Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!

SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

Soligor 3.9 - 4.8 / 28-70 mm S/M zoom -- any details?
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:51 pm    Post subject: Soligor 3.9 - 4.8 / 28-70 mm S/M zoom -- any details? Reply with quote

I have acquired the above mentioned compact zoom and I'm very much surprised by its overall high contrast/ sharpness as well as color rendition. Both shadow and light details will be retained and the colors are fully saturized. This small zoom compares well to fixed-length wide-angle lenses, although it will show appreciable vignetting at 28mm and wide apertures under unfavorable light conditions. Distortion is well under control in comparison to other wide-angle lenses.

This lens was also sold under other brand names, like Chinon etc. Does anybody know who has manufactured this lens? There are some rumors on the internet that it was manufactured by Sun Opticals, but the heavy mount does not resemble other Sun lenses. The HMC lens coating looks like Hoya.

What about the abbreviation S/M found on many Soligor zooms? "Small" and "macro" ?

Here aresome sample pics.



PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Soligor 3.9 - 4.8 / 28-70 mm S/M zoom -- any details? Reply with quote

Fujinonuser wrote:
I have acquired the above mentioned compact zoom and I'm very much surprised by its overall high contrast/ sharpness as well as color rendition. Both shadow and light details will be retained and the colors are fully saturized. This small zoom compares well to fixed-length wide-angle lenses, although it will show appreciable vignetting at 28mm and wide apertures under unfavorable light conditions. Distortion is well under control in comparison to other wide-angle lenses.

This lens was also sold under other brand names, like Chinon etc. Does anybody know who has manufactured this lens? There are some rumors on the internet that it was manufactured by Sun Opticals, but the heavy mount does not resemble other Sun lenses. The HMC lens coating looks like Hoya.

What about the abbreviation S/M found on many Soligor zooms? "Small" and "macro" ?

Here aresome sample pics.



Welcome, pictures are disabled for new posters as an anti-spam measure. This looks like a Sun lens to me.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got the 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 version of this lens. Mine has a separate ring that twist for macro which is labelled 1:4 1:5 1:6 1:8

Is yours a twist zoom? Mine is a push/pull zoom.

I've not tested it much though. Perhaps it could be my next project.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, mine is a very precise twist zoom. It has its best sharpness at 5.6.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A near ringer for my Kobori manufactured Promaster branded lens of the same specification.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whence do you know it was manufactured by Kobori and who is Kobori?


PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

-halli- wrote:
I've got the 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 version of this lens. .


The 28/80 is sun made
(soligor was the sole seller selling it with one-touch design , others sellers: sun, osawa ... sold the same lens but with 2x touch design)

This lens looks same origin as my c/d 35/70 2.5-3.5

Fujinonuser wrote:
Whence do you know it was manufactured by Kobori and who is Kobori?


Kobori (koboron) is one the main lenses sub-contractor
They maufactured a lot of modern vivitar lenses (28/70 , 28/200) sn 77xxxx

It seems that there is a link beetween tokina and kobori because : ie the tokina 28/200 3.5-5.3 is same as kobori 28/200

The kobori lenses are usually good to vg (not as good as kiron or komine) but good


Last edited by PBFACTS on Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:18 pm; edited 2 times in total


PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

casualcollector wrote:
A near ringer for my Kobori manufactured Promaster branded lens of the same specification.


An interesting point

TEFNON & KOBORON (kobori) are 2x trade marks of the same company : Marukei Sangyo Co.
http://www.trademarkia.com/company-marukei-sangyo-co-ltd-773149-page-1-2
http://electronics.zibb.com/trademark/koboron/29324813

As we know that the soligor cd 35/70 was tefnon made , this mean that the cd 35/70 is kobori made (same company) and this 28/70 lens which looks close is also certainly kobori made.. YOU WERE RIGHT

KOBORI = TEFNON


but is there a link with tokina (28/200) ????


PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PBFACTS wrote:
-halli- wrote:
I've got the 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 version of this lens. .


The 28/85 is sun made
(soligor was the sole seller selling it with one-touch design , others sellers: sun, osawa ... sold the same lens but with 2x touch design)


mine is definitely 28-80mm. I'll post a picture later.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

-halli- wrote:
PBFACTS wrote:
-halli- wrote:
I've got the 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 version of this lens. .


The 28/85 is sun made
(soligor was the sole seller selling it with one-touch design , others sellers: sun, osawa ... sold the same lens but with 2x touch design)


mine is definitely 28-80mm. I'll post a picture later.


Sorry i made a typing mistake .. the soligor 28/80 ot is 28/80 not 28/85


PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PBFACTS wrote:

Sorry i made a typing mistake .. the soligor 28/80 ot is 28/80 not 28/85


Wink Very Happy

pictures as promised (not that they are relevant now Laughing )





PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for sharing these photos.

Apart from the fact that yours is a one-touch zoom, the typography at the side of the barrel and on the filter ring looks different (although both have squared infinity marks). Although it's hard to tell, the multicoating of your lens seems to contain more velvet and dark blue colors, whereas mine has pink, light blue (cyan) and green as well as golden.

I have just seen that Sun zoom lenses had a "multi coating" line written in full on the filter ring as was the case with Chinon lenses. In fact, the glasses used in my Soligor zoom seem to be rather heavy as with early Chinon lenses, while the multicoating looks very much similar to the Hoya HMC multicoating. Sun Opticals (and perhaps their sub-contractor Kobori) seems the most likely solution to my question, although I've seen no Kobori lenses myself.


PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 1:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fujinonuser wrote:
Whence do you know it was manufactured by Kobori and who is Kobori?


I became aware of Kobori during several business trips to Singapore in the 1998 to 2001 period. Several shops in SG had the lens under Koboron, Tefnon and Vivitar brands. It also appeared on an older version of the Kobori website.


PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for all this information. I googled for Marukei Sangyo Co. Ltd. and found information that their headquarters are in the province of Nagano where both Cosina and Olympus are located. One of their chairmen (or even founding director) Etsuro Kobori is still active in the Joint PhotoImaging Enterprises Association (JPEA) which proves the high respect for their products. I really like this lens. It's a good creation.


PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

-halli- wrote:
PBFACTS wrote:

Sorry i made a typing mistake .. the soligor 28/80 ot is 28/80 not 28/85


Wink Very Happy

pictures as promised (not that they are relevant now Laughing )



Confirmation : This is the Sun made lens - Soligor one touch version is - as far i know the only one one touch - ALL other brands (sun, osawa... are two touchs design)


PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PBFACTS wrote:


Confirmation : This is the Sun made lens - Soligor one touch version is - as far i know the only one one touch - ALL other brands (sun, osawa... are two touchs design)


Thank you. Is this a good thing? I've still not tried this lens out properly.


PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PBFACTS wrote:


Confirmation : This is the Sun made lens - Soligor one touch version is - as far i know the only one one touch - ALL other brands (sun, osawa... are two touchs design)


I do not know if i was clear enough : Soligor is the only one touch design from all the sun made 28/80 lenses (some other/completely different 28/80 lenses are one-touch but they are still rare !)


-halli- wrote:

Thank you. Is this a good thing? I've still not tried this lens out properly.


Much easier to use


PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="PBFACTS"]
PBFACTS wrote:


Much easier to use


What about image quality and value? (I was given this lens in a large collection of free lenses)

I'll have to get out and take some pictures with it and see.


PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="-halli-"]
PBFACTS wrote:
PBFACTS wrote:


Much easier to use


What about image quality and value? (I was given this lens in a large collection of free lenses)

I'll have to get out and take some pictures with it and see.


Medium but the biggest problem is that true opening (T:/) is very low at 80mm : t:6.0 instead of f:4.5


PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PBFACTS wrote:


Medium but the biggest problem is that true opening (T:/) is very low at 80mm : t:6.0 instead of f:4.5


I'll give it a go next time I'm out and about.


PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd say it's a good lens - i became mine literally for free, it was a AddOn for my #3 XD7. Wink


PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unless I missed it I haven't seen this answered yet, so to the OP: the serial number of your lens starts with the digit 9. This indicates the lens was (indeed) manufactured by Kobori according to sources on the internet. For a complete list of manufacturers by serial number, see: https://www.apotelyt.com/camera-kit/soligor-catalog

Mind that this scheme was used in the 1970's and 1980's (?). So lenses made before or after that will not conform to this list.

Further down the page is a list of Soligor lenses. I have since found several that are not on that list and have added them to a spreadsheet I maintain for my own research purposes.

Regards, C.


PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This thread may also be interesting: http://forum.mflenses.com/minolta-md-zoom-28-70mm-f3-5-4-8-macro-t77275.html

I'm pretty sure that the Minolta branded version is made by the same manufacturer like the Soligor lens as nearly everything is identical, except the widest aperture and the layout of the markings.

There is also the theory that this lens is made by Cosina. I don't know.


PostPosted: Sat Aug 21, 2021 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interestingly Kobori still exists: http://www.kobori-mfg.co.jp/

They had a relationship with Minolta, so maybe they are still producing lenses for Sony.


PostPosted: Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tb_a wrote:
This thread may also be interesting: http://forum.mflenses.com/minolta-md-zoom-28-70mm-f3-5-4-8-macro-t77275.html

I'm pretty sure that the Minolta branded version is made by the same manufacturer like the Soligor lens as nearly everything is identical, except the widest aperture and the layout of the markings.

There is also the theory that this lens is made by Cosina. I don't know.

That Minolta is a cheapskate Cosina-made Lens, plasticky, worse Image Quality, avoid it. Its basically good like every other Lens good at F/8, but i'd prefer the MD III 35-70/3.5 (macro) and MD 28-85/3.5-4.5 any second over it. As free AddOn for a X3x0, X500 or X700, it is okay, but i wouldn't buy the Minolta MD 28-70. Wink