M42 85MM, 105mm, 120mm?

I have just started to try and build up a small but usful system basied around a SP 2 camera, which I would like to use for day to day snaps of life. I still have some way to go and I would like your advice.

Has anyone used the Super Takumar 85mm 1.8/1.9 lens, was it a good lens?

How would it stack up against the other Super Takumars such as the 105mm F2.8 or 120mm F2.8?

Any help would be welcome.

Tonyh

Sticking my neck out, I think it's quite probable that the Super Tak 85mm f1.8 is essentially the same lens as the K 85mm 1.8. The latter is highly regarded, so the former should be very good.

I would expect the others to be good, too. In those days, Pentax cared more about quality than cost.

G

The 85mm f1.9 was designed to be slightly soft at wide apertures for portraiture, sharpening up as it was stopped down. Some of the later versions were SMC coated. The f1.8 version is I think a slight redesign, possibly to make the lens sharp at all apertures which is the modern style for 85mm lenses.

There are various versions of the 105mm, but the Super Takumar version at least is superb, probably one of the best lenses in the range. The last examples made had SMC coatings.

The 120mm is another lens designed to be softer at open aperture, crisping up as stopped down. If it appeared at all as a screw thread version it was very late on as an SMC lens. I never liked the characteristics of this design, preferring my lenses to be as sharp as possible at all apertures.

Hi,
Just to expand on some of the info so far.

The early (62-64) 85mm Super Tak was a 5 element 4 group f1.9 design and designed for portraiture. It did have a reputation for being slighty soft wide open. It was the Super Tak version of the older Auto Tak. (min aperture F22). This design was tweaked to give a sharper performance in 1964 but maintained the same basic construction. These later lenses had a min aperture of F16. Later this lens was coated and became the SMC version and was relatively short lived (2 years). In 1974 the lens was completely redesigned and became the F1.8 which had 6 elements in 6 groups. and did indeed become the basis of the early K mount design. This was on of the best lenses Pentax produced and is generally regarded as one of the best 85mm lenses ever produced and was only eclipsed by the A* 1.4 version at a much larger cost. Unfortunately the 1.8 have become very sought after and are going for some silly prices at the moment. If you can get good one at a sensible price, it is well worth it but they do seem to be going up and up in price. I can certainly vouch for both the M42 and K lenses. Fortunately, I got both of mine when they were somewhat more resonable.

The 105 are a simpler story and the design basically didn't change. There is a minor cosmetic variation in the Super Tak version but all 3 were a 5 element in 4 group design which didn't change. These are not common but don't seem to reach the silly prices the 85's go for. I recently got a very nice SMC version for £49 from a dealer.

The 120's were only producd in the SMC format with a production life of 3 years. I haven't found any problems with the 120's in eithe K or M42. I prefer them the the 135 as they are roughly the same size as the 135/3.5 but the extra speed is much easier for focussing. The only problem is that they are very rare and much sought after by collectors and so again tend to attract silly prices.

I would put both the 105 and the 120 between the 1.9 and 1.8 versions of the 85 in terms of performance with the 105 being the best value for money.

Regards
Kim

Many thanks for the help.

Tonyh