Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:05 am Post subject: Komura 135/2.8 Preset Unidapter M42 - just lovely ! |
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luisalegria wrote:
A new Komura - this came with the complete package, original case, hood, and caps, in excellent condition.
It is of course one of those quirky Komuras. Komura was a company that did its own thing, with little or no regard to marketing apparently. They may have been the last quality company in the business making preset lenses. They were definitely the last company making Leica thread mount lenses - into the 1970's ! And they were making Visoflex mountings and lenses also ! And the only 200mm rangefinder lens. This tiny company introduced no less than three interchangable mount systems - just for their own lenses.
Because of the very long period in which Komura sold the same products, its hard to place the date for this one - it could be anywhere from the early 1960's to maybe 1970-72.
It is of the typical excellent Komura fit and finish, lovely gloss enamel in the old style. Everything turns smoothly, with the characteristic Komura light touch, a little less firm than a Takumar, but slick. It has the first of the Komura interchangable mounts, the Unidapter, which works just like a T-mount - but it isn't, the thread is larger. Why not just use a T-mount ? Well, it wouldn't really be a Komura then, would it ?
As a lens, you could say it is a very typical preset tele of the period, albeit more nicely made than most, with the usual Japanese two-ring preset mechanism, lots of blades in the aperture, a minimum focus of 5ft/2.5m, etc. And thats true. I also find it an exceptionally sharp lens even at f/2.8, excellent color rendering, extremely easy to hit focus, and the camera loves it too, the focus confirm works down to f/11. Its quite good with respect to flare, its a great lens for backlit flowers, though I believe it is just single-coated. There is some purple fringing under the usual circumstances.
The bird
crop -
_________________ I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |