Are Takumar lenses any good?
Are Takumar lenses any 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.
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.
Is the Super Takumar 55 1.8 Radioactive?
Yes it is. One thing that I was surprised to learn about the Super-Takumar 55mm f1. 8 – after I’d bought it – was its radioactivity. A yellowing of the glass is a sign of this.
What is a radioactive lens?
Lenses with elements made of radioisotope-containing glass Some lenses of the 1960s, such as early Minolta Rokkor lenses, have elements to made of glass formulas which include small traces of radioactive rare-earth elements. Sometimes this incidental radioactivity causes a significant browning of these lens elements.
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.
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 old camera lenses radioactive?
If you use vintage lenses, you might have heard that some of them are radioactive. As a matter of fact, many lenses produced between the 1940s and the 1970s emit a measurable amount of radioactivity. It comes from the element named Thorium, which was used in the glass elements of the lenses.
Are thorium lenses safe?
Most smaller lenses with thorium elements pose a negligible risk to human health. However, thoriated glass eyepieces are significantly more dangerous. They can give a very large alpha and beta particle dose to the cornea of the eye, potentially causing cataracts and other problems.
When did they stop using thorium in camera lenses?
The production of such lenses seems to have ended in the late 1980s. Camera lenses known to have contained thorium include: Canon FL 58mm f1.
Is Super Takumar radioactive?
Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 (All 7-element variants contain Thorium – thoriated glass!, no 8-element variants contain thorium.) Some lenses have tested (moderately) radioactive, others have tested not radioactive: The hot ones…
Is the Takumar 50mm Super-Multi-Coated?
The Takumar 50mm F1.4 is a fast normal lens produced in two “Super” versions as well as two versions with Super-Multi-Coating. Some Super-Multi-Coated lenses with product code 37902 are labelled “Multi-Coated Super-Takumar”, see the fourth photo above.
What is the Asahi SMC-Takumar 50mm lens?
The Asahi SMC-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 is a legendary M42-mount lens made by Pentax in the mid-1960’s through the mid-1970’s. There are four different versions of the Takumar 50mm f/1.4 that were manufactured. The first version is optically different from the three that followed.
Is the Pentax Super Takumar a good lens?
Asahi Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 Lens Review 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.
Is the Takumar M42 lens worth it?
However, in a testament to the its build quality, neither of these issues seem to have much of an impact on its operation or resultant images. Even with these imperfections, the Takumar has quickly became one of my favourite M42 lenses.