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puderse

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Spent a few dollars on a H1a that seems to be tying every bundle. Can I find any M42 lenses that surpass my Nikkors? I've herd that some of the SMC lenses are quite nice. Interested in wides. I would be very interested if a 20 was at least as good as my 20mm Nikkor.
 
First, get a late 60s Super Takumar 50mm F1.4. I don't think many Nikon users will argue that this is a great lens. Second, get a late 60s 28mm Super Takumar 28mm F3.5, again Nikon users won't argue.

I couldn't find a 28mm but here is the 50mm:

2487437103_396cb6bd0e.jpg


Aha, found one not as good a photo:

2483643184_31202b9011.jpg
 
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The 35mm f3.5 is the sharpest 35 I have ever tried. I have two of them, one is an auto-takumar (has a cocking button for the aperture that must be set before each shot!), and a Super Takumar (automatic diaphraghm).

bumpers.jpg


Taken with the older lens.
 
Nice Chris, I don't have a 35mm old Super Takumar, but the new AF or FA, it is really sharp too. It just feel comfortable to use a Spotmatic (or H1a) and traditional length lenses. No auto, on real need for batteries, no screen read out, just man and his camera pitted against nature in the forest primeval.
 
Yes, the 35/3.5 is a very unpromising-sounding lens but it's quite good. Very small as well, so for outdoor walking around it's a great lens. charjohncarter is right on about the 50/1.4 also -- Mike Johnston's Luminous Landscape site even had a writeup about this lens.

Other than the aforementioned (and excellent) 28/3.5, Takumar wides are hard to come by, it seems. I have the 24/3.5 S-M-C Takumar, but it took me a while to find one.

I can also recommend the 55/4 macro and the 100/4 macros, if that's your thing at all. There's really not a bad lens in the whole Super Takumar and Super Multi Coated Takumar line.

The H1a is a little jewel of a camera -- sort of the OM-1 of an earlier generation.
 
I recently purchased a Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 135/3.5 for use on my Olympus E-510 with an adapter. It is very sharp on the digital. I have not tried it on film. I think the best bargain in M42 lenses is the SMC Takumar 55/1.8. It is the first Tak that I ever owned, and I still use it at times on the E-510.

Jim N.
 
The SMC-Takumar 50/1.4 with "radioactive" glass is great, but the yellowing can cause a color shift on your color shots (which might be desirable) and it will give you about a 1/3-stop loss of light.

I've heard nothing but great things about the 35/3.5 and 135/3.5.
 
Here is an example of an image from the SMC Takumar 135/3.5. The crop factor of the E-510 is two, hence the field of view is that of a 270mm lens.
 

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The 20mm 2.8 FA has a very good reputation. I have the 20mm f4 M, which I put on my LX and it gives me great wide pics, stopped down. In fact the little 20 on the LX is more compact than a leica m6 and similar lens.
 
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