1958 Takumar 200mm f/3.5 Preset lens....
Jan 21, 2015 12:42:51 #
Reading another members thread about his efforts at restoring some old lenses made me mount my old Takumar 200mm f/3.5 Preset lens and go out into the back yard to have some fun.
This is a lens design from 1958, incredibly the lens only has 4 elements in 4 groups. For those of you who do not know what a preset lens is you may notice that the lens has two aperture dials, this was a design employed prior to auto apertures, you would set the first aperture dial to the desired aperture setting, it would not actually close the iris but simply act as a stop for the second dial, you would then focus with the lens wide open and turn the second dial closing the diaphragm just prior to depressing the shutter button. Another unique feature of these lenses was the number of aperture blades that they had, this particular lens has 18 blades and makes perfect little balls of light.
I am going to attach 2 images of the lens and 3 sample images I shot this morning in the yard, I encourage downloading the image to inspect for quality, your thoughts are welcome.
This is a lens design from 1958, incredibly the lens only has 4 elements in 4 groups. For those of you who do not know what a preset lens is you may notice that the lens has two aperture dials, this was a design employed prior to auto apertures, you would set the first aperture dial to the desired aperture setting, it would not actually close the iris but simply act as a stop for the second dial, you would then focus with the lens wide open and turn the second dial closing the diaphragm just prior to depressing the shutter button. Another unique feature of these lenses was the number of aperture blades that they had, this particular lens has 18 blades and makes perfect little balls of light.
I am going to attach 2 images of the lens and 3 sample images I shot this morning in the yard, I encourage downloading the image to inspect for quality, your thoughts are welcome.
Jan 21, 2015 12:48:56 #
Jan 21, 2015 12:57:01 #
ebbote wrote:
Wow Geff, Very good and sharp lens.
Thanks Earnest, I often think that I am going to sell all these old lenses and then I make the mistake of mounting one... I have newer high quality lenses that cover the same focal lengths but it is hard to part with these old beauties.
Jan 21, 2015 13:03:45 #
Jan 21, 2015 13:11:16 #
Jan 21, 2015 13:12:13 #
Yeah, I've got some old Pre Set lenses too. With lots of iris blades as well...I concur with you in that they are hard to part with...
Jan 21, 2015 13:21:59 #
Screamin Scott wrote:
Yeah, I've got some old Pre Set lenses too. With lots of iris blades as well...I concur with you in that they are hard to part with...
I know you do Scott, LOL... I have seen the pics of the cabinet, you can just color me jealous. What is really a shame is that I have a Canon FD 17mm f/4 and unfortunately it won't work on my EOS camera, what a waste..... It will find its way to ebay, but I think that I am going to have it CLA'd first, the focus is very stiff, but I have seen these go for as much as $500 on ebay.
Jan 21, 2015 13:29:06 #
Get yourself a mirrorless camera & an adapter... That's what I do with a lot of my older lenses that won't work on my Nikon DSLR's
Blurryeyed wrote:
I know you do Scott, LOL... I have seen the pics of the cabinet, you can just color me jealous. What is really a shame is that I have a Canon FD 17mm f/4 and unfortunately it won't work on my EOS camera, what a waste..... It will find its way to ebay, but I think that I am going to have it CLA'd first, the focus is very stiff, but I have seen these go for as much as $500 on ebay.
Jan 21, 2015 13:32:34 #
Screamin Scott wrote:
Get yourself a mirrorless camera & an adapter... That's what I do with a lot of my older lenses that won't work on my Nikon DSLR's
Yes, that is a solution but then it would be a 34mm lens and not so special anymore, I so wanted to be able to mount it on my 6D and found a company that sells glassless adapters for Canon lenses, but it would only allow focus to 1.5 ft, hardly sufficient so I will just sell it, it came in a lot with 4 other lenses, of course this was the lens I was eyeing when I won the auction. It looks almost new.
Jan 21, 2015 14:13:05 #
Blurryeyed wrote:
This is a lens design from 1958, incredibly the le... (show quote)
It takes a bit getting used to the process of manually stopping down the aperture before taking each shot... I sometimes still forget to do so with the Helios lens on my Zenit-E camera, and end up with an over-exposed frame or two on each roll. Usually I realize what happened within seconds after releasing the shutter.
These images are really fantastic. Which is exactly what one expects from the old Takumars!
Jan 21, 2015 14:15:37 #
Jan 22, 2015 06:10:14 #
Don't ever get rid of it! I just got ahold of an auscjena 50 1.7 and I know the feeling of using an old lens
Jan 22, 2015 06:17:00 #
Trippy, what a beautiful iris that lens has. That baby predates any of my Super Takumars. Mine are from the early to mid Seventies I would guess and all have Auto-irises with that open-closed switch. Actually that feature is less confusing to use on my DSLR Pentax cameras than trying to use K-mount K & M series lenses. You are not always sure what is being metered, i.e., with the iris wide open or stopped down. You know with the old M42 lenses or with Asahi A and F series lenses. Old things in general were better made.
Jan 22, 2015 06:26:59 #
Jan 22, 2015 07:23:53 #
Just AMAZING pics! Do NOT get rid of that Pentax lens! I have a perhaps newer Super Takumar 200 mm f/4. I just got inspired to use it again. I will compare the pics with yours. Thank you for your article.
All the best,
Dr. Robert Svensson
All the best,
Dr. Robert Svensson
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