Wonderful piece of nostalgia! Back in 1971 I bought a Werra 1 in a Dublin camera shop but there was also Pentax S1a available. My funds could rise to a Pentax purchase. Besides I really didn’t have a clue what it was. Ten years later I acquired in used condition on a visit to Liverpool. Still have it. Great little camera.
I love your videos about the Pentax S3, you are the only in all RUclips that talks about it... I have an S3 with a Supertakumar 55/1.8 lens, the same as the second version you showed... I am so proud if my old Pentax!
I have a feeling the 2.0 lenses are often reject 1.7/8 lenses that was acceptable until 2.0. Or they simply wanted to artificially create a another price bracket, and the tooling for making another lens so close in specs simply wasn’t worth it. So they just slapped on a different aperture ring.
When I got to college, one of my classmates had a complete Pentax Spotmatic outfit with wide angle, fast normal, and several longer-than-135mm lenses. This was an eye opener for this Leica IIIa rangefinder user, whose world stopped at 135mm. I considered this system for a bit, until I overheard him telling about a session where he had to change from one lens to another to cover a sports event for the college publications office. He described ending up sweating heavily, trying to quickly change lenses as the situation called for another angle of view. This colored my perspective, since I had run into similar "I'm Joe the plumber" screw this lens off quickly to put that lens on "hot potato" hand shuffle with the Leica IIIa. I looked for 35mm SLR cameras that featured bayonet mounting systems, instead. It's great to see that you're up to posting videos in 2020.
A Pentax Staff member showed us on a 'Pentax Club of Great Britain ' trip to USA that if you line up the RED INDEX at the 2 O'clock ( 1400hrs) position on the mount the screw threads meet up immediately and it works !
You’re a pleasure to listen to, in and of yourself Peter. That you speak of something interesting with knowledge, takes it to the next level. Just what I needed today on this depressing corona day. Stay inside, and away from groups and people, who you are uncertain about not being contaminated Peter, please.
Dear Peter, again a very nice review. Well done. Yes, the Takumar lenses are sometimes strange. Take care of yourself and merry christmas and a happy and healthy 2021.
Lovely camera. I still have a Pentax S1, but unfortunately the shutter is jammed up now - it might just needed cleaning and lubrication (and the skill to do it)
They have the grooved bump where it says "Auto" on one side and "Man." on the other. Does that do anything? It looks like a switch and given the fact that there are words printed there I would think it has a purpose.
YES -- 'AUTO' means 'Automatic Aperture' operation where the small bar in base bangs against the pin on lens mount and stops down to chosen aperture. 'MAN' means 'Manual' aperture operation where pin is disconnected and YOU close down aperture.
I'm not sure what's going on with that backwards aperture ring, I'll have to check mine when I get home 😅. But I do know that the 55mm f2 lenses are actually just 55 1.8 lenses with a ring inserted to make the aputure a little smaller... I have no idea why, but it is true. So my guess would be that someone opened it up and removed the ring from that copy, and turned it back into an f1.8.
That's pretty cool! I've seen apertures that went the opposite direction, but I've never seen different lenses of the same brand switch directions. I did a review of a couple Takumar lenses on my channel. I really like the ones I have. I got an adaptor so I could use it on my Sony mirrorless camera.
I’ve just uploaded an episode where I was given a Pentax spotmatic kit containing 3 takuma lenses have to say I absolutely love them small light very sharp with an interesting history with the radioactive coating. Thanks for this video Peter always enjoy your work📷👏👏👏
I did a review of my SMC Takumar F1.8 55mm on my channel recently - I LOVE the Takumars. I started my journey on a Pentax K1000 in the 90s, so I have an affinity for the Pentax and Takumar brands, even though I don't shoot Pentax professionally.
I think the Takumar 55/1.8s, Takumar 55/2s, the SMC-K 55/1.8 and the SMC-K 55/2 all share the same design, and they are all 1.8 lenses. The 55/2s were just derated to provide a "low-end" kit option. I had the SMC-K 55/2 and IIRC Asahi actually installed a buffer in that lens to prevent it to be opened up to the unmarked 1.8.
Dear Peter - Well, if I have made my homework on this quite mysterious topic correct, and I believe I have - Then it ought to be NOT the lens glass surface coating that was "sort of loaded" with a very minor degree of radioactivity (by adding Thorium) - it was actually the Lens glass material itself that was, and still is, slightly radioactive - of light transmission reasons. Th. Benjaminsson - - Sweden - 🇸🇪
The S3 was the Pentax that David Bailey shot the famous Jean Shrimpton pictures in New York. The annoying thing is my Pentax Spotmatic lens focuses in the opposite direction to my 55mm 2.8 ais macro lens on my Nikon FE. I still have my old spotmatic with the wonderful 55mm 1.8 super takumar I bought in the 1970s. Best lens I own. Best medium format lens I have is the 75mm Lumaxar on my 1957 Yashica Mat. The Pentax Spotmatic and the Yashica mat are my favourite pairing. I meter with the Spotmatic. I use Kodak Tri X and Kodak Ektachome film.
Yes -- I sometimes use a NIKON FE that i got for my Wife but as she never uses it now I have 'Taken It Over' to use -- she won more Trophies at our Camera Club than ME with it !
The f2 and f1.8 are identical lenses but the f2 had an extra ring inside which limited it to f2, I suspect somebody has modified it and removed the ring and allowed it to go past f2 to f1.8, if you look the at the markings I think you'll find that the f1.8 and f2 on the respected lenses are in a slightly different locations.
All of these lenses have the same optical layout. The f.2 lens contains a ring near the aperture mechanism, which reduces the theoretical speed of 1.8 to 2. Read all about about it in my book on Asahi Pentax and Takumar lenses.
Yes in fact the 1.8 and f2. 0 55mm lens are the same optical formula... I think you can have the digery doo removed to have a full time f1.8 if you have the f2. 0 55mm lens....
Pentax Takumar F2 and F1.8 55mm lenses are identical, both f1.8. They did have camera shutters that had 1/1000 but the dial marked 1/500 and gave you 1/1000 on an additional click beyond 1/500. The SP500 and SP1000 are the same camera.
I used to work at a camera store from mid-70s to mid-80's. The Pentax rep told us that the difference between th Spotmatic and the SP500 was that the shutters were the same, but in the SP500 did not test reliably to 1/1000 of a second. So the detents on the SP500 beyond 1/500 could be between about 1/600 to 1/1000. This also meant that the when using the detent beyond 1/500 might not be accurate, although close enough for color print film, but maybe not for slide film. I had an SP500 back then and it worked fine with slide film (mostly Kodachrome 64 and occasionally GAF 500). I loved the GAF 500 film for its grain, but it wasn't particularly sharp.
@@reinertl that makes sense. The GAF film was a bit of a cult product famed for its pointillist effect. Funny to see people thinking that film is automatically grainy and trying to create absurd looking grain with digital simulations.
Mac Arhur ordered the Japanese to start making cameras and lenses in 1945. During the Korean war the firm Leitz in Germany plus the press agencies of AP and UPI in the States were getting crazy. The negatives made with a Leica III cameras with a Canon or a Nikon lens were sharper and brighter than the negs made with Leitz lenses. The Olympus microspoe, endoscope and Pen lenses were super sharp. In the Fifties and Sixties the Canon 35 mm rangefinder cameras and lenses were superior. Canon did a five year waranty on its gear. During World War II a Geman submarine transported Zeiss glass and optical formules to Japan.to help the Nikon company. The Nikkor 8 mm seems to be a Zeiss lens. And so is the Mamiya Sekor C 1 : 4:5 - 55 mm.a Zeiss design. I do not understand the negatve lines of mr.
Freaky lens - back in the early 60's and 1950's Japan made a lot of low quality junk in fact Made in Japan meant it was low quality junk for almost anything. Perhaps they did not have all the right parts for that odd lens, or maybe it was repaired in some odd way. Either way no markings on the lens for a larger aperture is perhaps your ticket to riches? Or not. Nice video.
Наука
Wonderful piece of nostalgia! Back in 1971 I bought a Werra 1 in a Dublin camera shop but there was also Pentax S1a available. My funds could rise to a Pentax purchase. Besides I really didn’t have a clue what it was. Ten years later I acquired in used condition on a visit to Liverpool. Still have it. Great little camera.
Some beautiful images can be had through this camera lens
I was thinking only yesterday, 'I hope Peter posts a video soon'. Great to have you back!
I love your videos about the Pentax S3, you are the only in all RUclips that talks about it... I have an S3 with a Supertakumar 55/1.8 lens, the same as the second version you showed... I am so proud if my old Pentax!
I've got a spotmatic with a 50mm takumar smc. Good lens. Always a joy to watch your videos Peter.
I am very grateful of you sharing your wisdom Sir.
Best Of Wishes for you and your loved ones.
Great video Peter. Looking forward to the video of one of my favorite cameras, the Canon EOS 300V :-)
I have a feeling the 2.0 lenses are often reject 1.7/8 lenses that was acceptable until 2.0. Or they simply wanted to artificially create a another price bracket, and the tooling for making another lens so close in specs simply wasn’t worth it.
So they just slapped on a different aperture ring.
Good to watch another vid of yours Peter :-) Hope all is well bud :-)
Love Takumar lenses. Great videos you do Peter I really enjoy watching your stuff.
When I got to college, one of my classmates had a complete Pentax Spotmatic outfit with wide angle, fast normal, and several longer-than-135mm lenses. This was an eye opener for this Leica IIIa rangefinder user, whose world stopped at 135mm. I considered this system for a bit, until I overheard him telling about a session where he had to change from one lens to another to cover a sports event for the college publications office. He described ending up sweating heavily, trying to quickly change lenses as the situation called for another angle of view. This colored my perspective, since I had run into similar "I'm Joe the plumber" screw this lens off quickly to put that lens on "hot potato" hand shuffle with the Leica IIIa. I looked for 35mm SLR cameras that featured bayonet mounting systems, instead. It's great to see that you're up to posting videos in 2020.
A Pentax Staff member showed us on a 'Pentax Club of Great Britain ' trip to USA that if you line up the RED INDEX at the 2 O'clock ( 1400hrs) position on the mount the screw threads meet up immediately and it works !
@@theoldfilmbloke Thanks Peter that's a really nice tip I'll have to try.
Cheers
Mike
You’re a pleasure to listen to, in and of yourself Peter.
That you speak of something interesting with knowledge, takes it to the next level.
Just what I needed today on this depressing corona day.
Stay inside, and away from groups and people, who you are uncertain about not being contaminated Peter, please.
so kind of members such as YOU who think of my Health ( Cancer) problems -- i try to take precautions and to keep my mind active.
Peter
Pentax SP2 was my first premium camera back in 73 and I still have it :)
Dear Peter, again a very nice review. Well done. Yes, the Takumar lenses are sometimes strange. Take care of yourself and merry christmas and a happy and healthy 2021.
Lovely camera. I still have a Pentax S1, but unfortunately the shutter is jammed up now - it might just needed cleaning and lubrication (and the skill to do it)
Great story, that’s the thing with old cameras and lenses, always a story attached...
They have the grooved bump where it says "Auto" on one side and "Man." on the other. Does that do anything? It looks like a switch and given the fact that there are words printed there I would think it has a purpose.
YES -- 'AUTO' means 'Automatic Aperture' operation where the small bar in base bangs against the pin on lens mount and stops down to chosen aperture. 'MAN' means 'Manual' aperture operation where pin is disconnected and YOU close down aperture.
Hi Peter, you sound like a good bloke, always funny and informational movies, i will subscribe.
I'm not sure what's going on with that backwards aperture ring, I'll have to check mine when I get home 😅. But I do know that the 55mm f2 lenses are actually just 55 1.8 lenses with a ring inserted to make the aputure a little smaller... I have no idea why, but it is true. So my guess would be that someone opened it up and removed the ring from that copy, and turned it back into an f1.8.
That's pretty cool! I've seen apertures that went the opposite direction, but I've never seen different lenses of the same brand switch directions. I did a review of a couple Takumar lenses on my channel. I really like the ones I have. I got an adaptor so I could use it on my Sony mirrorless camera.
I’ve just uploaded an episode where I was given a Pentax spotmatic kit containing 3 takuma lenses have to say I absolutely love them small light very sharp with an interesting history with the radioactive coating. Thanks for this video Peter always enjoy your work📷👏👏👏
YO !!! I will find that and view it ! ( and SUBCRIBE if I have not done so already ! )
@@theoldfilmbloke hey cheers mate it’s a far cry from your awesome informative vids but it keeps me out of mischief….mostly 😬😬📷📷❤️❤️📷
I did a review of my SMC Takumar F1.8 55mm on my channel recently - I LOVE the Takumars. I started my journey on a Pentax K1000 in the 90s, so I have an affinity for the Pentax and Takumar brands, even though I don't shoot Pentax professionally.
Does the 2/55 stop down all the way as it should?
YES no Probs -- my one stops down OK
I think the Takumar 55/1.8s, Takumar 55/2s, the SMC-K 55/1.8 and the SMC-K 55/2 all share the same design, and they are all 1.8 lenses. The 55/2s were just derated to provide a "low-end" kit option. I had the SMC-K 55/2 and IIRC Asahi actually installed a buffer in that lens to prevent it to be opened up to the unmarked 1.8.
Thanks for video from Russia
Was the yellow coating the radioactive ones?
NO -- the 'Radio-Active' one is the 50mm f1.4 with 'thorium ' in a lens element.
Peter Elgar thanks for the reply.
Dear Peter - Well, if I have made my homework on this quite mysterious topic correct, and I believe I have - Then it ought to be NOT the lens glass surface coating that was "sort of loaded" with a very minor degree of radioactivity (by adding Thorium) - it was actually the Lens glass material itself that was, and still is, slightly radioactive - of light transmission reasons.
Th. Benjaminsson -
- Sweden - 🇸🇪
The S3 was the Pentax that David Bailey shot the famous Jean Shrimpton pictures in New York.
The annoying thing is my Pentax Spotmatic lens focuses in the opposite direction to my 55mm 2.8 ais macro lens on my Nikon FE.
I still have my old spotmatic with the wonderful 55mm 1.8 super takumar I bought in the 1970s.
Best lens I own.
Best medium format lens I have is the 75mm Lumaxar on my 1957 Yashica Mat. The Pentax Spotmatic and the Yashica mat are my favourite pairing. I meter with the Spotmatic. I use Kodak Tri X and Kodak Ektachome film.
Yes -- I sometimes use a NIKON FE that i got for my Wife but as she never uses it now I have 'Taken It Over' to use -- she won more Trophies at our Camera Club than ME with it !
The f2 and f1.8 are identical lenses but the f2 had an extra ring inside which limited it to f2, I suspect somebody has modified it and removed the ring and allowed it to go past f2 to f1.8, if you look the at the markings I think you'll find that the f1.8 and f2 on the respected lenses are in a slightly different locations.
This camera is better, than the "Zenith" camera ?
Yes -- better made and more reliable .
All of these lenses have the same optical layout. The f.2 lens contains a ring near the aperture mechanism, which reduces the theoretical speed of 1.8 to 2. Read all about about it in my book on Asahi Pentax and Takumar lenses.
The f 2 still looked smaller opening then the 1.8 you showed. Your f 2 may just be miss aligned
Yes in fact the 1.8 and f2. 0 55mm lens are the same optical formula... I think you can have the digery doo removed to have a full time f1.8 if you have the f2. 0 55mm lens....
How old are you Peter, if you don't mind my asking?
Last Birthday April 10th I was 84 years old !
@@theoldfilmbloke That's amazing! Well done 👍🏻
Pentax Takumar F2 and F1.8 55mm lenses are identical, both f1.8. They did have camera shutters that had 1/1000 but the dial marked 1/500 and gave you 1/1000 on an additional click beyond 1/500. The SP500 and SP1000 are the same camera.
I used to work at a camera store from mid-70s to mid-80's. The Pentax rep told us that the difference between th Spotmatic and the SP500 was that the shutters were the same, but in the SP500 did not test reliably to 1/1000 of a second. So the detents on the SP500 beyond 1/500 could be between about 1/600 to 1/1000. This also meant that the when using the detent beyond 1/500 might not be accurate, although close enough for color print film, but maybe not for slide film. I had an SP500 back then and it worked fine with slide film (mostly Kodachrome 64 and occasionally GAF 500). I loved the GAF 500 film for its grain, but it wasn't particularly sharp.
@@reinertl that makes sense. The GAF film was a bit of a cult product famed for its pointillist effect. Funny to see people thinking that film is automatically grainy and trying to create absurd looking grain with digital simulations.
TACKOOOHMAR !!!! its Takumar....
TAKOOOMAAR ??🤣😂
Where the heck did you learn to pronounce the names of Pentax lenses? You’re murdering their names!
Ha ha ! I have an Essex accent so that may explain it !
The Beatles
When 87 quid actually buys a quality 35mm Pentax with 50mm lens.
Mac Arhur ordered the Japanese to start making cameras and lenses in 1945.
During the Korean war the firm Leitz in Germany plus the press agencies of AP
and UPI in the States were getting crazy.
The negatives made with a Leica III cameras with a Canon or a Nikon lens were
sharper and brighter than the negs made with Leitz lenses.
The Olympus microspoe, endoscope and Pen lenses were super sharp.
In the Fifties and Sixties the Canon 35 mm rangefinder cameras and lenses
were superior. Canon did a five year waranty on its gear.
During World War II a Geman submarine transported Zeiss glass and
optical formules to Japan.to help the Nikon company. The Nikkor 8 mm seems
to be a Zeiss lens. And so is the Mamiya Sekor C 1 : 4:5 - 55 mm.a Zeiss design.
I do not understand the negatve lines of mr.
Learn to pronounce Ta-ku-Mar correctly.
Freaky lens - back in the early 60's and 1950's Japan made a lot of low quality junk in fact Made in Japan meant it was low quality junk for almost anything. Perhaps they did not have all the right parts for that odd lens, or maybe it was repaired in some odd way. Either way no markings on the lens for a larger aperture is perhaps your ticket to riches? Or not. Nice video.
Clearly not an educated person in these matters are you, if you knew “ anything “ you would realise that what you are spouting is complete nonsense.
@@0191Marko You were there?
@@johnjon1823 actually yes, yes I was.
@@0191Marko Then you should know I am right they made crap, lots of crap.
@@johnjon1823 yes they did, but as regards the lens, no, far from it, very far from it.