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NPS 400mm f5.9
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PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2010 7:48 pm    Post subject: NPS 400mm f5.9 Reply with quote
Hello All

I recently had a moment of madness and took a risk on buying the above lens on ebay - thankfully, out of sheer luck this lens performs in a very creditable manner.

Can anyone provide any information with regard to this specific lens or of NPS in general?

So far, having tested the lens on my K10d with a tripod, the pictures are nice and sharp, no vignetting, no pf (as yet). The only issue I have noticed is that the contrast can be a little low but this is easliy solved in photoshop so I am not concerned with this.

The lens is of metal construction, built in tripod mount, made in Japan, no built in hood and has an M42 mount and may have been originally bought in Canada.

Any information would be greatly appreciated as I cannot find anything on the internet about this lens. Very Happy

Regards


Stu.

Last edited by stuey on Mon May 24, 2010 8:16 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2010 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
http://forum.mflenses.com/lens-with-very-low-contrast-ringfoto-400mm-f-5-9-t12430.html

Other than that, I know nothing about this lens Sad


PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2010 10:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A photo of the lens could help identify it.

"NPS" sounds like a merchants name or brand. Most third party Japanese lenses in the 1950's-1970's were sold under distributors brands.

I know of one 400/5.9 which was a rather uncommon product of (probably) Tokyo Koki aka Tokina, from the early 1960's I think. This is much more rare than the 400/6.3 by the same maker but shares some family resemblance.


PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 1:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I posted a discussion about an NPS lens. I have one too, a zoom lens when I bought my Nikkormat FT. I thought it was a Nikon lens, but it was not.
Thread's discussion is below

[url] http://forum.mflenses.com/nikon-38-95mm-zoom-lens-t26839,highlight,nikkormat.html [/url]

There is very little replies on this subject. I assume that it is a lens built in the late 1950s to the early 1960s?


PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 11:27 am    Post subject: NPS 400mm f5.9 Reply with quote
Hello

Thank you for your responses.

I will try to add some images of and from the lens before the weekend.

I have never done his before so I may take longer.


Regards



Stu

Last edited by stuey on Mon May 24, 2010 8:17 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 8:01 pm    Post subject: Re: NPS 400mm f5.9 Reply with quote
stuey wrote:
I will try to add some images of and from the lens before the weekend. I have never done it his before so I may take longer.


I recommend you register for Flickr and get the subscription (costs about 20 per year). Then, you have easy upload and hosting of images, and posting them to topics here only requires you link them. I am sure many will help you to tell how to link the photos once you have got yourself a place to host them.

Vilhelm


PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Or you can click the "Upload picture" button when typing your reply, and upload it straight to the mflenses forum. Wink


PostPosted: Mon May 24, 2010 6:46 pm    Post subject: NPS 400mm f5.9 Reply with quote
Sorry for the delay, hopefully here is a link to the ebay advert for the lens [urhttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NPS-1-5-9-f-400mm-Telephoto-lens-to-fit-Pentax_W0QQitemZ300420363930QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item45f272f69al]

And her is a picture using the lens, hopefully.

[imhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/10126769@N05/4636514148/g]

[/img][/url]

**** Oh dear I appear to have got something wrong Embarassed - any helpers ????****[img][url=http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/20105/big_2944__IGP6604_mf_lens_copy_1.jpg]

Still not perfect but I seem to be getting somewhere Confused

Last edited by stuey on Mon May 24, 2010 7:50 pm; edited 3 times in total


PostPosted: Mon May 24, 2010 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well copying and pasting the link worked.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NPS-1-5-9-f-400mm-Telephoto-lens-to-fit-Pentax_W0QQitemZ300420363930QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item45f272f69al

Or look in UK ebay for 300420363930

I can't see much in the pictures really, but from whats there I'd say its not a Tokina, more likely a Sankor based on the lettering (large size and color), but as I said I can't see much. If its a Sankor its not one I've seen before.


PostPosted: Tue May 25, 2010 2:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Here's the photos from the auction:
ebay wrote:



This lens appears to be extremely similar in appearance to the "Safari" brand lens I had found a while back in an auction, which mo pointed out was almost identical to her Astronar.

Here's the Safari:



... and here's mo's Astronar:




ManualFocus-G had indicated that the 'E' in the serial number (which all three of these have) usually indicates that it was made by Sankor. I can't comment on the image quality, as I didn't end up buying the Safari. Wink

Here are two other threads for reference. First is mo's Astronar 300mm f5.5: http://forum.mflenses.com/astronar-5-5-300mm-any-opinions-t26599.html
and second is the Safari 300mm f5.5 that I didn't buy: http://forum.mflenses.com/safari-brand-lenses-t28231.html


PostPosted: Tue May 25, 2010 6:16 pm    Post subject: NPS 400mm f5.9 Reply with quote
Thank you for your replies.

It seems that I am a little closer to finding the origin of this lens as well as having fun with it.

Very Happy


PostPosted: Tue May 25, 2010 7:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, most likely Sankor.

I have its "little" brother, the 4.5/300 in Spiratone brand, kindly provided by member casualcollector -

http://forum.mflenses.com/spiratone-sankor-300-4-5-preset-t-mount-t19238,highlight,sankor+300.html


PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 4:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Guilty, resurrecting an old thread but also keeping alive the NPS quest....

I found a 300mm F5.5 sample N.P.S. (National Park Service) labeled them with their own abbreviation for inventory tracking purposes.

Seem to be Sankyo Khoki Komura made, as good as any long telephoto a consumer could afford in the day. Far less CA then a Vivitar or even later Sigma versions. Not near the level of a Nikkor 300/4 or Tamron SP 300/2.8, but no where near the cost either. As long as you find one not labeled Sankyo Khoki Komura they are very inexpensive. BTW, I made that up about the National Park Service bit, sounded good at the time ...... but because I found one I did some research too and found SKK to be the best match for the maker.

They are presets, old, high quality glass, ugly looking, but for the $5 I paid for mine? I'm happy ...... Don't take 500 yard bird shots and do 200% crops and expect decent results ....use a 1.5 crop keep the subject centered and make sure you are as close as possible so you don't have to crop and you will get decent performance better than a Tokina/Vivitar, Sigma, or any of the inexpensive 300mm lenses...no kidding.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
There are two "Sankyo" outfits -

One is Sankyo Koki (or Kohki) Komura. This lens is not a Komura. By this period few Komura made lenses were rebranded, nearly all are found under the makers own name.

The other is Sankyo Seiki, house brand Sankor, which is what this NPS is most likely to be. This Sankyo mainly made cine cameras and lenses, SLR lenses were a sideline, mainly sold under importers brands.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 8:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It would be great to see a photo of the lens in question. Tokina made a superb 300/5.5 preset often found under brands such as Hanimex and Soligor.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I misspelled "Kohki"
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