MY 135MM PENTAX/TAKUMAR VINTAGE SET

I'm not quite sure now how I actually started on this path. I think I initially stumbled on a youtube video of cinematographers re-purposing vintage lenses for use with their cine cameras due high cost of actual cine lenses. 

From there I found a cinematographer actually acuiring and testing these lenses. And then I went to find zenography youtube channel which review these 60 year old vintage lenses for photography and bokeh.

So along the way I rediscovered ebay and throughout 4 weeks acquired these superb Asahi Pentax SMC and Takumar lenses: 

1. Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 135mm f2.5 M42

2. Asahi Pentax Super Takumar 135mm f3.5 M42

3. Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 135mm f3.5 M42 2nd unit

4. SMC Pentax 135mm f2.5 K 1st unit

5. SMC Pentax 135mm f2.5 K 2nd unit

6. SMC Pentax 135mm f3.5 K 

7. Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 M42

8. Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 28mm f3.5 M42

Asahi Pentax SMC and Takumar in one box, not pictured here is the 28mm. Also there's a Jupiter 37A on the bottom far right.

 Along the way I picked up a Konica Hexanon, Carl Zeis Jena Sonnar+Tessar, Olympus Zuiko as well as a Nikkor AI and Vivitar AI.

The old SMC Pentax and Takumars are a joy to use openwide, and I have been making 4k25p as well as 1080p50 youtube videos capturing autumn from my front porch. The bokeh produced is amazingly beautiful and the focus tack sharp. Hamdling if old skool via manual focusing but they are all smooth like butter. 

I hope to be making more videos with these old vintage lenses, I think I have all I  need (and then some) as far as lenses are concerned to be able to do so productively.

Bokeh OOF at maximum aperture

Part of the driver for my acquisition of standard lenses was the perspective you get in portraiture and street photography. The other part is my feeble attempt at trying to put some life into my images ... so it doesn't feel stale and exact. At that point of my photography I was trying to escape the "perfect" sharp edge to edge images that I've been making with the system I had at the time.

At one point I felt that the perfect lens produced the perfect photographs that feels rather dry, dead and technical. That led to the complete sell-off of all of my Nikon prime lenses. With the help of ebay, I turned to vintages glasses, the standard 50mm and 80mm. Most of these lenses were formulated and manufactured even before I was born, technically "imperfect" as they are well cared for specimens are still much sought after until today.

In that vein I thought it'd be pretty cool to collect oof images for the various 50mm lenses, so here they are in one post :

Olympus OM 28/2.8

Canon FD 35/2.0

Leica L39 Elmar 50/3.5

Leica M Summicron 50/2.0

Leica L39 Summar 50/1.9

Canon LM Serenar 50/1.9 : stack f/1.9+f/11.0

Canon EF50/1.2

Canon FD50/1.8

Minolta MC ROKKOR-X PG 58/1.2

Nikon AIS 50/1.8

Nikon AIS 50/1.8

Nikon AIS 50/1.8

Samyang AF85/1.4

Minolta MC ROKKOR-PF 85/1.7

Leica R Elmarit 90/2.8

Olympus OM 100/2.8

Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-Q Auto 135/3.5

Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-Q Auto 135/3.5

Leica Elmarit R 135/2.8

Sigma Art 135/1.8