and I also use the 150mm f/4 Super Tak (great on my 5D - awesome portrait lens).  I've used several others at times, including both the 3.5 and 2.5 versions of the 135mm and SMC 35mm f/2.

I also love my Helios 44-2.  These lens brings something very unique to both the finished product and the shooting process.

SMC 50mm f/1.4

These Shoes Are[n't]Made for Walking by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

Super 50mm f/1.4


The Man with the Scarf by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

28mm f/3.5

Kent and Erin by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

Super Tak 35mm f/3.5

One Perfect Winter Day by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

SMC 55mm f/1.8

Gathering Dust by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

SMC 135mm f/3.5

You Lookin' at Me? by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

Super 150mm f/4

Fade to Memory (Explored August 14th, 2012) by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

And my favorite:  the Helios 44-2

Cast Off by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

Spiral of Color by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

Brownie Points - Explored June 17th, 2012 by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

Those are absolutely stunning! Really great photos! 
I was asking myself why the Helios 44-2 was your favorite, so I tried getting more information.
I saw some photos with magnificent vortex-like bokeh and can barely believe a f/2 lens can produce it.
Is it too good to be truth? How does it perform in terms of sharpness?
Being a avid manual lens fan myself, some first hand opinion would be greatly appreciate! 
If this lens is as good as it seems, it could definitely be a great christmas present from myself to myself; although I still love my good old SMC 50mm f/1.7 (my first lens, with which I started photography, with a Pentax K-1000), I could definitely use an upgrade in term of bokeh capacity.
Thanks a lot, and yet again, congratulation on the awesome photos!

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

The Helios produces the most unique bokeh of any lens I have used and is also very sharp wide open.  It is also quite versatile, because stopped down it has less "character" and just becomes a sharp prime.  Color rendering has a Zeiss quality.  Considering I got mine for $25 shipped from Russia, it is also an amazing value.  It is an awesome portrait lens.

[Artifex]

Thank you very much! I checked and found a few at about 40/50$.
In term of adapter, what do you use? I say that there were some
AF-confirm adapter in M42 mount at 5/10$. Do you know if they
work correctly? Having focus confirmation could definitely be a plus!
Thanks again for the help!

[dr croubie]

Thank you very much! I checked and found a few at about 40/50$.
In term of adapter, what do you use? I say that there were some
AF-confirm adapter in M42 mount at 5/10$. Do you know if they
work correctly? Having focus confirmation could definitely be a plus!
Thanks again for the help!

For adapters, almost anything for $2 from China will do. Some of the lower-quality metals can get jammed on your camera and/or lens (but i've never had a problem on Canon bodies, mostly that applies to m42 on Pentax K bodies).
For AF chips, same thing applies, pay next to nothing and get a basic chip.

But for the best, I'd look for one by 'ml-gvalt' on ebay. They're still fairly cheap, but the AF confirm works great, you can set the EXIF data to read anything (ie I've got one set to 50/1.4 on my Tak, 85/1.5 on my Cyclop, 35/1.4 on my Samyang). They also work with ETTL Flash, although I've never tried flash with a different chip, and you can AF Micro-Adjust from within the Chip, if you've got a 60D or less without AF MicroAdjust in the body. They're a bit weird to program, but once you get used to it it gets easier.

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

One thing of interest:  a disproportionate amount of my Explored imaged on Flickr have been with my M42 lens.  To date I have had 69 Explores, 18 of which have been with M42 lens.  M42 uploads on Flickr account for less than 90 of my over 700 uploads.

Now Flickr Explore is a strange animal (I'm not as excited about it as I once was), so I don't know if being M42 adds to the "interestingness", but I suspect that at least part of the equation is that the M42 glass often gives images a slightly unique look that people instinctively like.

This is most prominent with my Helios uploads.  Over time I have uploaded 8 images; 5 of those have been Explored.  Of course, nothing really produced images quite like the Helios 44-2.  It is the epitome of a "character" lens.

[Artifex]

@ dr crouble: Thanks for the advice! Since I barely use the EXIF data and don't missed them that much with my samyangs, and I work in manual mode with my flash, I will probably get some cheap one from China (it might also have something to do with the fact that I'm fairly poor!)

@ TWI by Dustin Abbott: I guess it as to do with the fact that these lens produce a different "look" that modern lens; it makes the photos more unique because it doesn't have the "look" of today's lens. Also, but this might only apply to me, I feel that the more time I spend preparing per photo, the better they are; having to choose the exposure and to focus manually give's me more time to think about the photo itself, what I want to express by it and how I can do it. This is one of the reason I mostly use manual lens, aside from the fact they are far cheaper. Personally, I rather shoot 30 photos and have 1 great than shooting 100 and have 50 okay, but nothing better!

[AprilForever]

@ dr crouble: Thanks for the advice! Since I barely use the EXIF data and don't missed them that much with my samyangs, and I work in manual mode with my flash, I will probably get some cheap one from China (it might also have something to do with the fact that I'm fairly poor!)

@ TWI by Dustin Abbott: I guess it as to do with the fact that these lens produce a different "look" that modern lens; it makes the photos more unique because it doesn't have the "look" of today's lens. Also, but this might only apply to me, I feel that the more time I spend preparing per photo, the better they are; having to choose the exposure and to focus manually give's me more time to think about the photo itself, what I want to express by it and how I can do it. This is one of the reason I mostly use manual lens, aside from the fact they are far shaper. Personally, I rather shoot 30 photos and have 1 great than shooting 100 and have 50 okay, but nothing better!

I know what you mean; the distinctive bokeh is really quite to love!

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

I went out in some early morning fog the other day for a shoot.  It was raining and cold, so I had my Tamron 24-70mm VC lens mounted on the camera and threw my Super Tak 150mm into a pocket.  It is fantastic to be able to have a competent telephoto compact enough to GO in a pocket!  Anyway, here is one of my results from the shoot using the Super Takumar 150mm f/4 mounted on a Canon 5D MKII:


Swallowed by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr