Lentar (Tokina?) 450mm f/6.5

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

I've had this thing for a year at least, I have just got around to finishing a portfolio just recently. I believe its a Tokina - i.e., made by Tokyo Koki

L-R - 200/4.5, 300/5.5 (these two are well-known Tokinas), 350/5.6, 450/6.5

This thing is certainly in the same series as its 350mm little brother -

http://forum.mflenses.com/soligor-tokina-350-5-6-t-mount-preset-t20063,highlight,%2Bsoligor.html

I believe I have seen this 350 and a much more rare 400/5.9 in the "Tele-Tokina" brand, therefore this 450 is probably also a Tokina. The 350 is seen fairly often, the 450 quite rarely. The 200 and 300 of course are extremely common.

It also shares some points of style plus even interchangable parts with other known Tokinas, including identical tripod mounts. The Lentar brand (probably that of a US importer) seems to have been mostly if not all Tokinas, both preset and automatic.

The larger units in this series of Tokyo Koki lenses reverse the order of helical and aperture, no doubt because it is easier and cheaper to put the aperture mechanism of a large lens somewhere it can have a smaller diameter; and because it is simpler to make a rotating helical mechanism than a non-rotating one as on the smaller Tokinas. Like most of the Tokina teles its got four elements in three groups, the front being a doublet.

This particular lens is in fine, clean shape, little worn, but the front element coating is somewhat damaged by fungus. It shares its types long minimum focus - about 30'(10m) in this case. Of course its distinguishing feature is that it is considerably faster than the usual 450mm which were typically f/8 - 450mm was quite a common focal length at the time, most of the known Japanese third party makers produced one. In spite of the large aperture and large size it is amazingly light and handy.

Performance can be very good. Wide open it is not quite capable of matching the sensor on my Pentax K-x. At f/8 it is perfectly sharp. However, like many lenses of this type there are all sorts of aberrations visible wide open, sometimes giving an interesting effect, particularly in bright sunlight, backlit subjects and highlights.

All at f/6.5 - some with an extension ring - some shots I more or less deliberately overexposed (its not easy to get nice detail on a backlit dark creature in bright sunlight) to give a basis for b&w experiments.

The bird -

crop -

fuzzywuzzy · Expire: 2013-11-30

Great subjects, rhino butt and giraffe eyelashes!

I love the sleeping flamingos as well.

And the pensive ape is the one in your avatar?

Himself · Expire: 2013-05-30

Yep, the cousin from the avatar is #1 for me.
And I find rather suggestive the rhino's butt.