I’ve been using a Super Takumar 50/1.4 adapted to my Rebel XT a lot lately. I think it’s got a bit of the radioactive yellow thing, which I guess means it sat around a while out of the sun. It’s supposed to go away after exposure to sunlight, but after several months of use and some time in the windowsill it’s still a bit yellowish. It doesn’t really matter with digital because it’s easy enough to adjust the color later.
I forget to stop down the lens a sometimes after using the open aperture for easier focusing. All the stray light, flare, internal reflections and whatnot conspire to make some subjects look pleasantly soft. Seems to be distant subjects, where you’d have the focus at infinity, that look best. So, I tried a few shots of the capitol with the aperture open to 1.4. Bumping up the contrast removes the haziness, and I prefer shots like this in black and white. In color they look like 70s snapshots, which can be nice too.
