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Asahi Super-TAKUMAR 135mm F/2.5

Medium telephoto prime lens • Film era • Discontinued

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Model history (4)

■Asahi Super-TAKUMAR 135mm F/2.5 [43801]A5 - 41.5m⌀58 1965 ●
■Asahi Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMAR 135mm F/2.5 [43802] [Mod. M42]A5 - 41.5m⌀58 1971 ●
■Asahi Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMAR 135mm F/2.5 [43812] [Mod. M42]A6 - 61.5m⌀58 1972 ●
■smc Pentax 135mm F/2.5A6 - 61.5m⌀58 1975 ●

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Specification

■ Production details
Announced:1965
Production status:● Discontinued
Order No.:43801
Original name:Asahi Opt. Co. Super-Takumar 1:2.5/135
System:Asahi Pentax M42 (1957)
■ Optical design
Focal length:135mm
Speed:F/2.5
Maximum format:35mm full frame
Mount and Flange focal distance:M42 [45.5mm]
Diagonal angle of view:18.2°
Lens construction:5 elements in 4 groups
■ Diaphragm mechanism
Diaphragm type:Automatic
Aperture control:Aperture ring (Manual settings only)
Number of blades:6 (six)
■ Focusing
Closest focusing distance:1.5m
Maximum magnification:<No data>
Focusing modes:Manual focus only
Manual focus control:Focusing ring
■ Physical characteristics
Weight:444g
Maximum diameter x Length:⌀65.5×80mm
■ Accessories
Filters:Screw-type 58mm
Lens hood:Screw-type round
Teleconverters:Not available
■ Sources of data
1. The Ultimate Asahi Pentax Screw Mount Guide 1952-1977 book by Gerjan van Oosten (1999).
2. Asahi Pentax Takumar interchangeable lenses operating manual (PUB. 06081).
3. Honeywell Photographic Products booklet (March 1969).
4. Honeywell Pentax cameras, lenses, and accessories booklet (March 1971).
5. Honeywell Photographic GSA Catalog and Price List (December 1, 1970 through November 30, 1971).
6. Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II operating manual (PUB. 06461, early).
7. Honeywell Pentax SL operating manual (August 1969).
8. Honeywell Pentax SP 500 operating manual.
9. Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic II operating manual.
10. Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic operating manual.

Manufacturer description #1

A faster f/2.5 lens has joined the superb Takumar 135mm lens family. Well balanced, its total length is rather short so it is light in weight. Most suitable for shooting night scenes, stage, indoors, sports and snap portraits. An excellent lens also for colour photography.

Manufacturer description #2

With a maximum aperture of f2.5 and brilliant resolving power, this member of the Super-Takumar range is truly a deluxe lens. Specially designed to meet the most exacting demands of professional photographers, it is the perfect optic for long distance indoor shots, portraiture and stage photography, and gives the same fine results under all lighting conditions.

Features

This large-aperture lens is a new addition to the Super-Takumar family incorporating the latest advances in technique and design. A truly deluxe optic, it has won wide acclaim for both its external styling and fine performance. Though somewhat heavier than its F3.5 counterpart, it is shorter and superbly balanced.

Fine image resolution is obtained with the diaphragm open, and the soft image outlines make it especially suited to color photography - particularly as, like most Super-Takumar lenses, intermediate settings of the diaphragm ring are possible for perfect exposures.

Main uses

This lens forms an ideal member of a deluxe Super-Takumar lens system with, for example, the 35mm F2, 85mm F1.9 and 300mm F4 lenses. The brightness of this lens also makes it perfect for indoor photography in natural light.

Manufacturer description #3

All that has been said regarding the 135mm f3.5 telephoto objective applies here, plus the fact that even greater opportunities now exist due to the quite rare and exceptional maximum aperture of f2.5. This particularly applies when shooting colour under available light conditions, or when perhaps, fast shutter speeds are required for stopping moving subjects. The fully automatic diaphragm further assists in really fast working.

Incorporating the latest in technique and design, Asahi describe this as a 'de Luxe' objective and state that it has won wide acclaim for both optical performance and also external styling.

Little wonder when one considers the specification which is itself almost unique, offering as it does a superb f2.5 maximum aperture combined with a focal length of 135mm. Superb definition at any aperture and particularly recommended for all colour work. A full range of the intermediate settings of the diaphragm ring can be used, ensuring perfect exposure.

Principal Uses

The fast working f2.5 maximum aperture is perfect for indoor work with artificial light and indeed, for a very wide range of subjects wherever the specification of the lens suits the job in hand.

The manufacturers recommend that for those fortunate enough to be building together a lens system this would be considered the perfect intermediary comprising a group of, say, 35mm f2, 85mm f1.9, 135mm f2.5, and 300mm f4.

Typical application

Class:

Fast full-frame medium telephoto prime lens

Genres or subjects of photography (4):

Portraits • Distant subjects • Distant landscapes with perspective compression effect • Travel photography

Adaptation to digital SLR cameras:

Canon EOS SLRs • Sigma SD SLRs • Sony SLRs/SLTs • Pentax SLRs • Nikon SLRs • More information

Not adaptable

In order to adapt the lens, the flange focal distance (FFD) of the lens mount must be equal to or greater than the FFD of the camera mount. This lens has the M42 mount with a FFD of 45.5mm. This is even shorter than the FFD of Canon EOS digital SLR cameras, which have the shortest FFD of 44mm of any modern digital SLR cameras. Therefore, this lens cannot be adapted to any digital SLR camera.

Recommended slowest shutter speed when shooting static subjects handheld:

1/160th of a second

Alternatives in the Asahi Pentax M42 system

Sorted by focal length and speed, in ascending order

Lenses with similar focal length and speed

Sorted by manufacturer name

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35mm full frame

43.27 24 36
  • Dimensions: 36 × 24mm
  • Aspect ratio: 3:2
  • Diagonal: 43.27mm
  • Area: 864mm2

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Image stabilizer

A technology used for reducing or even eliminating the effects of camera shake. Gyro sensors inside the lens detect camera shake and pass the data to a microcomputer. Then an image stabilization group of elements controlled by the microcomputer moves inside the lens and compensates camera shake in order to keep the image static on the imaging sensor or film.

The technology allows to increase the shutter speed by several stops and shoot handheld in such lighting conditions and at such focal lengths where without image stabilizer you have to use tripod, decrease the shutter speed and/or increase the ISO setting which can lead to blurry and noisy images.

Original name

Lens name as indicated on the lens barrel (usually on the front ring). With lenses from film era, may vary slightly from batch to batch.

Format

Format refers to the shape and size of film or image sensor.

35mm is the common name of the 36x24mm film format or image sensor format. It has an aspect ratio of 3:2, and a diagonal measurement of approximately 43mm. The name originates with the total width of the 135 film which was the primary medium of the format prior to the invention of the full frame digital SLR. Historically the 35mm format was sometimes called small format to distinguish it from the medium and large formats.

APS-C is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the film negatives of 25.1x16.7mm with an aspect ratio of 3:2.

Medium format is a film format or image sensor format larger than 36x24mm (35mm) but smaller than 4x5in (large format).

Angle of view

Angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view.

As the focal length changes, the angle of view also changes. The shorter the focal length (eg 18mm), the wider the angle of view. Conversely, the longer the focal length (eg 55mm), the smaller the angle of view.

A camera's angle of view depends not only on the lens, but also on the sensor. Imaging sensors are sometimes smaller than 35mm film frame, and this causes the lens to have a narrower angle of view than with 35mm film, by a certain factor for each sensor (called the crop factor).

This website does not use the angles of view provided by lens manufacturers, but calculates them automatically by the following formula: 114.6 * arctan (21.622 / CF * FL),

where:

CF – crop-factor of a sensor,
FL – focal length of a lens.

Mount

A lens mount is an interface — mechanical and often also electrical — between a camera body and a lens.

A lens mount may be a screw-threaded type, a bayonet-type, or a breech-lock type. Modern camera lens mounts are of the bayonet type, because the bayonet mechanism precisely aligns mechanical and electrical features between lens and body, unlike screw-threaded mounts.

Lens mounts of competing manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony etc.) are always incompatible. In addition to the mechanical and electrical interface variations, the flange focal distance can also be different.

The flange focal distance (FFD) is the distance from the mechanical rear end surface of the lens mount to the focal plane.

Lens construction

Lens construction – a specific arrangement of elements and groups that make up the optical design, including type and size of elements, type of used materials etc.

Element - an individual piece of glass which makes up one component of a photographic lens. Photographic lenses are nearly always built up of multiple such elements.

Group – a cemented together pieces of glass which form a single unit or an individual piece of glass. The advantage is that there is no glass-air surfaces between cemented together pieces of glass, which reduces reflections.

Focal length

The focal length is the factor that determines the size of the image reproduced on the focal plane, picture angle which covers the area of the subject to be photographed, depth of field, etc.

Speed

The largest opening or stop at which a lens can be used is referred to as the speed of the lens. The larger the maximum aperture is, the faster the lens is considered to be. Lenses that offer a large maximum aperture are commonly referred to as fast lenses, and lenses with smaller maximum aperture are regarded as slow.

In low-light situations, having a wider maximum aperture means that you can shoot at a faster shutter speed or work at a lower ISO, or both.

Closest focusing distance

The minimum distance from the focal plane (film or sensor) to the subject where the lens is still able to focus.

Closest working distance

The distance from the front edge of the lens to the subject at the maximum magnification.

Magnification ratio

Determines how large the subject will appear in the final image. For example, a magnification ratio of 1:1 means that the image of the subject formed on the film or sensor will be the same size as the subject in real life. For this reason, a 1:1 ratio is often called "life-size".

Modified M42 mount

The mount has been modified by the manufacturer to allow exposure metering at full aperture.

Manual diaphragm

The diaphragm must be stopped down manually by rotating the detent aperture ring.

Preset diaphragm

The lens has two rings, one is for pre-setting, while the other is for normal diaphragm adjustment. The first ring must be set at the desired aperture, the second ring then should be fully opened for focusing, and turned back for stop down to the pre-set value.

Semi-automatic diaphragm

The lens features spring mechanism in the diaphragm, triggered by the shutter release, which stops down the diaphragm to the pre-set value. The spring needs to be reset manually after each exposure to re-open diaphragm to its maximum value.

Automatic diaphragm

The camera automatically closes the diaphragm down during the shutter operation. On completion of the exposure, the diaphragm re-opens to its maximum value.

Fixed diaphragm

The aperture setting is fixed at F/2.5 on this lens, and cannot be adjusted.

Number of blades

As a general rule, the more blades that are used to create the aperture opening in the lens, the rounder the out-of-focus highlights will be.

Some lenses are designed with curved diaphragm blades, so the roundness of the aperture comes not from the number of blades, but from their shape. However, the fewer blades the diaphragm has, the more difficult it is to form a circle, regardless of rounded edges.

At maximum aperture, the opening will be circular regardless of the number of blades.

Weight

Excluding case or pouch, caps and other detachable accessories (lens hood, close-up adapter, tripod adapter etc.).

Maximum diameter x Length

Excluding case or pouch, caps and other detachable accessories (lens hood, close-up adapter, tripod adapter etc.).

For lenses with collapsible design, the length is indicated for the working (retracted) state.

Weather sealing

A rubber material which is inserted in between each externally exposed part (manual focus and zoom rings, buttons, switch panels etc.) to ensure it is properly sealed against dust and moisture.

Lenses that accept front mounted filters typically do not have gaskets behind the filter mount. It is recommended to use a filter for complete weather resistance when desired.

Fluorine coating

Helps keep lenses clean by reducing the possibility of dust and dirt adhering to the lens and by facilitating cleaning should the need arise. Applied to the outer surface of the front and/or rear lens elements over multi-coatings.

Filters

Lens filters are accessories that can protect lenses from dirt and damage, enhance colors, minimize glare and reflections, and add creative effects to images.

Lens hood

A lens hood or lens shade is a device used on the end of a lens to block the sun or other light source in order to prevent glare and lens flare. Flare occurs when stray light strikes the front element of a lens and then bounces around within the lens. This stray light often comes from very bright light sources, such as the sun, bright studio lights, or a bright white background.

The geometry of the lens hood can vary from a plain cylindrical or conical section to a more complex shape, sometimes called a petal, tulip, or flower hood. This allows the lens hood to block stray light with the higher portions of the lens hood, while allowing more light into the corners of the image through the lowered portions of the hood.

Lens hoods are more prominent in long focus lenses because they have a smaller viewing angle than that of wide-angle lenses. For wide angle lenses, the length of the hood cannot be as long as those for telephoto lenses, as a longer hood would enter the wider field of view of the lens.

Lens hoods are often designed to fit onto the matching lens facing either forward, for normal use, or backwards, so that the hood may be stored with the lens without occupying much additional space. In addition, lens hoods can offer some degree of physical protection for the lens due to the hood extending farther than the lens itself.

Teleconverters

Teleconverters increase the effective focal length of lenses. They also usually maintain the closest focusing distance of lenses, thus increasing the magnification significantly. A lens combined with a teleconverter is normally smaller, lighter and cheaper than a "direct" telephoto lens of the same focal length and speed.

Teleconverters are a convenient way of enhancing telephoto capability, but it comes at a cost − reduced maximum aperture. Also, since teleconverters magnify every detail in the image, they logically also magnify residual aberrations of the lens.

Lens caps

Scratched lens surfaces can spoil the definition and contrast of even the finest lenses. Lens covers are the best and most inexpensive protection available against dust, moisture and abrasion. Safeguard lens elements - both front and rear - whenever the lens is not in use.