A gift! Do I want it????

Kin Lau said:
Super Taks are probably the best of the M42 mount lenses. Only _some_ of the 50/1.4's have radioactive elements, so I you look thru it and it's not yellow, then it's fine (don't be fooled by the coating reflecting yellow, that's normal).

As for health hazzards, only if you neglect your girlfriend and she throws one of those lenses at you... it'll hurt 🙂.
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No question they were good lenses. However, so were the Yashica Yashinons (not Yashikors) of the early to mid 70s, and they are also M42 lenses. The Fujinon line of screw mount lenses would match anybody elses lenses also, which is one of the reasons they aren't as easy to come by.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Great cameras, lazy shutters: every SV I have owned (3) has had a VERY slow shutter (1+ stops). Lenses very good for reflexes of the period but not in the Leica class.

Cheers,

Roger
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Those are the pre-metered Pentax cameras (the HV being the US line as I recall). I had one that worked when I got it, and I don't remember that the shutter was off. It could have been. That was about 25 years ago, and I doubt I put more than 1 or 2 rolls through it if any, as I had a Yashica TL Super and a Fujica ST 901 which were my normal use SLR cameras. They did make aux light meters that fit atop the pentaprism. There was a round one and a more square one, which came with the SV I had. I think I remember that might have been about 1 to 1 1/2 stop off.
 
oftheherd said:
The Fujinon line of screw mount lenses would match anybody elses lenses also, which is one of the reasons they aren't as easy to come by.
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Agreed... I have 2 Fujinon's, an EBC & non-EBC, both 55/1.8. My SMC Super-Tak is a 55/2 with a 28/3.5 on the way.

Speaking of m42's, any ever tried a Mir-24M, a 35/2 Russian lense? I've just received one.
 
I've always heard good things about the Fujinons too but I've never owned one. I'm not putting the 55 Super-Takumars down, just warning that the praise they receive from some people will not, perhaps, be echoed by everyone who has tried them. Then again, I love the 35/1.4 last-generation pre-aspheric -- easily my favourite lens -- and that is one that is widely slagged off by others. A lot depends on what you shoot and how.

Cheers,

Roger
 
This is a list of photographic lenses which utiulize Thorium elements.:

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer products/cameralens.htm

I found one in my Pentax collection, but it is so beat-up that I've never used it.

One of the problems I've had with acquiring M42 lenses is that some of them were not built to be heavily used. There are a lot M42 lenses out there that are mechanically worn out. M42 Pentax lenses were built very well, but many were used heavily and show the wear. Fujinon's were also built well as are Chinons, but they seem to have been marketed more strongly in Europe than in the US.

If anyone is really concernd about radioactive Takumar's, send them to me and I'll see that they are disposed of properly.

-Paul
 
In the SLR range, I tend to prefer Canon FD mount primes - but I will always respect my prized Pentax 55mm 1.8, 50mm f1.4 (ST, not SMCT, complete with radiation), and especially 35mm f2.

The 55mm f1.8 is easily the closest-focusing 50~58mm lens I have, bar none. Both the 55 and the 50 are excellent wide-open - sometimes I shoot wide-open at distant objects and can scarcely tell that I didn't stop down as I normally would. The 50mm f1.4 is better wide-open than any other f1.4 lens I've ever used (wide-open) - how's that for an endorsement?

Not in the same class as Leica? I can't say, never having owned a Leica camera or classic 50mm Leitz glass. Better than my Leitz Hektor 135 f4.5, anyway.

At the moment, though, the lens on my (Pentax *ist DS) camera is a Spiratone 105mm f2.5 in M42 - so what do *I* know about lenses? I'm a freakin' Philistine!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Somebody indicated (I think) that the radioactive elements weren't used after the SV versions of the Spotmatic. Not true -- I have a couple of the 50/1.4 SMC Takumars (which came with an ES and ESII) with some pronounced yellowing. I haven't done the extended sunlight treatment on them yet.

I really think the Takumars are comparable with any SLR lenses of the same period, both optically and mechanically. And with regard to Leica glass, several years ago Herbert Keppler in Popular Photography compared a 50/1.4 Takumar with a 50 Summicron-M at different apertures and distances, and the Takumar came out ahead. So there you are, for what it's worth.
 
Roger Hicks said:
The 'hottest' common lens was the Aero Ektar, which I found could fog Polaroid 3000 in less than 24 hours. You don't want to store those under your bed...
Roger
Click to expand...

But hey - it kill any fungus before it gets a foothold right? Or will it just make super strong mutant fungi?
 
OF COURSE YOU WANT IT!!!
The Spotmatic is a great camera, it may need a CLA but most probably it'll still be owrking.
Metering in stop down takes a while to get used to but is easy and you get DOFP,
The only radiactove lens I know is the 50/1.4 but that is not dangerous unless you eat the glass or put it under your pillow for weeks.
Takumar lenses are great, I believe those are the finest lenses designed for SLRs pre 1970s. Specially if they are Super Multi Coated (SMC).

Some tips:
- You can use alkaline batteries for the lightmeter (put them upside-down)
- If the 50/1.4 looks yellow wrap it in aluminum foil leaving the front element showing and palce it in a windowsill, the yellowing will be gone in a cuple of days
- The lightemeter is IIRC centerweighed average

If your camera need CLAing contact pentaxrepairs@aol.com Eric is the man

If you want free manuals check www.pentaxmanuals.com


hd_Jack said:
Well, an amazing thing happened today. Its not a rangefinder, but its still pretty interesting.....check it out.

My girlfriend asked me if I want her late fathers camera gear....After pulling it out of the basement, turns out that its a Pentax Spotmatic, with a bunch of Super Takumar lenses??? I dont know ANYTHING about this camera. I do know though, that there was radioactive lenses and eyepieces being used by camera makers in the past...

Does anyknow know anything about this model of Pentax, and the general quality of these lenses? Anyone know if these are the "hot lenses" that I've been warned about?

If it turns out that this camera is decent, and the lenses are decent, does anyone know where I can find support for it?

Cheers,

Jack
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Mutant fungi for sure, resistant to all fungicides and glows in the dark!

I see the Spotmatic battery subject has arisen... Asahi did it right, here, with a bridge circuit that compensates for voltage differences in the battery, so modern silver cells are a good choice too. Still, there are some vendors selling zinc-air battery conversion kits for the Spotmatics... useless, but I guess they still sell!
 
This is almost too painful, but right now I'm on antibiotics for the first time in 30 years.

Your girlfriend offers you a little Nukey and you have to ask us before saying yes?
 
oftheherd said:
Those are the pre-metered Pentax cameras (the HV being the US line as I recall). I had one that worked when I got it, and I don't remember that the shutter was off. It could have been. ... They did make aux light meters that fit atop the pentaprism. There was a round one and a more square one, which came with the SV I had. I think I remember that might have been about 1 to 1 1/2 stop off.
Click to expand...

My brother had one like this, although I swear there was a number (3?) in the model. HV3? H3V? maybe. Yes, it had a non-TTL meter on top of the prism. It was coupled to the shutter speed, but not the aperture. This one was almost like a Spotmatic without the TTL meter. I don't remember his being off either on metering or shutter speed. When I got my Spotmatic, we did kind of a "bake off" between the two and there was no real difference in exposure or image quality.

Speaking of the Spotmatic, yes, it did have an averaging meter, and I was kind of perplexed by that name, since spot metering was the latest trend and the name almost implied that.

Oh well ...
 
> Sinus infection?
Yes, The worst in over 20 years. Usually I can nail it with salt water.

> This not the usual nukey/nookie girlfriends offer.

Oh. I didn't know that. Nina worked on the Gamma Ray Observatory, so it used to be dinner conversation.

SO grab the outfit! Of course this is a major commitment on your part, taking on her late Fathers camera. I think it is very sentimental to her, and she wants you to have the camera that he used to take her photographs. Big Step.

I wonder who Nikki will give the chrome Nikon SP to. She'll keep the black one.
 
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dmr436 said:
My brother had one like this, although I swear there was a number (3?) in the model. HV3? H3V? maybe. Yes, it had a non-TTL meter on top of the prism. It was coupled to the shutter speed, but not the aperture.
Click to expand...
Yep, your memory is pretty good! The H3v was an H3 with self-timer feature added around the rewind crank. Outside the US it was an SV. It was introduced in '62, and they just kept making 'em for several years after the Spotmatic came out in '64.

My first Pentax was a "Heiland" marked H3, and I again have one now for nostalgic reasons. 🙂
 
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