Hey, I'm back after a little bit of a hiatus and as you can see - I've made some
changes to the home studio. Anyway, this is probably my favorite walk-around lens
and today I'm going to try to figure out why.
This isn't really anything too special of a lens. It isn't one of those ones that everyone says
you NEED to have in your collection, although it does have its fans, which I would have to say I'm
among. It's relatively cheap and rather common. It's the super-multi-coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Made from 1971-75, this wide lens has an m42
universal screw mount. The optical formula is seven elements in seven groups.
It has a five blade automatic aperture that goes from f/3.5 to f/16. A49mm filter thread, and
a minimum focus distance of 40cm (16") and they have that usual Takumar build... brass and glass.
When going on trips (remember those)
my Pentax Spotmatic II is usually by my side, and this is generally attached to it.
It's seen action in Toronto... and New York.
I feel that the 28mm focal length really shines on the streets. To me everything looks grand through
it. It's wide - but not exaggerated. Now, I usually use this for shooting on black and
white film and I don't think I've ever actually tried it digitally, so let's do something about
that...
Let's take a closer look. Here are a few images I shot - straight out of the camera.
If you'd like to check them out for yourself head over to my website,
there's a link in the description below. First off I'd like to note that I shot
these on an aps-c camera. I'm using a speed booster to reclaim the full frame.
Flaws could possibly be attributed to or exacerbated by it... Although,
the focal reducer that I'm using is, in my experience, pretty clean.
Overall there's good contrast. It's acceptably sharp in the center, although it gets a little
smeary towards the edges. I took this one to see how it flares and honestly i'm pretty impressed.
There's still a bunch of contrast here and the ghosts aren't that bad.
I did find that it takes a little bit of work to consistently nail focus.
Chromatic aberration is definitely present.
Fortunately, this is something that can be easily mitigated with post-processing.
This lens definitely has its flaws and i'm not really sure if i can recommend it for
adapting to digital, but I still stand by it when matched up with the body that it was meant for.
It's been said that the best camera is the one that you have with you - so by extension,
I guess the best lens is the one that's attached to that camera.
With its compact size and it's not-too-wide field of view,
my Takumar 28mm f 3.5 will continue to spend most of its time where it belongs... right here.
Thank you so much for watching. I've been working really hard on trying to step up
these videos and I appreciate your support, so please like, share, and subscribe. New
videos come out on Thursdays - not necessarily every Thursday -but hey, I'll see you then.