I’ve had this Auto Takumar 35mm F2.3 for a couple of years now but I’ve never really used it that much. Having been out and about and used it all day today that will be changing because its a superb lens.

I got really lucky with this lens. I found it in a charity shop for £30. It looked in great condition and came in its original leather case. I couldn’t research it properly at the time of purchase as the internet access was really patchy so I took a punt on limited info.

Once I was home and had a proper look I found that the lens was in absolutely mint condition. It looked like it had hardly been used. Internet reviews said the bulbous front lens element was made with soft glass and prone to scratching. This lens didn’t have a mark on it.

Things got even better when I checked out ebay prices for this lens. There’s not that many about and those I did find were all up around the £350 mark. The reviews were really good as well. I’d found myself a bargain.

The 35mm focal length becomes a 50mm on my crop sensor Fujifilm cameras. It’s not a focal length I normally restrict myself to as I like my zoom lenses, but I try and make an effort to go out with primes from time to time. It’s probably for that reason I haven’t used it a great deal.

Back to today. I took it out with me this morning, on my X-T2, but the weather was awful. Rainy dank murky and grey. I didn’t come back with a great deal although I was pleased with this image of Black Nore Lighthouse. It’s on the coastline close to home.

The weather improved considerably this afternoon so we went out for a walk around Portishead Marina. I took the lens along with me to try it in better light. I also attached it to my X-T5 as it’s a heavy lens and the body stabilisation with the X-T5 was a big help.

I was really impressed once I saw the images in Photoshop. I’ve processed the images below but I’ve not added any sharpening and they’re pretty much as they came out of the camera. That’s rare with my £1000+ Fujifilm lenses! Here’s a few shots from our walk this afternoon.