Asahi Pentax Auto Takumar 85mm f/1.8 Lens Review
Less known lens than famous SMC Takumar and lot more rare.Very well built mechanically, real competitor of many famous lens like Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 1.8/80mm or Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Perform well as short tele-photo lens. Amazingly sharp even at wide open,it has beautiful color rendering, nice bokeh. I love this lens it’s draw magnificant images like a paint for story books. It has very own character.
Lens
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Fact Sheet
Vendor name
Asahi Pentax
Asahi Pentax
Type
Auto Takumar
Auto Takumar
Product year
1960-1964
1960-1964
Focal Min(mm)
85
85
Focal Max(mm)
85
85
Focus Min(cm)
0.85
0.85
Aperture Max
1.8
1.8
Aperture Min.
16
16
Barrel length(mm)
N/A
N/A
Elements In Group
5 in 4
5 in 4
Diaphragm action
Auto|Manual
Auto|Manual
Weight (g)
330
330
Filter Size (mm)
55
55
Push on diameter (mm)
N/A
N/A
Angular field
28
28
I have had this lens in both auto Takumar and SMC versions. Both are excellent and I think you should not be disappointed . As far as I am aware the two are essentially the same optically, except for the coating. Here is a test shot taken fully open with the later version. Note the nice Bokeh. (peterm1 (http://forum.mflenses.com/takumar-auto-85mm-f1-8-t8335,highlight,auto+takumar+85mm.html) )
Auto Takumar 85/1.8 is the same lens as the later Super-Takumar 85/1.9 and Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 85/1.9. It is based on a 5 element/4 group formula and has the reputation of being a good portrait lens, a tad soft when used wide open. The sharpest and most sought after lens is the SMC-Takumar 85/1.8 in M42 mount or SMC-Pentax 85/1.8 in K mount, which has a different 6 element/6 group formula.