A new lens to end the year…
I have been watching a bunch of YouTube channels by other lens aficionados (in particular this one) and have started looking at some more of the vintage Japanese lenses that are available, in particular those made by Asahi-Pentax from the late 50s to the 70s for the Pentax M42 mount, the “Takumar” series.
I used a little of my Christmas money and, after much research on eBay to find some at reasonable prices, have bought a couple 🙂
I bought this one on Sunday, and the seller in Japan messaged me to apologize that Fedex was closed so he would have to send it via DHL- and it arrived yesterday, less than 48 hours later!
This is an Auto-Takumar 35mm f/2.3 that I am very excited about! When it was introduced in 1958 it was the first and fastest retrofcus wide-angle lens available and cemented Pentax as the “must-have” camera for reporters. It was manufactured from 1958-1963 (or 1959-1962, depending on which website you believe), but based on the serial number on mine it was one of the last batches to be made so it is probably a 1963, making it the same age as me 🙂
I took it out in the woods this morning, and though conditions were not ideal I got some quite pleasing shots:
But it is this one that excites me the most as it hints at what this lens is capable of-
Look at that lovely flare- and the extraordinary quality of the bokeh!
I took a couple around the Christmas tree yesterday when the lens first arrived to see this effect, they are not good pictures, but they do give an idea of what you can do-
It is going to take some work to understand this effect properly and see how to make this work when I want it to, but I can’t wait for some proper winter sunshine (and the spring to come) to play around with this 🙂