Why is the f/8 marking orange on my Takumar 28mm lens?
Asked 4/15/2017
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On my old SMC Takumar 28mm lens, the f/8 number on the aperture ring is colored orange. I also noticed an orange focus-distance mark around 3m/9ft. Does the orange f/8 have a special purpose, such as hyperfocal focusing, or is it just decorative?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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If you move the focus ring, you will find the the 3m/9ft mark is also in orange. Many Pentax wide angle lenses use an orange marking at f/8 which corresponds to an orange hyper-focal focus distance mark on the focus ring.
The orange marks are just for convenience for a quick hyperfocal distance reference.
When the orange marks are aligned, by using f/8 at a focus distance of 9ft, everything from about 6ft to infinity will be in focus. Stopping down to f/11 could increase the depth of field to maybe something like 6ft to infinity. (just a guess)
Originally by user39427. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39427
9y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
It’s mainly a functional marking, not just decoration. On many older Pentax/Takumar wide-angle lenses, the orange f/8 matches an orange focus-distance mark to give a quick hyperfocal reference.
If you set the lens to f/8 and align it with the orange distance mark (around 3m/9ft), you get a large depth of field—roughly from several feet in front of you out to infinity. That made fast, zone-focus shooting much easier in the manual-focus film era, especially for street photography (“f/8 and be there”).
Some people also associate marked apertures like this with a lens’s “sweet spot,” and f/8 often is a very sharp setting on many lenses. But on this lens, the matching orange focus-distance mark strongly suggests the primary reason is quick hyperfocal setup convenience.
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