16 April 2014

the transition ends Now!

A flurry of fortunate deals culminated tonight, so my prime kit is over and done.  And I do have something from every manual-focus set now, or as many versions as I will 'allow'.
  • SMC (K-series) 17mm f/4 Fish-Eye
  • SMC-A 24mm f/2.8
  • SMC-A 50mm f/2.8 Macro (1:2)
  • Super Takumar 105mm f/2.8 (M42 threaded, with adapter)
  • SMC-M 200mm f/4
So the ages are approx. mid-70s, early-mid 80s twice, sixties and late 70s respectively.

Neato - and not mere nostalgia either, as these are excellent lenses!  All are very good representatives of their types that are well respected by online forum owners.  I picked up some great lenses for impressively low prices.  Yes, if you look very carefully you may find a nick or two on front elements; that is not field relevant unless the lens focus really closely and is shot at f/8 or higher, when the depth of field could conceivably be very near the front element.  I actually did that once with a Sigma 17-70, and dust on the lens became blurry spots on the image - so it can be done!

Group photo to follow, once the 200/4 arrives in a few days.  On an interesting side note,  the DA40 xs ultra-compact lens left the same day the 200mm was shipped; guess the AF prime felt unwanted?  That paid for the 200, the Takumar and some of the 50macro, so that's a good thing overall.

The easy trio for many events is 17FE, 18-135 and 100-300 zooms for max coverage.  If long shots or strong light aren't in the plans, I can swap the 200mm in for the 100-300 and capture more light!

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OK - starting Now!

I won a Takumar 300/4, to my surprise.  It's marked (1962) on PKForums: wow.  And somehow I forgot the big one, a Hanimar 400mm; it's been in storage so long it doesn't come to mind.  The Tak may in fact be quite a bit heavier, hopefully we'll unpack soon enough and I'll know for sure!

  • Takumar 300mm f/4
  • Hanimar 400mm f/6.3 Preset