Hi, Mike, Nice post. I agree with everything in it.
Except the word "essentially" as used to modify "the best selling SLR's of the period". They were in fact "the" best selling SLR's of their time. They outsold Nikon, Canon and Minolta - combined. At their peak in the late '60's, I think they were producing somewhere around 30,000 units a month (!). One of my favourite lenses of all time is the Super Tak 2.0 55mm. Not sexy in terms of looks, focal length or speed, they are none the less built like tanks, and sharp as hell. And, as you alluded to, super cheap on todays' used market - like $10 or so. I don't think there's a better bargain around. regards, frank Mike Johnston wrote: > Bob, > That's the series just before the Super-Multi-Coated Takumars. Roughly, > there were three series of Spotmatic lens: > > --The Super Takumars, which were contemporaneous with the original Spotmatic > known as the SP (1964); > > --The Super-Multi-Coated Takumars, roughly contemporaneous with the SPII > (1971), but made with light-meter coupling pins for the SPF and ES series > that immediately followed; > > --The SMC Takumars, more often found on the Spotmatic F and ES. > > Takumars and Auto-Takumars are earlier and generally pre-date the Spotmatic. > > Although "SMC" is an abbreviation of "Super-Multi-Coated," for the purposes > of lens identification the two terms are NOT interchangeable. The > Super-Multi-Coated Takumars (which I abbreviate "S.-M.-C.") have metal > focusing rings whereas the SMC Takumars have rubberized focusing rings. The > two series were almost simultaneous, with the S.-M.-C. coming before the SMC > by only a couple of years. > > Collectors generally prefer the Super Takumars, whereas users (marginally!) > tend to prefer the SMC variants. There is NOT any huge difference in > performance, as the Super-Takumars are generally wonderful lenses. > Super-Takumars were well-coated for the era, and later ones sometimes > actually had multicoating without being marked as such. > > If you're interested in this stuff, we are EXTREMELY fortunate to have a > most excellent book on the subject--a book that is both well-researched and > attractively presented--_The Ultimate Asahi Pentax Screw Mount Guide > 1952-1977_ by Gerjan van Oosten. A must-have, in my biased opinion. > > I'm of the rather partisan persuasion that every Pentax aficionado ought to > have a Spotmatic with a Super-Takumar lens. I don't have to tell you that > they are a remnant of a bygone era in camera manufacture, when a level of > mechanical quality that is now almost unobtainable was virtually routine. > Plus, since they were essentially the best-selling SLRs of the period, > they're extremely cheap on the used market; and as a further bonus the > Spotmatic is one of the most hard-wearing cameras ever made, with used > cameras in excellent or better condition being the norm instead of the > exception even though they may be approaching 40 years old! > > Hope this helps-- > > --Mike > -- "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
