Sankyo Koki Komura 200mm f/3.5

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

There are a few Komura fans here in addition to myself, however this particular lens seems to have received very little attention. Perhaps I'll find out why. Luis posted about the f/4 version back in 2008 and there was one f/3.5 post by Kathmandu in 2010 that I could find, not much more. I succumbed to temptation and purchased this one cheap, then had it serviced by Marc Jensen
( http://forum.mflenses.com/lens-repair-ebay-user-100-feedback-t61112.html ) and it's still a cheap buy. It is not likely to displace my Series 1 as my favorite at 200mm, but it does have the Komura many-bladed diaphragm. I expect the sharpness to be more than satisfactory with excellent color and bokeh if it is to perform like other Komura lenses. I will update this post with images after receiving it back and giving it a good shoot.

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

It looks nice and solid.

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

A post by Ian elsewhere reminded me to update this one. After receiving the lens and trying it on my NEX-5N, I quickly discovered that the Exakta mount did not even come close to fitting my adapter. It was loose and the pin that gets clipped into place stops well short of the correct position. After consulting with Luis, I decided to purchase another lens that had a Minolta mount. The second lens had a bad element, so I took off the mount, but I could not remove the Exakta mount from my first lens. I gave it to my muscular son, but he too failed to turn it. Then I just swapped the sections to put the good elements with the focusing section of the second lens. Success. The Minolta mount fits my adapter just fine.

The lens is bigger and heavier than my other 200mm lenses, but this one is a preset with a round iris. Focusing ring can get stiff with these lenses. I oiled it and now it works fairly well. I find focusing challenging even with the NEX focus aids. But when I hit it right, the lens can be very acceptably sharp. Colors and bokeh are exceptional by my tastes. I believe I have posted some images in the Digital Images Gallery, but I will post here too for continuity.

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

While I rarely use a long lens at infinity, I do take test pictures with every lens so that I can assess both infinity performance and whether or not I can reach infinity on an adapter. This one goes past infinity, just how I like it. This lens strikes me as being surprisingly good at infinity. I always use the house across the street as a subject for my infinity tests. It provides a consistent subject for comparison. These three images were taken at f/3.5, f/5.6, and f/8. Aside from a little blue fringing at wide open, there is surprisingly little difference in sharpness.

The images have been loaded to the MFL site, so there are full size versions behind them.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

This is mine, cost me 4.95ukp plus postage, it's in mint condition, first one of these I've seen for sale, all of these later Komuranons are very rare here in England.

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

That's a later lens; much different from mine.

!Karen · Joined: 20 Jul 2013 Posts: 837 Location: Belgium Baby

Woodrim, your images of the birds are beautiful. What kind are they? Do they live in the wild or were they shot at a zoo? Smile

Great bokeh, I agree!

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Very interesting.
I have the old preset 3.5 (I have a post about it) AND the much less common 4.5 versions, two of them, one M42 and the other the oddball rangefinder coupled Leica mount.
None of them are as rare as that late auto version. I would very much like to have that one!

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

kenetik · Joined: 02 Mar 2014 Posts: 524

Gorgeous shots Woodrim and all those blades produce some really nice bokeh. Your copy looks to be in very good shape.. I have a couple of lenses I suspect might be Komura made, but the only branded item I have is the tele-more 95 II teleconvertor.

Is there a thread listing Komura manufactured lenses under different brands?

Thanks again for sharing your shots. The only issue I have is that, like Luis, you could make any vintage Japanese lens look like a top of the line Zeiss or Leica Wink

.

Ken

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

Thank you, Ken, for that kind exaggeration. I do not know of a topic exploring re-branded Komuras.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

There are very few Komuras under other brands that I know of.
The most common one by far seems to be the very early 135/2.8 from the 1950s often found as a Soligor, Juplen, Peerotar, etc.
But in later days Komura, which seems to have been a rather eccentric outfit, generally tried to build their own brand.
Maybe some of the later 1970s stuff like Ian's 200mm, or more likely the zooms in that line, but who knows.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

That's very generous of you Ian!
I hope it works out for you though.
200mm and 300mm are my casual snapshot FLs.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I think they mostly made lenses for the major manufacturers rather than for rebranders. Wouldn't surprise me if a few Canon FD and Nikkor AI/AI-S lenses were made by Komura. Today, Tokina make a lot of lenses for the major manufacturers, but there are secrecy agreements so we don't know who makes what.

!Karen · Joined: 20 Jul 2013 Posts: 837 Location: Belgium Baby

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

Mark · Joined: 01 Dec 2012 Posts: 251 Location: Budapest, Hungary

Wow, excellent bird shots! I really like the 3rd picture!

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

Thank you, Mark.

Ian: I suspect your version has only six (maybe eight) blades t the diaphragm. Looks smaller too. Not likely the same lens and likely different results. My guess is that you won't like it. Just a guess.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I'll count the blades. It is a bit smaller I think, certainly shorter.

I rarely use anything longer than 100mm, even my large collection of top notch 135mms is rarely used, so the odds are against me falling in love with a 200mm lens.

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

I like it, but have not fallen in love with it. I'm still learning about it. I think I just discovered that its sweet spot is not so much aperture centric, but distance.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

That's interesting, for me, I would use a long lens at distance far more than for anything quite close.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

The Egret shot is superb, everything about it is good. Cool

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

The main reason to use long lenses, IMHO, is for standoff distance on discrete subjects. In particular for closeups. Why take a picture of a bird (a sensitive, artistic portrait for sure, full of meaning about the noble creatures character, with a 100mm) if you can take a more interesting picture of its tonsils ?

That, or I am just narrow minded.