[Leica] Lens Choices

[Jim Nichols]

Hi Mark,
The lens you admired then is the lens I admire now.  Produced around 
1971, someone took good care of it before I got my hands on it a few 
years ago.  I am having fun with it, and it, in turn, is giving me some 
good images of my great-grandkids.  What else can I ask for?

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 4/24/2015 7:41 PM, Mark Rabiner wrote:
> " Super-Multi-Coated Takumar" may have been a mouthful but it was on the
> lips of all the photo people I knew who hung out at the school darkroom and
> all sat at the same table over French fries at the student lounge which was
> called the Red Carpet.
> This was the lens and camera, a Spotmatic that I used often as I'd check it
> out from the school on the weekend. It was so much lighter with far better
> ergonomics than my new Nikon f2 with 45mm GN lens which only focused to 3
> feet.
> We all loved this lens and this camera at my school, Webster College in St.
> Louis in the early 70's it was the first to get checked out. A Canon FTb was
> the last as it always pulled the film out of the cassette on the last frame.
> It also came out in 1971 I see now.
> The Pentax Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50/1.4 was the first lens anybody
> could get their hands on which had this advanced coating which everyone was
> very hyped on and was developed by Pentax in conjunction with Zeiss said to
> have as many has 6 micro thin coatings the same lens service the idea blew
> everybody away.  Its all they talked about in any of the photo magazines..
> Was said to ad noticeable contrast to your final image and it turned out to
> not be hype.  And contrast by the way is a good thing. The Hasselblad lenses
> the next year had T* on them which indicated the same thing though
> Hasselblad claimed they'd been doing that previously a bit anyway for a year
> previously. Soon any lens which was not super multi coated or T starred was
> not worth a hill of beans in this crazy world. Other companies had other
> nomenclatures.
>
> On 4/23/15 6:13 PM, "Jim Nichols" <jhnichols at lighttube.net> wrote:
>
>> George,
>>
>> I realize I am going against the grain here.  I am resisting the
>> conventional "wisdom" that, if it is not made by Leica or Zeiss, etc,
>> then it has to be junk.  The same holds for earlier models.  I feel a
>> lens should be evaluated on what it can do for ME, not what the
>> "experts" claim.
>>
>> This is to show, especially to me, that my lens of choice, which happens
>> to be a Pentax Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50/1.4 (7-element lens) from
>> around 1971, can do a reasonable job for me without having to spend a
>> small fortune for the latest and greatest lens, that is admittedly
>> somewhat better, but at what cost?
>>
>> Since I'm getting few comments, I suspect no one else cares.
>>
>> Thanks for commenting.
>>
>> Here is my favorite image made with this lens, several Christmases ago:
>>
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Katie+Grace+_amp_+Kristin.jpg.htm>
> l
>> Jim Nichols
>> Tullahoma, TN USA
>>
>> On 4/23/2015 4:30 PM, George Lottermoser wrote:
>>> On Apr 23, 2015, at 4:00 PM, Jim Nichols wrote:
>>>
>>>> This third image, shot from my neighbor's yard across the street, shows that
>>>> things are greening up at my house, and the bushes are in real need of
>>>> trimming.  As a general purpose lens, this lens provides plenty of detail
>>>> without enhancement.  This raw image was converted with no special
>>>> adjustment, and the image was resized.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/House.jpg.html
>>>>
>>>> Comments and critiques welcomed.
>>> As you're presenting "lens tests" with the subject line "Lens Choices"
>>> It would be a bit more interesting if you mentioned what lens we're looking
>>> at a sample from.
>>>
>>> Not in the text and not in the EXIF - so what "Choices" are you making?
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> George Lottermoser
>>>
>>> http://www.imagist.com
>>> http://www.imagist.com/blog
>>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>
>
>