Introduction

Today I’m looking at another vintage lens: the Super Multi Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5, made by Asahi Optical Co. before the company became Pentax. Over the years, this lens has earned a legendary reputation among vintage wide-angle lenses, praised for its sharpness and coatings that were considered exceptional for their time. Naturally, I wanted to see if the hype was real. Does it still hold up today, or is it simply a relic carried by nostalgia? Let’s find out.

I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with a Nikon Zf)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
Sample images in high resolution here.

Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Specifications

Disclosure

I picked up this lens specifically to test it for myself and see whether it still lives up to its legendary reputation today.

Variations

There were three different versions of this lens. The first two lacked multi-coating and were sold under the Super-Takumar name.

The first version (1962–1966) used a different optical design from the later models and featured a 58mm filter thread. It also came in two variants: an early version with a minimum aperture of f/22, and a later one with a minimum aperture of f/16.

The second (1966–1971) and third versions (1971 onward) shared the same optical design and a 49mm filter thread.

The third version — the one I’m reviewing here — was the only model to feature Takumar’s (later Pentax’s) Super-Multi-Coating.

Handling and Build Quality

This is a very compact and light lens at only 212 g, despite being made entirely of metal and glass. The focus ring has a gentle scalloped design and turns smoothly with a pleasant resistance of about 100°. Distance markings in both meters and feet are engraved and filled with paint.

Next is the depth of field scale on the barrel, followed by the aperture ring. It is marked in full-stop values, except for the maximum aperture of f/3.5. The ring clicks at all marked apertures, with click stops between the markings up to f/11. There are no intermediate click stops between f/11 and f/16.

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At last, there is a MAN-AUTO switch, which is used when metering at max aperture. When on Auto, the aperture is closed to the set value when you click on the shutter button, while on Manual the aperture is closed to the set value at all times.

The M42 screw mount, often called the “Universal thread mount,” was a dominant standard for SLR cameras from the 1940s through the mid-1970s. The M42 mount originated in East Germany with the Contax S (1949) and was standardized by Praktica.

While the mount was originally developed in East Germany, Pentax made it widely popular. It is often referred to as the “Pentax screw mount.”

There is also a pin on the mount that allows the camera to stop down the aperture during exposure or when previewing depth of field in auto-aperture mode. However, this mechanism does not work as intended on mirrorless cameras when using simple mechanical adapters. Instead, the lens stays stopped down at the selected aperture, requiring stopped-down metering.

Optical Features

Sharpness (Infinity)

For the infinity sharpness test, we’ll look at three areas of the image — center, mid-frame, and corner — as highlighted below. Focus was set on the center of the image.

Wide open, center sharpness is very good, the midframe is just acceptable, and the corners are very soft. Heavy blue and orange fringing is visible from the midframe outward, reducing perceived sharpness. Stopping down to f/5.6 brings center sharpness to an excellent level, though the midframe and corners improve only slightly. Corner performance becomes passable at f/8 and acceptable at f/11. At f/16, center sharpness drops slightly, while the corners improve further.

Sharpness (Portrait)

Let’s look at the points of interest for portraits at the portrait distance: the very centre, the centre’s inner periphery  (1/3 rule intersection), and the centre’s outer periphery (1/4th intersection). 

Here, I focused independently on the center, mid-frame, and corner areas to account for field curvature.

This Takumar 28mm is definitely not a portrait lens, but we’ll look at the sharpness anyway. At f/3.5, center sharpness is very good, the inner circle is good, and the outer circle is acceptable. Fringing appears faintly in the inner circle and becomes obvious in the outer circle. Stopping down one click to f/4.8 improves sharpness across all the measured points.

Sharpness (Close-up)

For close-up testing, I focused on the center and only included a 100% center crop.

Close-up sharpness is very good and improves to excellent at f/5.6. Peak sharpness is achieved at f/8. Sharpness begins to decline at f/11 due to diffraction, which becomes more noticeable at f/16.

Lens Distortion

There is moderate barrel distortion combined with mild wavy distortion visible in the images. Correcting it requires approximately +6 distortion correction in Photoshop or Lightroom. This does not completely eliminate the wavy distortion, but it does improve the overall rendering.

Vignetting

Wide open, there is moderate light falloff toward the corners, roughly on par with average lenses in this focal length range. It improves significantly when stopping down, becoming fairly minor at f/5.6 and negligible from f/8 onward.

• F/3.5: 2.5 EV
• F/4.8: 1.7 EV
• F/5.6: 1.3 EV
• F/6.7 1.1 EV
• F/8.0: 0.9 EV
• F/11: 0.8 EV

Focus Shift & Aberrations

Longitudinal chromatic aberration, visible as pink and green fringing, is very well controlled, although still present. The green fringing disappears by f/11, while the slight pink fringing never fully goes away. In practice it is minor and largely negligible, but it does contribute to the red/pink fringing visible from the midframe outward.

Lateral chromatic aberration is generally well controlled, though some remains visible. What complicates matters further is the orange fringing mentioned earlier. Correcting it properly requires manual adjustments to the RAW files.

Flare Resistance

This is a vintage lens, and as such, we should not expect too much. On the other hand, Takumar’s Super-Multi-Coating was legendary in its time, and it shows. While it cannot compete with the best flare-resistant coatings of today, it performs better than many modern lenses. It generally handles ghosting flare very well, though it struggles somewhat with veiling flare, which reduces the otherwise excellent contrast of the images. When the sun is positioned in the center of the frame at smaller apertures, a faint ring flare can also appear (F).

Coma

This Takumar lens suffers from coma, especially wide open. Stopping down helps, but does not eliminate it completely; traces of coma remain even at the lens’s minimum aperture of f/16. This is one of the factors contributing to the soft corners, even when stopped down.

Sunstars

Normally, five-blade apertures do not produce particularly attractive sunstars, and this lens is no exception. Nevertheless, it can produce visible sunstars at f/8 and smaller apertures, though they never become especially well-defined.

Focus Breathing

This Takumar lens also exhibits noticeable focus breathing, making it less suitable for video work where focus pulls are involved.

Bokeh

While a 28mm lens with a maximum aperture of 3.5 is not the first choice for pleasing bokeh, and this lens is clearly not designed for that purpose, we take a look at how it renders background blur.

Close-Distance

Quite busy bokeh at close distance.

Mid-Distance

And it does not get softer at mid-distance.

Long Distance

And of course, the long-distance background blur is also quite nervous.

This is a vintage lens with a typical vintage rendering, producing fairly busy bokeh even at close distances.

Bokeh is very subjective: some people like this kind of background blur, while others dislike it. Have a look and decide for yourself.

Conclusion

A vintage lens with character, it is what it is: a lens with excellent center sharpness that improves further to a generally good level across the frame, with totally acceptable corners when stopped down to f/8–f/11. Flare resistance is relatively good — better than that of some modern lenses — though far from perfect. Vignetting is well controlled, and the all-metal-and-glass construction has held up impressively after more than half a century.

That said, it cannot come close to the clinical sharpness and optical refinement of modern lenses. The corners never become truly sharp, coma never fully disappears, and midframe sharpness, flare resistance, chromatic aberration, and sunstars are merely mediocre.

The verdict: if you own an M42 camera—such as a Pentax Spotmatic, Praktica, Exakta, Chinon, Yashica, Mamiya, Fujica, Ricoh, Vivitar, or Zenit—this is a worthwhile lens for film photography. It is not a top-performing modern lens, but it is far from a bad one, and has the typical character and rendering of vintage optics. However, if you’re adapting a vintage 28mm lens to a mirrorless camera, better options are available from Zeiss, Nikon, Canon, and Minolta.

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Alternatives

M42

Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 28mm
Zeiss quality with a specific rendering that many love and a very short minimum focus distance
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de  from $150  (Advertisement)

Pentacon 29mm f/2.8
A more budget-friendly alternative with better bokeh but less sharp.
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de from $60  (Advertisement)

Yashica Yashinon-DS or DX 28mm f/2.8
Good build quality, more or less near the Takumar
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de,  from $90  (Advertisement)

Chinon 28mm f/2.8 (Multi-Coated)
Good multi-coating, handles flare almost as well as the SMC Takumar
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de,  from $50  (Advertisement)

Vivitar 28mm f/2.5
The fastest lens in the list
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de,  from $30  (Advertisement)

Other Mounts

Olympus Zuiko 28mm f/3.5
Incredibly compact and sharp across the frame with more modern rendering of background blur.
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de  from $60  (Advertisement)

Nikon Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AI-S
It features CRC (Close Range Correction), which means it remains tack-sharp even when you are focusing very close to a subject. It is 2/3 of a stop faster and resolves more detail for high-megapixel sensors.
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de from $250  (Advertisement)

(Carl Zeiss) Contax/Yashica (C/Y) Distagon 28mm f/2.8
famous for the T Coating*, which provides incredible flare resistance and that rich, “saturated” Zeiss color. Nicknamed The “Hollywood” 28mm, it is famous for a very specific, beautiful way it renders light, but it is extremely expensive
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de  from $220  (Advertisement)

Canon FD 28mm f/2.8 (S.C. or nFD)
Canon FD glass is known for having pastel colors and smooth bokeh. Affordable, suits especially video for a cinematic look
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de $85  (Advertisement)

More Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Further Reading

• What camera gear and accessories do I use most frequently?
• Review: Voigtländer 28mm 2.8 SL IIs Color-Skopar (Nikon F)
• Review: Minolta 28mm 2.8 M-Rokkor
• Review: Minolta MD 28mm 1:2
• Review: Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm 1:2
• Review: Pentax K SMC 28mm 1:3.5

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Martin

Martin M.H. lives outside Stockholm, Sweden. He is a M.Sc. in Computer Technology but he has been a passionate photographer for over 50 years. He started his photographic adventures when he was thirteen with an Agfamatic pocket camera, which he soon replaced with a Canon rangefinder camera that his mom gave him in his teenages. After that he has been using Canon SLR, Nikon SLR manual focus and Autofocus, Sony mirrorless crop sensor, Nikon DSLR and Nikon Mirrorless. He has photographed any genre he could throughout the years and you can see all kind of images in his portfolio. During the later years though it has been mostly landscape, nature, travel and some street/documentary photography.

Latest posts by Martin (see all)

• REVIEW: Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMAR 28mm f/3.5 - May 10, 2026
• REVIEW: Viltrox 55mm f/1.8 EVO - April 20, 2026
• Review: Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 - April 8, 2026