Anybody knows Kowa?

Karhallarn · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 577

Hi guys,

gone by a little photoshop nearby I spotted a nice looking 135 f4 and the matching camera with a 50mm f2. It turned out to be a kowa with matching lenses. I've never seen or heard from this brand and the mount looks a little bit like the interchangable mounts like adaptall without an adapter attached!

Anybody knows if there are adapters of some kind to use them digital? How the quality of thos lenses and cams?

ciao,

Kahallarn

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Probably a Kowa SET series. Its a leaf-shutter SLR with the aperture mechanism partly on the camera. There are no adapters for modern cameras.

Frank wrote a nice article on these -

http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Kowa_SETR_eng.html

Karhallarn · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 577

Cheers! Very interesting and exactly what I saw!

So no use in spending money on it! Wink

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

Kowa (SE, SET, SETR) lenses never had a very good reputation.

The 135 mm lens (4/135) is very nice aesthetically but the pics that I saw from my girl friend in films time (years ago) in slides were directly bad. Flare, low contrast, not sharp (I dont' remember the apertures used).

This lens seems to be a nice collector item. Here, in Argentina this lens is u$s 125 (WOW!!), 'cos the possible collector interest.

Rino.

rick_oleson · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:11 am Post subject:

The Kowas were the best leaf shutter 35mm SLRs made. That, unfortunately, puts them at the front of a pretty slow group - but they are pleasant cameras to use, relatively reliable and easy to service. Like other leaf shutter SLRs, though, if you want an adapter to use their lenses on a DSLR, you're going to have to make it yourself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26262745@N08/3086720107/in/set-72157610757987197/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26262745@N08/3996332223/in/set-72157622552007096/

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

Seele · Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 741 Location: Sydney Australia

folderholder · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 102 Location: California

[quote="Relayer"]someone use medium format kowa six? I'm interesting about quality of this kowa body & lenses[/quote]

There were two models: the Kowa 6 and the later Kowa 66. The 6 came out around 1971 and the 66 dates from 1976. It is improved mechanically over the older model and offered a TTL meter prism, as I recall. I've heard the lenses are excellent.

Himself · Expire: 2013-05-30

Bill has a Kowa and as far as I know he`s very happy with.

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

I heard that kowa lens aren't like the zeiss or schneiders nor a bronica lenses.

In the magazine camera and darkroom (in the 90's) one article of artist who used Kowas six because the lenses were not so sharp but had a strong character.

Interesant to know them.

Rino.

bbshooter · Joined: 13 Feb 2010 Posts: 48 Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Hi, I am new here, I hope you dont mind me adding my comments.

I own a Kowa six with 55, 85 and 150 lenses and I like them, the weight of the system is robust but you definately feel like you have a quality piece of equipment in your hands. I think the Image quality of the lenses are very good also. I know that they have a tainted reputation for the winding gears getting chewed up but if you use the film advance like a knob instead of as a rapid advance crank you should be fine.

The lenses I have are not multicoated but they are sharp (maybe not the 85 wide open but at f4 on it is fine)
I would post a couple images but I haven't figured out how to do it yet.

folderholder · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 102 Location: California

Here's the test from Modern Photography for the normal Kowa 85 f/2.8 lens (April 1976):

[b]Resolution Power:[/b]
[b]f/no............Center.....................Corner [/b]
2.8.............Accept. 35.................Accept. 25
4................Exc. 56.....................Accept. 28
5.6.............Exc. 56.....................Accept. 28
8................Exc. 56.....................Good 35
11..............Exc. 62.....................Exc. 44
16..............Exc. 62.....................Exc. 50
22..............V. Good 50................Exc. 44

[b]Image Contrast
f/no............Center.......................Corner [/b]
2.8.............Medium 40.................Low 18
4................High 52.....................V/Low 20
5.6.............High 57.....................Low 32
8................High 58.....................High 52
11..............High 58.....................High 48
16..............High 48.....................High 44
22..............High 46.....................High 36

bbshooter · Joined: 13 Feb 2010 Posts: 48 Location: Pennsylvania, USA

If I can post a pic to demonstrate quality of lenses would it go here
or in the gallery?

Sevo · Expire: 2012-12-03

The lenses are good, compared to average 35mm gear. Compared to the high standards in medium format, they (just like Norita or Pentacon 6 glass) are a bit below average.

But it probably is not the medium format camera you should get unless you are more into collecting than using. Given the relative rarity of lenses other than the normal, a Kowa system complete with a basic three lens kit can be quite a bit more expensive than a comparable RB or RZ kit - which are more reliable and have superior lenses.

Sevo

folderholder · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 102 Location: California

As a user camera any of the Mamiya medium formats would likely be a better choice than the Kowa. I've happily used Bronica S2 and S2A cameras for decades. Another possibility is the Pentax 6x7. The Pentaxes, Bronicas and Mamiyas all use outstanding quality lenses. There is a lot of older medium format equipment available nowadays for very low prices that is capable of producing gorgeous quality images.

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

Im think that buy an old hasselblad 500 C with a normal planar is a very good option. It's a good user cam and a first class lens. All well used.

Rino.

bbshooter · Joined: 13 Feb 2010 Posts: 48 Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Sevo has some good points, I would guess that an RB or RZ would yield
a better image especially if you are cropping the Kowa's square neg to a rectangle, it would be 645 vs 6x7. Negative real estate usually wins. Smile

The RB or RZ might be easier to get serviced also as it has a more recent
production run. The optics are also coated I think with the RB or RZ which yields better results. I am not sure the Mamiya lenses are sharper though.
I have only used a RZ a couple times and did not see much of a difference.
These things being said, I have seen some pretty low prices on *bay for Kowa Equipment in the USA. My kit was an amazing deal for me ...a retired pro gave me the body with the 55 and 85 lenses! The only lens I had to purchase was the 150 which I found for $90 US. I think that pricing in Europe may be different than in the US.

Bottom line is it depends on what you shoot, what lenses you'll need and what deals you run into......you can do good work with either.

rick_oleson · Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 4:50 am Post subject:

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

Very nice pic, and the lens has a strong character. Nice to play with for a time (but to be your equipment, hummm...)

Rino.

dekiller · Joined: 04 Jun 2008 Posts: 133 Location: Macao

Kowa is known for its Cine lens.

siudym · Joined: 27 Jun 2015 Posts: 73 Location: Poland

I have Kowa 85 / 2.8. Two samples from the Canon 300D - F2.8 and the second at F5-5.6 about. It plans to convert it to mount canon.

2.8

~5.6

Eugen Mezei · Joined: 17 May 2008 Posts: 265

Anyone knows where the Kowa MF site
http://www.duncanrossphoto.com/Biography/Photographic_resources/Kowa_Camera_Information_Portal/kowa_camera_information_portal.html
mentioned by Rino is gone?
Wayback machine has not archived it.

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 556 Location: Reading UK

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28