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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

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Lenses from Korea
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:27 am
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:27 am
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I wonder which companies produce or have produced lenses in Korea besides Samyang?


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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:09 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:09 pm
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+I wonder if there are any lens manufacturers in North Korea


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:35 am
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:35 am
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ForenSeil wrote:
+I wonder if there are any lens manufacturers in North Korea

Have you seen any reports from decades past of kidnapped Japanese optical engineers?


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:37 am
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:37 am
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If they would kidnap a leading South Korean film director and make him make movies for them, don't see why they wouldn't kidnap a few opticians.

As for the South, there is Optron-Tec who make lenses for Samsung:

http://www.1001noisycameras.com/2009/07/samsung-nxseries-revelation-optrontec-is-the-exclusive-lens-provider.html


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:31 am
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:31 am
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I had this Revuenon 135/2,8 M42, its written made in Korea. I dont know who made it.


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:52 am
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:52 am
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IAZA wrote:
I had this Revuenon 135/2,8 M42, its written made in Korea. I dont know who made it.


Posting different models "Made in Korea" is good idea. I suspect some late lenses that has "Made in Japan" on them were also manufactured in Korea. Did some Japan factories moved their production to Korea (to reduce costs) similar as Germans moved theirs to Japan?


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:21 am
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:21 am
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Spy cams from North Korea?


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:46 am
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:46 am
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I had this "made in Korea" m42




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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:13 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:13 pm
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kansalliskala wrote:
I had this "made in Korea" m42




Those lenses are most intriguing for me because they have some attributes common to Sun made lenses. For instance their mount and A/M switch.


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:00 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:00 pm
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Those two revuenons could well be Samyangs, they are pretty similar in styling to the common 2.8/135 Samyang that is seen in many brands, I've had it in Exaktar and Mirage brands, also seen it as a Kestrel. Good lens, actually.


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:57 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:57 pm
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Those two revuenons could well be Samyangs, they are pretty similar in styling to the common 2.8/135 Samyang that is seen in many brands, I've had it in Exaktar and Mirage brands, also seen it as a Kestrel. Good lens, actually.


Also Weltblick and Varexon. Version from IAZA is updated version (second generation). Older (Korean first generation) is like here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabbitriot/2401522540

28mm from the same series as all above Revuenons:


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:08 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:08 pm
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Bellow image isn't mine. I found it through Google images and cannot reach it directly so here, three first generation Koreans:


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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:13 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:13 pm
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That one in the middle is the 2.8/135 I was referring to.


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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:49 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:49 pm
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I'd like to add notorius Exakta Varioplan 18-28/4-4.5. Here from NikonD: http://forum.mflenses.com/exakta-varioplan-18-28-4-4-5-t39062,highlight,+exakta++varioplan.html

Review 1: http://www.forum-olympus-france.com/forum/topic/1777-exakta-varioplan-1828mm/
Review 2: http://www.lensporn.net/2011/12/review-samyang-18-28mm-f4-45.html

From the same series: Exakta Varioplan 35/70 f3.5-4.5. Here from Francotirador: http://forum.mflenses.com/exakta-varioplan-35-70-f3-5-4-5-t25959.html

There is also a bit rare version 28-200mm (found also as Prakticar): Click here to see on Ebay.de

If those are surely made by Samyang i am not sure if lenses in previous posts are made by the same company though possible.


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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:59 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:59 pm
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A lot of the older Samyang lenses seem pretty good, the 135mm is one of them, despite what people say there are plenty of bad 135mm lenses out there!

Also the 18-28 while having bad distortion has given nice punchy colours and decent resolution in my experience, even the 35-70mm surprised me, it's far from perfect but again nice colours and not bad resolution!


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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:17 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:17 pm
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Look at the Korean market version of the Industar-26m:

http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?-1557141558

PT4322


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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:37 am
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:37 am
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Most of my Koreans were / are zooms.

Sears Auto Zoom (KAR) 070-210/4.0 # 8604242xx
Sears Auto Zoom (KAR) 080-200/4.0 # 8610112xx

Albinar ADG Zoom (K-M) 080-200/3.9 # 841186xx
Albinar ADG Zoom (N/AI) 080-200/3.9 # 871516xx
Chinar ======== (K-M) 080-205/4.5 # 40445xx
Chinar ======== (K-M) 135/2.8 === # 403xx
Sears Auto MC == (K-M) 135/2.8 === # 8401017xx
Sears Auto Macro (KAR) 135/2.8 === # 8609010xx
Sears Auto Zoom (KAR) 028-070/3.5 # 8703090xx
Sears Auto Zoom (M42) 080-200/4.0 # 8408300xx

I kept the first two and sold the excessive others. Except for mounts, two of the four 80-200s were identical and the other two were close. All the 135/2.8s were very different. The Chinars build is quite distinct from the Albinars+Sears, so I assume two different lensmakers, Samyang and an unknown other. The Samyang serial numbers show production during 1984-87. Was that their hot period!


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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:27 am
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:27 am
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I have an auto exaktar 35mm F1;2.8 made in Korea. Also known as Porst, Varexon and Aremac.No idea wether made by Samyang or not

goo.gl/caHoo (to a flickr set of these lenses)


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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:13 am
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:13 am
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dimitrygo wrote:
kansalliskala wrote:
I had this "made in Korea" m42




Those lenses are most intriguing for me because they have some attributes common to Sun made lenses. For instance their mount and A/M switch.

I agree on that. Just comparing 2.8/35mm and 2.8/135mm that i have SUN and Korean version. Seems like SUN is responsible for this Korean line.


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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:16 am
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:16 am
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Typical Samyang, there is a very common but actually rather good 2.8/135 under many brands that has the same styling.


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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:22 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:22 pm
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Typical Samyang, there is a very common but actually rather good 2.8/135 under many brands that has the same styling.


Is it Samyang or SUN subsidiary company? Carenars from Korea are different from SUN copies. One might doubt the same company from Korea made them.

Some photos of my distant twins.





Few valid questions that arise: are they of the same quality? Symbols that separate Japan made lenses from made in Korea? Did SUN stop production in Japan when it launched Korean? Was it the same company or Korea just bought SUN license and know-how?

Trying to answer first: beside obvious SUN's triangle / diamond, Japan made lenses have DOF scale and focusing scale in the same level.
Focusing ring ends differently. As you can see older 2.8/35mm SUN (Weltblick) has more differences, but optics surely is the same.


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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:51 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:51 pm
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Pancolart, it's very impressing. I would say the Korean 135mm resembles some 135mm F3.5 lenses we identified as Sun made


May be both Sun and Korean maker have sourced their parts from the same maker or it was some sort of cooperation between them.


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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:21 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:21 pm
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These have a sticker made in Korea.



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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:32 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:32 pm
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My Korean exaktar



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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 4:31 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 4:31 pm
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I'd say the one on the left is definitely a Samyang:



These are definitely Samyangs, that 2.8/135 is the one I referred to, it's seen under literally a dozen or more brand names, I've had it a an Exaktar and a couple of other names I forget now.

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