M42 equivalents

[joey1]

<p>Ok, I've been reading up on Pentax screw mount lenses and am chomping at the bit to try out these legendary optics. I have Nikkors in the AI and AI-s manual focus mounts, 28mm F2.0, 50mm F1.4 105mm F2.8 Micro and 85mm F1.4, all purchased over a lifetime of shooting. What would be the equivalent to these in terms of sharpness and bokeh, where applicable? I've heard complimentary comments on the Pentax M42 mount for the 35mm F2.0, 55mm 1.8, and 135mm F3.5, all in the Super Takumar or SMC designation. Your comments and first hand observations would be most appreciated! Thank-you!</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>Joey, I have a full set of both Pentax SMC M42 Takumar lenses AND Nikkor AI-s lenses. Save your money, you are not missing anything with your Nikkors.</p>

<p>I still use the Takumars, basically, because I like to use several Pentax film cameras, an F and ESII. If you want to use these old film cameras than by all means get the SMC lenses. The SMC coating is better and with my Pentax cameras they allow open aperture metering. The SMC 50mm f/1.4 is especially nice although it has a tendency to yellow. <strong>All</strong> the SMC Takumars are excellent. Great image and build quality.</p>

<p>If you want to adapt them to your Nikon camera, film or digital, save your coin. Your Nikkors are optically every bit as good, maybe a bit better, and adapt well to a wide range of cameras and, naturally, work perfectly with Nikon cameras.</p>

<p>One thing I have noticed over years of use with both set of lenses is the lubricants in the focusing helicoil of the Takumars, that controls dampening, seems to hold up better over the years than the Nikkors. I've had a number of Nikkors serviced where no SMC Tak has needed service for this problem and focus as smoothly today as when I bought them. </p>

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[starvy]

<p>You have to bear in mind that all opinion on the pleasing look produced by individuals are subjective and often an emotional response in offering praise as we have already spent money on a particular brand. The Japanese glass you have is likely to be as good as anything from any of the other top manufacturers. I sincerely believe that the best glass from all the major Japanese brands are close within a hair's breath when it comes to the look.<br>

What you would discover with the Zeiss and other European manufacturers might be a different a smoother bokeh at times, however, as I say above, this is very subjective. The good news is that most of the lenses would not cost you much compared to your Nikon lenses and might well turn out to be very pleasing performers. You could also have Russian copies of Zeiss lenses in M42 mount for very little.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Perhaps some lens makers have more "hits" than some others, but on the whole the classic lens designs are "used" or "borrowed" pretty much across the line, so that many lens makers have produced their version of the classic Zeiss "Olympic" Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 lens or the Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2 lens. In fact, when you see a lens from someone that is 180mm f/2.8 or 58mm f/2 lens, your first impression that these were originally at least "homages" is usually justified.<br /> But the point is that they are mostly pretty good, at least those made with some effort at quality control, and computer aided design has made the process much more equal. So as Starvy and Louis say, much of the choice nowadays is down to fine points such as kind of bokeh, coatings, and the like.</p>

<p>If you look at the tests of contemporary lenses at places like Photozone.de, you see that we have come a long way from the old days.</p>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>Joey, as others have said, it's really, really subjective. I do not care at all for the newer glass of any manufacturer. All I see is that most of it supposedly sharper and contrastier, at the expense of image quality. How sharp does a lens have to be? A lot of glass I own may, or may not, be the sharpest around, but I like the way it images, and all of it has smooth bokeh. The only way you're going to find out about the Pentax stuff is to buy it, test it, and see if it fits into your idea of good image quality. </p>