Interesting Galaxy 135mm and 35mm lenses

abr_brs · Joined: 19 Oct 2014 Posts: 15 Location: Bristol, England

I got these lenses with a Minolta SR-7 kit recently.

Quite interesting preset lenses with two separate aperture rings. I have not seen this before. One is a normal clicky f-stop selector and the other is a smooth ring which moves the iris between the fully open position and the position set on the main ring.

The 135mm has 16 blades, the 35mm has 8 blades

Can't find very much information about these. Anyone come across them before and know if they are worth anything? I would assume that Galaxy refers to PrinzGalaxy but there seems to be a huge number of different Galaxy 135mm's so I haven't been able to find anything on these particular lenses. They are both in pretty excellent shape except for a tiny amount of oil on the blades.

Interestingly also the SR/MD mount actually unscrews and leaves behind a screw mount that is *almost* M42 but not quite.

I don't have any test shots as I am waiting on an E-mount adaptor in the post.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Well I have the Prinz Galaxy M42 135mm f3.5 and it is similar to yours and it's a decent lens...but would doubt if any Galaxy lens is worth much, but there might be a hidden gem that I don't know of, that photographer want.

Galaxy 135mm f3.5 M42 WO on a film camera

abr_brs · Joined: 19 Oct 2014 Posts: 15 Location: Bristol, England

Cheers,

Does yours have twin aperture rings too ? I figured it wasn't worth anything really, was just curious to see if anyone else had a similar example.

Funnily enough right after I posted this I was putting the MD mount back on and somehow managed to unscrew the focusing helix. Must have been some loose retaining screws. Maybe not in such perfect condition after all. It is kind of a strange design. The guides are built into the main lens body. The bit on the left accepts the guides and threads into the focus barrel on the right. The plastic of the focus barrel also rotates around the focus threads when the screws are loosed. I managed to get it back together but have probably messed up infinity focus given there is more than one variable at play :/

[Just a quick snap from my smartphone]

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Good find !
I am looking for those very lenses as it happens.

Twin aperture rings is a standard feature on Japanese presets. They are nearly all like that, from all makers.

Your lenses however are from a rather "mysterious" source. I have been seeing parts of that product line for years.
I have a 300/5.6 and a 400/6.3 from that line, have spotted a 200/4.5 but didnt get it. I may have seen the 135 but the wide angle is new.

In the US these can be found in the Kaligar brand and I dont think any others. Thats an importers brand of course, as is Galaxy.
Best I can suggest is the Itoh Higon brand, which may be the makers own, due to similarities with 135's of that marque. On the other hand C. Itoh was a Japanese trading company and that may be yet another merchants brand.

Quality ? Eh. the ones I have indicate construction quality and performance are on the lower end. The 300/5.6 is "interesting", the 400/6.3 is rather better but any of the cheap 400/6.3's can beat it to some degree. Doesnt mean that one cant get good pictures. I have been working on portfolios for these.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Prinz Galaxy was the store brand of Dixons, and they sourced lenses from various suppliers - generally the cheapest rather than anything to do with quality. Sadly, the 35mm shown in your picture is the worst lens I have ever seen, for every possible reason. The optics were bad and the build quality was even worse. The whole thing just fell apart in the end, and I didn't miss it.
But, now that I've cheered you up, there have been reports of decent Prinz Galaxy lenses here on this forum and others, so the 135mm might be a decent lens. The problem is, Dixons bought whatever was going and had it branded, so one weeks 135 might be very different to the one someone would buy the next week, there doesn't seem to be any consistency in their lens range.

abr_brs · Joined: 19 Oct 2014 Posts: 15 Location: Bristol, England

From these replies it does sound like Prinz/Galaxy is a totally random mismash of things! Interesting though, kind of a puzzle to be solved in a way.

kenetik · Joined: 02 Mar 2014 Posts: 524

The worst 35mm lens ever Lloydy? That's quite the recommendation! LOL. Now that 35mm looks a lot like the Super Lentar 35mm 3.5 I have. With the exception of differences in the rings and the word INF instead of the infinity symbol. Tell me what you think?

Excuse the condition of the Lentar, it has red crap on it from a decaying case and I only used it for a few test shots. It vignetted quite a bit on FF.

kenetik · Joined: 02 Mar 2014 Posts: 524

I checked and I also have a Tele-Lentar 200/4.5 that looks very similar in styling to the Galaxy 135 and has a serial of H73859, similar to the serial on the Galaxy. I am thinking Galaxy and Lentar purchased from the same sources.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Mounts on the OPs lenses are T-mounts if the thread is almost M42
It would be M42x.75 vs M42x1
T mounts are handy as they can be changed out cheaply.
T mounts are readily available from China.

Lentar was another US importers brand very commonly seen on Tokina lenses, but as we see here not exclusively.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

The Lentar does look like the same lens, but it also looks as though the aperture rings are metal - not plastic recycled from old Coke bottles that the Galaxy had! The rings were so flexible and soft one fell off when the tiny screws came loose, of course the threads then stripped so it was useless. I superglued the ring in place, but the glue ran inside the lens and locked the aperture, which I didn't notice until I tried to adjust it and the whole damn thing just disintegrated in my hand.
I wasn't heartbroken, I'd got it out of a box of junk in a charity shop along with a book for �1 for the two items, the book was a good read. Laughing

kenetik · Joined: 02 Mar 2014 Posts: 524