Takumar 50mm f/1.4: 7-Element vs 8-Element | Is It Worth the Price?

Takumar 50mm f/1.4 Lens Comparison | 7-Element vs 8-Element & 55mm f/1.8 🌿 Subscribe to follow the series:    / @new_life_old_glass   How much difference is there between the different generations of vintage Pentax Takumar lenses? In this comparison, I put several classic Asahi Pentax Takumar lenses side by side to examine their sharpness, colour rendering, bokeh, vignetting, contrast, and overall optical character. The legendary eight-element Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 commands a premium among vintage lens collectors, but does its optical performance justify the price? I compare early and late eight-element versions with a seven-element Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/1.4, a Super-Takumar 55mm f/1.8, and a Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 55mm f/1.8. Rather than relying on specifications alone, this vintage lens comparison looks at how these lenses actually render an image at different apertures, from wide open at f/1.4 or f/1.8 through f/5.6 and beyond. In this video, I compare: Early and late eight-element Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lenses Seven-element Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/1.4 Super-Takumar 55mm f/1.8 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 55mm f/1.8 What you'll discover: Sharpness wide open: How the different versions perform at their maximum apertures, including differences between individual lens samples. Bokeh and background highlights: The appearance of out-of-focus highlights, onion-ring effects, and the hexagonal shapes created by the aperture blades. Vignetting: How illumination falloff changes as the lenses are stopped down. Colour rendering: Differences in warmth, neutrality, contrast, and highlight transmission, including the yellowing visible in the seven-element lens. Coatings and contrast: Whether the later Super-Multi-Coated versions offer a noticeable advantage over earlier designs. Performance at f/5.6: How stopping down improves sharpness and reduces the performance gap between the lenses. Price versus performance: Whether the premium commanded by the rare eight-element 50mm f/1.4 is justified by optical performance alone, or whether collectability and historical significance account for much of its value. The results are interesting. Although the lenses have distinct rendering characteristics, their optical performance is surprisingly close in many situations. The eight-element versions show some differences wide open, while stopping down brings their performance closer together. The more affordable 55mm f/1.8 lenses also prove to be capable alternatives. Of course, these tests represent a particular shooting scene rather than every possible lighting condition. Strong backlighting, in particular, could reveal differences in flare resistance and contrast that aren't fully demonstrated here. Is the eight-element Takumar 50mm f/1.4 worth the premium? If you're interested in vintage lens collecting, adapting classic Pentax M42 lenses to modern digital cameras, or finding the best optical performance for your money, this comparison will help you decide. Thanks for watching! Subscribe for more vintage lens reviews, optical comparisons, and practical explorations of classic lenses on modern cameras. #Takumar #VintageLens #LensComparison