1966 Soligor Brochure (Big Files)

casualcollector · Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:04 am Post subject: 1966 Soligor Brochure (Big Files)

This arrived with one of my "R" Serial Auto Soligor lenses. Print date is December 1966. Scanned at 300 DPI and saved as JPG.

Front and rear covers.

Introduction.

Auto lenses.

Preset telephoto intro.

Preset tele.

Preset super tele.

Preset wide angle.

Accessories.

As a point of interest I've collected three Soligor Auto Telephoto lenses with "R" serials, two of which are illustrated in this brochure. The 135 that I have is not illustrated. The one pictured is a Tokina. The 200 matches my example. The 300 illustrated shows the aperture ring at the front. My example has the ring at the rear and is equipped with a Nikon prong.

Of the auto lenses illustrated I consider the 28mm to be of Kino manufacture. The 35 and 135s from Tokina. The 200 and 300 may be automatic Kawanons. The 250 looks very Tamron.

I saw the two piece 400mm Soligor-Miranda at a camera show about 20 years ago. Interesting, but I passed it by.

Bill

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

Thanks for posting this pamphlet very interesting..I have the Preset 250/4.5 and I can confirm its as light as a feather compared to other 200s-300s.I also have I think the Auto 135/2.8 it has the A/M ring....and yes I have used it for sports and it works quite well.

#135/2.8
http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/20103/1827_P3195779_900x675_1.jpg

DR.JUAN · Joined: 08 Feb 2013 Posts: 661

Excelent!

Great help to our knowledge

casualcollector · Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:36 pm Post subject:

I was tickled to find it! I also have a mid 80s color brochure. I'll make that the next project.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Many thanks!

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

What a find !

Some very interesting stuff here. This is obviously pre-Tokina T4.

The makers are a transitional mix apparently.

Easiest are the presets. A bunch are the T-serial number Tamron made types, such as the 135/2.8, 250/4.5, 350/5.6, 400/5.5 and even the 35/2.8

The very long lenses are the Kawakami/Kawanons, no mystery.

The 180/3.5 is unidentified though, and I happen to have the one pictured. Who made it ? I haven't a clue.
The 105 and 135/3.5 presets in these are also unknown.

The auto lenses are a bigger mystery. Thats quite an odd lineup. That 250/4.5 looks like some of the mystery "Silver Ring" Vivitars, with a touch of Tamron Adaptamatic. The rest are even less guessable.

DR.JUAN · Joined: 08 Feb 2013 Posts: 661

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

I can't quite see the images in the posted pamphlet,I clicked on them to see if they would enlarge as I wanted too see, do the Auto Soligors have this A/M ring.

The Preset 250/4.5 does have the serial starting with a T,I can't find the 135/2.8 lens at the moment I think it starts with the letter H from memory.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

I figured out how to zoom the pictures. There is a zoom icon on the image.

Anyway,

On the auto lens page,

- The auto lenses certainly aren't from a single manufacturers series.

- The 135/3.5 and 135/2.8 images are switched around. This makes it more clear that the lenses depicted are most likely fixed mount versions of the familiar Tokina Auto series later supplied as T4's. The proportions and details seem to match. Some of these can be found in other brands of course.

- The 250/4.5 is VERY similar to the elusive Taisei/Tamron/"Vernon Edonar" series, and I am fairly confident about putting it in there. The detail of the A/M switch seems definitive. I have seen this lens before, but it is, like its stable mates, rare. Some of these "Vernon Edonar" lenses were obviously related to the Adaptamatics, but this one, like the 28mm I have, didn't get to be an Adaptamatic.

- The 200/4 and 300/5.5 are obviously from the same source and have an unusual aperture mechanism for an auto lens, with the selection ring being up front instead of by the lens mount. I have an early 135/2.8 Soligor in Exakta mount thats built like this. The aperture indicator mark also tickles my memory. I want to say Itoh or Kyoei, but who knows. Has anyone seen a Kawanon auto lens ?
Further, I may have seen something similar in a Seymours catalog somewhere.

casualcollector · Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:08 am Post subject: Class of 1966

After a little head scratching, I went to the vault. Four out of five of these Soligors appear in the brochure.

Left to Right: 300/5.5, 200/4, 135/2.8, 35/2.8, 28/2.8.

The 300, 200 and 135 are obviously from the same maker. The 135 does not appear in the brochure. I wonder why...
The 300 is a coupled Nikon F mount, Serial No. R41xxxx. Perhaps an improvement over the unit illustrated in the brochure. The 135 is also in Nikon F mount, but uncoupled, S/N R40xxxx. The 200 is M-42 and has S/N R40xxxx.

Speculation alert! I believe these may be from Kawakami. I only have images of Kawanon presets to use for comparison but the "backwards" focus direction and style of the distance markings make me think that. Don't know if Kawakami favored a glossy black finish. Regarding Itoh, the lenses of seen branded as Itoh Higon also seemed to show these charactersitics. I won't rule out Kyoei. Anything similar in the Petri lineup?

The 35/2.8 is a Tokina, slam dunk. Mine has an H66xxxx serial, matte black finish with Canon FL mount.

The 28/2.8 I've previously pinned on Kino based on comparison with a Vivitar 35/2.8 of similar construction. It has a 966xxxx serial, glossy black finish and Canon FL mount.

I'll be happy to post some detail shots for the curious if interested.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Yep, you have some pretty interesting stuff in the "vault".

I want to say Kawakami also. I have a theory that that's what Kyoei turned into.

It may be settled if one of these "auto lens with front aperture ring" types turns up as a Kawanon.

Also interesting that whoever it was dropped the rather quixotic aperture ring placement on the 300. So there are two variants of this.

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

Thanks Luis, Mine is the same as the one shown in the Auto section.

My 135/2.8 does have the serial No H66**** The mount is fixed and marked CS.... It is marked as SOLIGOR TELE-AUTO.

The 250/4.5 does have the script writing and the Serial is T-38**** it has the T mount marked P and the front is marked Soligor Telephoto.

casualcollector · Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 1:05 pm Post subject:

Yes, Luis, the 300mm does stir the pot a little bit. In this time frame these were designed and put into production, most of Japan's 35mm SLRs did not have coupled meters. I have seen an uncoupled Minolta SR mount version of the 135 go through ebay.

Univer · Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts: 282

Thanks so much for posting these pages!

I can confirm that the automatic 250/4.5 is a Tamron, very much in the Adaptamatic idiom (right down to a "6XXXXX" serial number), but in a fixed mount - and with a few other modest styling differences. It's certainly a cousin to some of the Tamron-made Vernon Edonars, and also to the fixed-mount "Aetna Rokunar" branded Tamrons one encounters from time to time.

My own 250/4.5 is a recent acquisition; by pure happenstance, it arrived on the same day as my Adaptamatic 200/4.5, completing (not counting the second version of the 28mm) my roster of Adaptamatic primes. Because there was no true Adaptamatic 250/4.5 (as far as we know), I've given this lens provisional status as an honorary Adaptamatic.

I've had time only for a couple of hasty test shots with the lens, and it seems agreeably sharp, without (so far) excessive fringing.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Hi Jon,

Long time no see !
Interesting that you are also collecting Adaptamatics.
Do you have the 200-500 Adaptamatic ?
I am still wondering about it.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4748 Location: Cheshire, England

Very interesting. I remember us having the same brochure in the shop where I worked in 1978.

Look at the prices. Bloody expensive considering it was 1966!

Univer · Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts: 282

Hi Luis,

Same here - always nice to see you.

I don't post very often in online forums nowadays, I'm afraid. But I do visit on a semi-regular basis. Mo was kind enough to let me know about this thread.

Guilty as charged: yes, I've been collecting Adaptamatics. I suppose I'm done now; I've got all the primes. (One day I'll add that second version of the 28mm, but I don't regard that as a major gap in the collection.) I don't have any of the zooms, and so can't offer any opinions on the 200-500. That's an awfully interesting lens, though.

Speaking of "interesting," these brochure pages are fascinating - in terms of what's included and what's omitted. I find it slightly odd that two Miranda-only lenses are included in a general brochure; I guess the 135mm bellows lens and the 400/5.5 were unusual enough to warrant inclusion, even though they weren't available in other mounts. But it's still rather peculiar, when you consider that the bellows unit featured in the brochure wasn't even offered in Miranda mount. That means that if you went ahead and bought that bellows lens, you'd have to buy a Focabell bellows (or a T-mount bellows with a reverse-T Miranda adapter at the front) in order to mount it.

As for the omissions, this brochure may* tell us something about the production life of some lenses that aren't included. The 85/1.8 and 85/1.5 are not included among the presets, so those were presumably out of the line by 1966. And the same would apply, I guess, to the monstrous 500/5. (*I say "may" because it's always dicey to rely on any one brochure or catalog as a definitive reference; all of those lenses may still have been in production at this time, and may still have been left out of this brochure for one reason or another. Nevertheless, this is one solid piece of evidence, even if it's not dispositive.)

Cheers,

Jon

casualcollector · Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:02 pm Post subject:

Jon,

Re: the Miranda 400/5.5. I passed on one back in the 90s. I bought a very nice Canonflex from and old photographer in Albany, New York. For sale with the camera was this Miranda lens with a Canon T adapter on it. It was labeled Miranda but was a T mount lens.

Univer · Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts: 282

How interesting - thanks for that info!

My Soligor Miranda 135mm bellows lens is definitely 44mm fixed screw mount. (I wish it were T-mount; that would make adaptation a bit easier.)

Sometimes I think it's wise, if you're trying to figure out Soligor variants and versions, to make sure the headache pills are within easy reach. Smile

Cheers,

Jon

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

I have recently received some more older photography Magazines, this time the Australian photography mag's of 1966,1967 and 1968.They had an ad that you may find interesting concerning the Soligors.
From The 1966 November Mag of that year this ad runs right up to the 1967 October edition
#1

#2 These ads were in the 1967 Dec magazine and 1968 note they dropped the 100-200/5.6 lens and added the 400/6.3,not sure if that means anything but I find it interesting.

Oldhand · Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 3:44 am Post subject:

Thanks for posting that Moira.
Just to put those prices into context, the cheapest lens there - the 35mm f3.5 @ $29.55, was just a little more than two weeks wages in the job that I had then.
I think that my camera at the time was a Kodak instamatic.
Very Happy

OH

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

Seriously,that does put it into perspective! Very Happy

Oldhand · Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 4:51 am Post subject:

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

I was wondering about when the pounds/decimal change happened,I was too lazy to Google so thanks for the info! I may try and chase down some magazines from that vintage and see if it caused "conversion" chaos... Laughing

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Thanks Mo !

I have that 800mm/8

Still "working" with it. It is a handful indeed.
And that minimum focus of 82 feet ? Thats no lie. To get it down to even 20ft a heck of a lot of extension rings are needed.
Its not a good lens for flower shots.