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It so happens that I am a huge fan of manual lenses, especially telephoto ones. The biggest reason for that is the price/performance ratio I guess 
For the past two years I have been happily using the Super-Takumar 300/4 on my Pentax K10D. It is a tad heavy and it does sometimes get chromatic aberrations, but I have got used to it and have managed to get many good shots with it (even handheld).
Before the Tak I was using a borrowed Tair-3 (the photosniper version), a weird piece of gear, but somehow I was very fond of it and wasn't too happy to give it back.
Recently an opportunity arouse to get my paws on Tair-3 4.5/300A ("normal" version of the lens, with the usual focusing ring, not the small wheel under the barrel as on photosniper version). Of course I could not keep back from doing a small improvised shootout with the two lenses. The results were quite surprising.....
The test was done using the pentax k10d body and a heavy tripod. Shooting distance was approx 5.5m (the minimum focusing distance of the Super-Tak). The shots were then opened with camera raw, turning off the sharpening & noise reduction, then 100% crops were combined side by side. The weather was dull and the light was crap, but I wasn't going for art or demonstration of capabilities under ideal circumstances. So here it is - a real life, side-by-side shootout of the two....
F4.5, Super-Takumar on the left, Tair-3 on the right:
F5.6
F8
F16
As can be seen - the Tair-3 stays superior in sharpness up to F8, at F8 it's hard to tell the difference, and at F16 it seems to be slightly softer than Super-Takumar.
Both lenses have different minimum focusing distances - Super-Tak has 5.5m, Tair-3 can get as close as 2.2m. To me - it's a huge difference:
Also it looks like Tair-3 is less prone to chromatic aberrations. Of course, the size and weight differences are quite obvious, the Super-Tak suddenly seems very light and compact.
Also, the Tair-3 is awesomely long, when focused to the minimum distance and the built in hood is extended, it's a whooping 37cm long and weights at 1,6 kilos, about 450g more than the Super-Tak.
Anyway - I am quite happy to put up with the extra weight, the monstrous size and the huuuuge travel of the focusing ring (I should take it apart and re-lubricate it, as the focusing is rather stiff at the moment). My personal conclusion: Super-Takumar is up for sale.
Full size untouched raws are available upon request, I have also taken shoots at TV antenna at approx 20m, against the sky to see the situation with CA. I didn't include those pictures here as it is quite complicated to upload them to a hosting service, then find the links, then paste them here... If you want them - just ask.
For the past two years I have been happily using the Super-Takumar 300/4 on my Pentax K10D. It is a tad heavy and it does sometimes get chromatic aberrations, but I have got used to it and have managed to get many good shots with it (even handheld).
Before the Tak I was using a borrowed Tair-3 (the photosniper version), a weird piece of gear, but somehow I was very fond of it and wasn't too happy to give it back.
Recently an opportunity arouse to get my paws on Tair-3 4.5/300A ("normal" version of the lens, with the usual focusing ring, not the small wheel under the barrel as on photosniper version). Of course I could not keep back from doing a small improvised shootout with the two lenses. The results were quite surprising.....
The test was done using the pentax k10d body and a heavy tripod. Shooting distance was approx 5.5m (the minimum focusing distance of the Super-Tak). The shots were then opened with camera raw, turning off the sharpening & noise reduction, then 100% crops were combined side by side. The weather was dull and the light was crap, but I wasn't going for art or demonstration of capabilities under ideal circumstances. So here it is - a real life, side-by-side shootout of the two....
F4.5, Super-Takumar on the left, Tair-3 on the right:
F5.6
F8
F16
As can be seen - the Tair-3 stays superior in sharpness up to F8, at F8 it's hard to tell the difference, and at F16 it seems to be slightly softer than Super-Takumar.
Both lenses have different minimum focusing distances - Super-Tak has 5.5m, Tair-3 can get as close as 2.2m. To me - it's a huge difference:
Also it looks like Tair-3 is less prone to chromatic aberrations. Of course, the size and weight differences are quite obvious, the Super-Tak suddenly seems very light and compact.
Also, the Tair-3 is awesomely long, when focused to the minimum distance and the built in hood is extended, it's a whooping 37cm long and weights at 1,6 kilos, about 450g more than the Super-Tak.
Anyway - I am quite happy to put up with the extra weight, the monstrous size and the huuuuge travel of the focusing ring (I should take it apart and re-lubricate it, as the focusing is rather stiff at the moment). My personal conclusion: Super-Takumar is up for sale.
Full size untouched raws are available upon request, I have also taken shoots at TV antenna at approx 20m, against the sky to see the situation with CA. I didn't include those pictures here as it is quite complicated to upload them to a hosting service, then find the links, then paste them here... If you want them - just ask.
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