Super Takumar 105 f2.8 on a Spotmatic

[gib]

two versions of the same image - Veterans' Parade

<p><I>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/3626194">cropped</a>

<p>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/3626232">wider

version</a>

</I>

<p>not sure I did as good a job of scanning the negative as I had thought.

<p>

I do remember how bright the sun was and how hard it was to use the

EVF on a Nikon 5700, forget the LCD, but the Spotmatic viewfinder with

a 105 and a 50 1.4 was plain perfect

<p>

Do you have a preference for the wide or the cropped version?<p>

[summitar]

I much prefer the wider version. The Takumar performed well.

[h._p.]

The wider version works better for me, too.

[dennis_gallus]

I like both photos but prefer the added context of the wider shot.

 

I try to avoid joining cults for any particular lens or camera, but there's something about a 100 or 105mm lens that really helps establish the correct relationship with an animate subject. I just returned from a 4-H national contest at which I took about 300 photos of the teen-age competitors using my 105mm/2.5 Nikkor. Results are very fine. If I had to make the terrible choice of only one lens for my SLR, that might be the keeper.

 

Did the parade yield any other good stuff?

Regards,

Dennis

[xenotar28]

The wider version works better for me. Very good shot.

[gib]

thanks for the feedback.

 

Dennis, yes, the rest of the photos from that day are in the same folder here on PN. Some taken with a 50mm Pentax lens, others with a Nikon 5700, just go back via the link above and then click on the folder for that photo to see the rest.

[stephen_kruft]

I prefer the wider.

 

This 105 is an excellent lens and I did many portraits with one - in fact I took my portrait class using the same outfit.

[crackers_.]

Not only does the wider version add context but it provides a dramatic contrast between the vet clutching a walker and the chap to his right who still has snap.

[larrydressler]

Notice the guy in the walker is still in step with the others. Great timeing in your snap or this is how us Old Vets still walk with the world. I prefer the Wide view I just ordered a 105 from the Former Soviet republic for about 15 bucks 25 with shipping it will work fine on my Mamiyas my Screw mounts and Kiev cameras.I have a 90mm lens for my Kiev 60 that I use on my Nikon mounts with and adaptor that I like. It is what I call "1 step farther away without compression" using an 85mm-105mm on a 35mm also using the larger format lens the Kiev 90mm on the 35mm I lose the edge fall off of most lenses .

[summitar]

Small world. I brought in a couple of SLRs to my favorite camera repair shop today, and noticed he had a used spotmatic soft leather case for sale. I purchased it and the owner mentioned that he had a very nice SMC Takumar 105/2.8 for sale. Encouraged by your results, I am now the proud owner of that item, also. I have to keep reminding myself that I retired 2 weeks ago, and my emphasis should be on using, not acquiring. I am much more invested in the Canon FD line, but there is some indescribable way that the spotmatics just fit naturally in my hands.

[gib]

My first SLR was a Pentax SP1000 in 1975, bought after a summer working construction on the Athabasca Tar Sands in northern Alberta. It was my camera for my last two years of university in Toronto. Had to sell it. I should have stuck with that camera. You are right about the feel.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, I appreciate it.

[larrydressler]

Cannons always did not fit the hands of this person properly. Enjoy your retirement show us the fruits of your labor.

[gib]

I remember when the Canon AE-1 was selling like hot cakes and several times holding examples that belonged to friends and not liking how they fit my hands.

 

After the Spotmatic I shot with a Yashica Electro G35 and then I think I went to a Yashica FR. Very heavy solid, good feel in the hands camera, electronic shutter, manual operation and three LEDs in the viewfinder. Then a step over sideways for the Nikon FG.

[david_m]

The front of people is generally more interesting than the back. I think if you had photographed the people coming toward the camera, the photo would have been 100 times better. I've not used the 105mm Takumar but the 100mm Fujinon is an excellent lens

[gib]

well, you may be right, but if I shot from the front the veteran in the rear would have been too small to see, and the flag bearers would have been the largest element. The background to the parade was quite poor and distracting. The angle I chose showed the trailing veteran and then receded to the small colours of the flags. That was my intention and that was why I made the shot the way I did.

[john_smullen]

I agree - the shot from the back tells a much more interesting story about the participants while still reminding us that it is a veterans day parade.

 

Front parade shots are usually picture postcard stuff.