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Need help identifying lens "Dimension 135mm f3.5"
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
RAART wrote:

here are some pictures where you can see the reflections however they do not look similar to me, but I am no expert and do not know where to look or for what. Strange that none of those lenses have a built-in collapsible hood that this one does and it does have auto/man switch.


Sorry I didn't show this on the pictures but both 135mm and 100mm lenses do have build-in hood. I've added a picture now.

Hard to tell about reflections from your pictures. Try to see yourself in daylight. Try to compare also the rear lens. It could be though that since this is F3.5 and not F2.8 the optical formula is different and the coating as well.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have added some new pictures to my post.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
to be honest, the test photos look better than the lens itself. Hope you didnt pay much for it
because it wont have much resale value. Rolling Eyes


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I didn't pay too much... Whole 11.30$! Probably while no one knew what it is...

Just to add something that might ID the manufacturer is that the back element of this lens is perfectly flat what wonders me while mostly other lenses have a concave element at the back. I still tend too think that Cosina is manufacturer and not the Sun. Also under the collapsible hood when fully extended (manually slides out) I have two screws, facing each other at 180 degrees and I do not see it anywhere on the other lenses similar looking.

Here are some more reflections for Dimitry...







PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Have added some reflections for Dimitry (taken in daylight)


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
RAART wrote:
Just to add something that might ID the manufacturer is that the back element of this lens is perfectly flat what wonders me while mostly other lenses have a concave element at the back. I still tend too think that Cosina is manufacturer and not the Sun. Also under the collapsible hood when fully extended (manually slides out) I have two screws, facing each other at 180 degrees and I do not see it anywhere on the other lenses similar looking.


There is only one screw under the hood on my lenses but I don't think this is very significant. Rear element and reflection are different due to a different optical scheme - after all this is F3.5 lens and mine is F2.8. I still think they share many common properties.

Last edited by dimitrygo on Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:29 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Some more test pictures... I am just wondering if it is Olympus magic trick or the lens itself... I like the performance so far.

If anyone wants some 1:1 crop please let me know...










PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's definitely a razor sharp 135 f3.5 lens!

This is an absolutely great lens

I am interested to see all crops but it's more than clear that the lens is a hidden gem

Or am I wrong?

tf


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Here you go... just a few crops but I can upload on Monday more after I am back at my home computer.






PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
hmm - CA seems to be well controlled ...

Thanks!

tf


PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well controlled at perfect focus. Look at the background, tons of threading out and spherochromatism. Common with older lens designs, it's irrelevant for most birding, but can be a major hassle with some full-frame artsy composition tasks. Same with C/D 60-300 4-5.6


PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
buerokratiehasser wrote:
Well controlled at perfect focus. Look at the background, tons of threading out and spherochromatism. Common with older lens designs, it's irrelevant for most birding, but can be a major hassle with some full-frame artsy composition tasks. Same with C/D 60-300 4-5.6


That is the reason I got the picture of the red leafs... Focusing is critical too, then red color and very bright sunny day do the work. I think that almost every lens will have trouble there and wanted to find out how this will do. Unfortunately hurricane Sandy is closing by and I think even In Ontario we will get heavy winds and some heavy rain (around 100mm) and I can not take more pictures with some other lenses of the same subject. Anyway for this inexpensive lens I was very surprised...

and here are missing crops.






This last picture was taken over the distance of around 300-500m


PostPosted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It looks quite good. Have to say, a lot of these third party 135mms are good, I had an Optomax that was good and two or three copies under different names of the Samyang 2.8/135 which is also good.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 2:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Just to bump a years old thread, but I too found this lens today at a thrift store, for the princely sum of $8. I have zero experience in MF photography beyond flipping the switch on my DSLR when I need to hard focus on something not obvious, so please bear with me.

Has anyone found anything conclusive on it? I'm also in Canada like the OP, so the idea that it was a Canada build may have some credence. My SN is 711475. Finally the camera side cap says "Minolta" so not sure if it was a build for them, or if it was just a convenient cap.

The reason I bought it was simply because it was cheap, and felt heavy so presumably was of half decent quality, and am wanting to learn more about optics in general, so was planning on tearing it down just to see what's inside, but at the same time, if it is a decent lens, I would prefer not to potentially destroy something useful.

The other thing I noticed, was that in spinning the aperture ring doesn't seem to change the aperture. On every other lens I've seen in my life, it normally has blades which open and close. Is some other mechanism in play with this manual lens? Or perhaps after years in a closet they got stuck at wide open?


PostPosted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 7:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, certainly not made in Canada, but the importer-distributor could have been Canadian. In those days hundreds of importers around the world put their own brands on lenses made by a dozen or so Japanese lens makers (and later a couple of Korean ones too). This is one of those lenses.

Those importers were all kinds, large marketing outfits like Vivitar (originally Ponder&Best of Los Angeles) to smaller ones, department store chains, camera store chains, etc. Some of this is still going on.

An importer, over time, could have sold products from all the known Japanese makers (Allied Impex aka Soligor probably managed to do that), and likewise the Japanese makers sold their stuff, rebranded, to any number of importers. And there were Japanese merchants as well acting as another layer of middlemen.

It could be in Minolta mount, cant say without seeing the mount end.
The aperture certainly could be stuck, thats a common fault, or the mount could be one of those where it needs pressure on some doodad to stop it down to the indicated aperture. Pictures would help.
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