Super Takumar 29

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Super Takumar 28

Type: Manual/Automatic

Focal Length: 28mm

Aperture Range: f3.5 - f16

Filter Thread: 49mm

I took this for a trip to Oxford along with a Carl Zeiss Flektagon 35mm f2.4 and a Petri 28mm f2.8 to check out the wide angle usage. Oxford is a busy place and many of the targets are too close for longer lenses, bearing in mind that a 50mm lens is equivalent to 75mm on a APS digital. I have posted the results from the Petri on its own page. In the middle of this page are 2 pictures which almost directly compare. The Flektagon proved to be a bit too long for the city shots and was not used there. The other two, apart from their limitations and shortcomings proved to do an excellent job.

There are two problems which seem to plague old film wide angle lenses on APS sensors and they are 1) a semi fish eye effect causing verticals to pull in from the sides, 2) a tendency to overexpose the highlights whilst darkening the shadows. This is because of the difference between the focal length and the angle of view. Although the effective length is 42mm (28 x 1.5) the angle of view is still as it would be on a film camera. The sensor inside the digital merely crops the centre of the picture so the incoming light source is still as it would be for a wider lens, hence in increase in stray and surplus light.

The two pictures below would have been almost impossible with a 50(75)mm lens, unless I stood in the path of an oncoming bus.

Looking down the High Street from the centre

Amazingly there is only one bus, buses and bicycles rule in Oxford city centre

These two pictures (below) are opposite sides of the same street. The picture on the left is picking up the edge of the sun which is causing the sky to burn out. Just a few degrees to the right and the sun is technically behind and out of sight of the lens.

These are the two pictures which directly compare with the Petri.

These are undoubtedly sharper, however, the Petri is more intensely coloured.

Without going back to Oxford to check I can't say for sure which is more accurate.

Another example of the effect of light, the picture to the left is well away from the sun where the one on the right is the opposite direction, I have walked past the bay window and shot the same building the opposite way. You can see from the shadow of the tree on the wall that the sun is away to the left so I'm not shooting towards it directly I'm just picking up the edge.

Enough talk of comparisons and conjecture about the light, just enjoy the superb sharpness and detail that this lens has provided.