Pentax Super Takumar 50mm 1.4, 8 Element Version {photowalk} {shoot wide open} {review}

I have a weakness for fast vintage lenses.

These aren’t meant to be reviews so much as real world samples with a bit of commentary — to help you decide whether or not this lens is for you (and to remind me of the character of each lens before I reach for it).

My frustration with vintage lens reviews is that they all tend to be of the same flowers at close focusing distance and that doesn’t give a realistic portrayal of what the lens does in other situations, so these are all taken on photo walks in NYC, mostly as day turns to night.

This lens is excellent, but on the Sony exhibits what appears to be spherical aberration in the highlight areas, most likely coming from a the sensor reflecting light back into the lens.

All photos Straight out of Camera {SOOC} on the Sony A7, resized for the web in Lightroom. Oh and I didn’t use a lens hood.

The Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 8 Element exhibits considerable glow when photographing bright objects. To my eyes this looks like spherical aberration, but it seems mostly in the highlights and give some of the photos a dreamy look. This glow isn’t evident in all the photos, just some. This is most likely a reflection from the sensor (not a fault of the lens per-se since they didn’t design for digital sensors).

NYC fruit trees.

Sharp wide open. Notice the cats-eye bokeh & the glow in the ATM sign.

May not have nailed focus, but name your aberration.

Chromatic aberration. Quite like the vintage look — a bit of color toning or in monochrome (or shot on film) this would be quite a good character lens.

Focused on the thing that takes the metrocard in side the bus. A bit of spherical aberration glow in the out of focus foreground elements (the bus itself).

Bokehballs a plenty.

Creamy bokeh, a little busy. A bit of reduced contrast. Compass rose shape ghosting.

Contrasty and sunstars and a bit of glow wide open in the middle to far distance, again purple fringing.

Sharp and contrasty wide open, shallow depth of focus, more bokehballs.

Surveillance State. Reduced contrast from veiled flaring — probably over-exposed too.

Compass Rose shaped ghosting close to the light source and “lighter flame” shaped ghosting across the horizontal axis — interesting that it’s not in the opposite corner, but rather on the opposite side. Reduced contrast due to veiled flaring. This cube rotates.

Considerable “glow-keh” — it’s a term, I’m coining it. This lens seems especially susceptible to it in the foreground / in front of the focal plane.

Veiled flaring, ghosting, and it looks like spherical aberration — quite pleasing all in all though.

Sharp and contrasty with glow in the bright highlights.

#Bokehballs for breakfast.

#doubledutchessnyc

Surveillance State. Again looks like spherical aberration.