Re: Cool Tiny Takumar (and shiny blades)

[Andre Langevin]

I only have one Auto-Takumar, the 55mm f/1.8, and it has 8 aperture blades.
When near open, it's so close to a pure circle...3.5 on down, it's
nicely done.

keith whaley

On the other side this older aperture blade material is shiny, as with first generation Super-Takumar lenses. In some circumstances, flare may result, especially at small apertures, where the big blade surface may get involved in internal reflections. I have never tested this though. But there must have been a reason for the change towards matte blade material.

I would not be surprised to learn that Leitz were amont the first to come with matte blades. At Pentax, it looks like the change happened around the mid sixties.

Andre
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