Takumar

Takumar is the name that Asahi Optical gave to its lenses, notably but not exclusively those for its own SLR cameras. Named after the Japanese-American portrait painter, Takuma Kajiwara (梶原啄磨, Kajiwara Takuma^?), whose brother Kumao Kajiwara founded Asahi Optical. The name adorned its lenses until 1975, when Asahi switched from the M42 screw mount to the bayonet K-mount. K-mount lenses were simply named "SMC Pentax".

The Takumar designation was used on lenses designed for Asahi's 35 mm cameras, 6×7 cameras, and for other purposes too.

The Takumar series of lenses has an excellent reputation which approaches a cult-like following among some users. They assert these are the best series of photographic lenses ever produced because:

- At the time, Japanese industry had a pride-driven, some would say fanatical dedication to producing the absolute best quality in the world.

- The lenses were designed for professional durability, quality and performance.

- Their performance especially with black and white film is extraordinary; photographs have a crisp, soulful, artistic quality usually attributed to the much more expensive West German-made Leitz and Zeiss lenses.

- The M42 thread mount (originally created by Contax, but sometimes also referred to as Pentax screw mount, or universal screw mount, or TM for thread mount) was widely used among many manufacturers and was also easily mated to other camera mounts with simple adapters, making these lenses widely used and appreciated.

- Japanese technical expertise and production quality rose rapidly to reach world-class levels in the 1970s, several years before their economy, currency and marketing ability caught up, making these lenses underrecognized and undervalued even until the present.

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Wikipedia