All the talk on this list of the quality of the old screwmount Takumars has me out trying some. I got an old Spotmatic and picked up 50, 28, and 135mm lenses along the way.
I was out taking some pictures with the kit in the cold (5 degree Fahrenheit and windy) this AM when it hit me. The screwmount Takumars are really petite. They are about the same size as my ME kit, M50/1.7, M135/3.5, and M28/2.8. Now I wonder if the old Takumars didn't have some bearing on the M series creation. When Pentax switched to the K mount, the first lenses were bigger and bulkier than the final SMC Takumars they replaced. The old Takumars were really elegant as Mike J. and others have said. The new K's were big fat things with 52 or 58mm diameters and bulky. So what is a logical next step back then, especially when they were introducing the ME/MX cameras that were so tiny... Let's go back to the original size lenses we were using, the Takumars. We'll call the new lenses M series! When I photographed some cameras for Bill Robb's 50 year LX anniversary pages, I was surprised to find the LX was about the same size and shape as the original Spotmatic. I wonder if the lens designs didn't revert to the original sizes too. Regards, Bob S.
