Pentax Super-Takumar 35mm f/2

A narrow stairwell, a single bulb, someone two steps below you turning to look back. You want a 35 you can shoot at f/2 and still hold a hand-held shutter on Tri-X without going to 1600. The common f/3.5 wides of the M42 era give up a full stop or more, which often pushes you to 1600 or a tripod for exactly this scene. The Super-Takumar 35mm f/2 hands you that stop back, and it does it with a rendering that stayed warm instead of going clinical. Available-light reportage at the wide end, indoors, after dark, on a screwmount body you bought for almost nothing.

This is the 1963 to 1971 Super-Takumar, single-coated, before the multicoated SMC version arrived. In normal light it is genuinely sharp wide open, more than most people expect from a fast vintage wide, with plenty of bite by the time you reach the center. The single coating shows itself the moment a bright source enters the frame. Point it near a window or a street lamp and the contrast drops, the flare blooms soft, and you get a gentle veiling glow across the shadows. Stopped down to f/5.6 it tightens up and behaves, enough resolution for landscape on slide film. Color skews warm and slightly golden, which flatters skin and autumn light and works against you under fluorescent tubes.

Bokeh at f/2 on a 35 is never going to melt the way a fast fifty does, but the out-of-focus rendering here stays smooth and unfussy. Highlights go round without onion rings, and the background does not get nervous behind the subject. The corners soften off toward the edges. Focus falls off gradually rather than snapping, which suits environmental portraits where you want the person sharp and the room implied. The aperture ring runs to f/16, and the barrel turns with the heavy damped feel Takumars are known for, easy to zone-focus by touch.

The honest weakness is the same flare that gives the lens its charm. Shoot into a bright sky or a backlit scene and contrast collapses, blacks turn milky, and you lose shadow separation. Use a deep hood and keep stray light off the front element. If you need a contrasty modern wide for harsh midday work, the multicoated SMC version or a Nikkor handles it better. The people who reach for this one already know that and want the softer signature.

Today it sits in the affordable end of the M42 market, cross-shopped against the SMC Takumar 35mm f/2 (more contrast, higher price) and the cheaper f/3.5 Takumar (one stop slower, less character). On mirrorless it has picked up a following with shooters who want that softer, slightly hazy look straight off the glass instead of in post. It is still a screwmount, so you give up automatic diaphragm coupling on most modern bodies, but for the money the speed and the rendering are hard to beat.

One metering note. Working this lens at f/2 in a dim interior, the real trap is a bright window biasing an averaged reading, which has nothing to do with the coating and will drag your shadows toward black. The single coating adds its own veiling flare on top, lifting those blacks once light hits the front element. Meter at the working aperture and let Zone Light Meter place your key tone where you want it, rather than trusting an average off the brightest thing in the frame.