Got the SMC Takumar Zoom 135-600 6.7 from Japan this week. I bought it mostly to fill out my screwmount lens collection but couldnt wait to try it out.
First of all the F6.7 aperture makes it tough to focus at 135mm but its easy enough to focus at 600 and then just zoom out if needed. Best feature of this lens is the wide zoom range of nearly 4.5 to 1. Nikon and Canon never made a lens like this. WIMPS. Another really useful thing is that it focuses down to only 20 feet even at 600mm. This allows for some really tight framing which probably be great for birding. There is a super closeup attachment lens that allows it to focus to 10 feet but I didnt try it yet. I havent shot enough apertures and distances yet to get a good handle on the performance but I can say one thing: This lens at 600mm is AWESOME. I did not expect this at all, usually telezooms get softer at the long end. This one seems just as good maybe even better at 600! Here a test shot of some field lights about 75 yards away from camera using 600mm & f11: Full frame http://www.gate.net/~hifisapi/600mmlights1.jpg cropped blowup http://www.gate.net/~hifisapi/600mmlights2.jpg I'm gonna try some color with it this weekend if the weather clears up. I'm delighted with the results so far. I never expected a 25 year old zoom to be anywhere near this good. I am psyched up about tele-photography again and this is a perfect compliment to my P67 setup which doesnt cover the long end very well. JCO - 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 .
