What is Super Takumar?
What is Super Takumar?
The Super Takumar is a 50mm f1. 4 lens that was released by the Asahi Optical Co. in the 1960s. It has garnered something of a legendary reputation online, and is known for its sharpness, bokeh, and propensity for flare.
Are super Takumar lenses good?
The Super-Takumar is a good looking lens with excellent build and mechanical quality. Optically it has that vintage “character” that some like but others might not. I like its decent sharpness wide open (which becomes excellent stopped down), good CA resistance, and good bokeh.
Which Takumar lenses are radioactive?
Radioactive Pentax and Takumar lenses.
| Lens | Serial | radioactive |
|---|---|---|
| SMC takumar 1:1.8/55 | 7081998 | yes |
| super-multi-coated-takumar 1:1.4/50 | 4958706 | yes |
| SMC takumar 1:1.4/50 | 7780013 | yes |
| super-takumar 1:2/35 | 1258114 | yes |
What is a Takumar lens?
Takumar lenses were made in M37 screwmount for the original Asahiflex cameras and continued into the M42 period. Auto-Takumar lenses were a type of preset lens. The user selected an aperture then engaged a lever to energise the stopping-down mechanism.
Are all Takumar lenses radioactive?
Until Canon started making CaF2 and other non-radioactive doped glass lenses were developed, Thorium oxide doped glass was about the only ED glass known. Re: Are all Takumar lenses radioactive? Yogi Berra might have put it this way: “Only the ones that are, all the rest aren’t.”
Why are old lenses radioactive?
Radioactivity in lanthanum containing lenses is due to the intentional inclusion of thorium in the optical glass mix. The presence of thorium can sometimes, depending on the mixture of other elements in the lens, cause moderate to severe browning of the lens elements.
Are Mamiya lenses radioactive?
The only radioactive lenses we found in my collection were Mamiya/Sekor 50mm f1. The device could identify the radioactive element, which is, no wonder notorious Thorium-232.
How can you tell if a lens is radioactive?
But first, how do you know if your lens contains Thorium? If you can see yellowish tint on the glass, this means your lens contains this element. Thorium was used to improve the image quality, but the downside is that it becomes yellowish with time. And, well, that it’s radioactive.
Are vintage lenses safe?
Through repeated use and handling, these lenses can expose the users to a variety of alpha and beta particles close to their organs which could easily be avoided by opting to not use these types of lenses.
Which is Asahi Super Takumar 50mm F1.4?
Asahi Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 is one of those lenses with a pronounced character. There is something that makes it unique, apart of outstanding build quality. Question is, should you spent around 100 USD this days for an radioactive lens, that certainly does live to its reputation but its not miles ahead of cheaper and less risky competitors?
Can a Super Takumar 50mm be used on a Spotmatic?
Asahi Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 Model I Handling and Features. Introduced along with the then-new Pentax Spotmatic, this lens has a small caveat attached to its use on early film cameras. It can only be used on pre-Spotmatic S1a/H1a and SV/H3v film bodies that have the new crescent shaped push plate to activate the stop down pin.
What kind of lens is the Super Takumar?
The Super Takumar is a 50mm f1.4 lens that was released by the Asahi Optical Co. in the 1960s. It has garnered something of a legendary reputation online, and is known for its sharpness, bokeh, and propensity for flare.
Where to find the m on a Takumar 50mm?
This is nicely illustrated in the second image above. This 8 element version can also be identified on the slightly protruding rear lens element and on the stop down switch, which is marked A M (rather than Auto Man as on the later versions).