Super Takumar 70-150 F4 Zoom M42

[old student]

Would anyone have any technical information, specifications sheets,

etc, or know where I can acquire same on this lens. Not available

from Pentax. Checked all product info that I could find to no avail.

Having access to this forum is making my return to photography after

40 years a WHOLE lot easier than when I first started.

Thanks for the forum.

Thank you all for your responses.

Joe Ray

[stemked]

If you are looking for a manual that you can't find at Pentax's site or at ebay the best place to look is:

 

http://www.craigcamera.com/

 

A very general comment-SECOND HAND- on old Takumar screw mount zooms. Unlike Takumar primes screw mount Takumar zooms don't seem to have a lot of supporters. I suspect that since these lenses were developed pre-computer days and that they are optically much more complex than primes that they aren't stellar lenses. I hope I'm wrong, of course, if you have already purchased the lens. I normally recommend screw mount users looking into zooms to look at Tamron adaptol zooms as they have been developed using computer technologies. Again, this is more an educated guess than anything else.

[erwin_vereecken]

According to Gerjan van Oostens book: the ultimate Asahi Pentax screwmount guide, it was the first ever Pentax zoom lens, introduced 1964. The description says that it's a lens with very good optical qualities, but...

It's big and heavy (1060 gram withouth tripod mount, 67mm filter)

it's slow at f4.5

it only focusses to 3.5meter (1.9 with dedicated close up lens)

 

so all in all it's probably not that usefull.

The later 85-210 f4.5 is probably a sliglty better choice (fabulous optics according to the same book), because it's a bit lighter (58mm filter), and has a better range for a lens that can't focus close (same close focus limits)

 

hope this helps,

 

Erwin

[old student]

Thanks Douglas and Erwin. I am awaiting a reply from John Craig.

Yes it does seem to have great optics through the viewfinder that is, just shot a roll of TRI-X. We'll see! Tried a close up lens and it was very sharp. Guess I'll add this to the collection and play around with it occasionally, it should be fun. Hope to find published data someday.It is too bad that Pentax isn't supporting services for their older products any longer.

Regards,

[smc1]

<p>I have one of these on the way to me now, and will post some pics asap</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd share info I found on <a href="http://www.whitemetal.com/">another site</a> . For one thing, I think as Erwin said, it's f/4.5 rather than f/4. And it <a href="http://www.whitemetal.com/pentax/stz_70~150_45/index.htm">looks to be</a> a huge beast, especially when compared to the relatively small k-mount M75-150/4 which is no optical slouch. It would be disappointing if something so large and complex, apparently designed without great concern for physical size & weight or complexity (14 elements) wasn't at least 'pretty good'. Scott, I'd love to see your pics with it.</p>

[smc1]

<p>Wow, the lens looks brand new, I scratched attaching the tripod mount. (oops)<br /> The attached photo is hand-held, wide open, unedited (shrunk to 20% of original) and not-quite in focus as I was unprepared. <br /> I will post more images soon.</p><div></div>

[smc1]

<p>Lol, I got a bit excited there - the above is a pic from my newly arrived 300mm 6.3 Tele-Takumar (= 480 on my EOS 10D).<br>

Oops.<br>

I'll post 'test' pics from the 70-150 asa it arrives, within a few days.. </p>

[smc1]

<p>Erk, woops. this lens is a bit of a pig. Very heavy , cumbersome is the word. And it doesn't help that some genius has taken it apart and reassembeled it with the distance markings out of whack. Anyway, <br>

The image <em>quality </em>is fine, though. I'll get behind it over the coming weekend and post some shots. <br>

Joe, I guess I'm looking for a manual/spec sheet too, so I can try to figure out how to put this thing back together properly. <br>

I'm sticking to Takumar primes. </p>