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 (Fujita?) 3.5/35 Early Retrofocus
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:21 am    Post subject: Soligor (Fujita?) 3.5/35 Early Retrofocus Reply with quote

This is not really a rare lens, in spite of its odd appearance. I actually have two of them, and have seen several other for sale in the last two years.









I am almost certain this was made by Fujita, because of its similarity in all details with known Fujita lenses, and it dates to the mid-late 1950's, possibly 1956-57, though thats just a guess. What is clear is that it is almost exactly a scaled-down version of the Fujita 52mm retrofocus for the Fujita/Kalimar 66 medium format SLR.

As such, I suspect that this lens may be the first Japanese retrofocus wide-angle, instead of the Fujita 2.5/35 of 1958, or indeed the Takumar 3.5/35 that is often given this credit. This lens may have been advertised in a 1957 Seymours catalog (An Exakta specialist store in New York). The others were first advertised in 1958 Sears catalogs. This one may have been made in relatively small numbers, maybe for just a year or so, though I find them more often than the 2.5/35 version. But note that serial number - 182 ? The other I have is 267, implying rather small numbers.

It is indeed a very early-seeming design, with the disproportionately large front element. Other unique early-style features - the lens hood is not just a hood. It unscrews to reveal a male thread, and a curious flat ring section on the inside. What this is actually is a socket for, I think, a Series VII (7) filter, and the hood is a combination hood and series filter retainer. The thread on the end of the hood is @50mm (Series VII is 54mm), totally non-standard, and in fact I doubt that it was intended to have anything screw in there at all, as this was designed for Series filters anyway.

I have only seen this in Exakta mount, though I am informed that another member may have the same in M42. I am waiting for pictures to confirm that it is the same model, though I suspect it may be yet another model of Fujita. Its turning out that Fujita was a very prolific maker indeed.

I could not mount this on my Pentax with much success, as "infinity" was less than 1m (usual case with wide-angles). So I put it on its proper Exakta, and gave it a try with Arista Edu 100 film. In general I am favorably impressed. It has excellent contrast on film, handles flare better than most of its sort (its not an SMC Takumar, but I've seen a lot worse on much later lenses), and pixel-peeping on the close-up digital shots shows quite decent center resolution. There is apparently substantial barrel distortion, though I didn't test for this.

Streaking in some shots comes I think from the development, Gassers has let me down here. That or I have a shutter problem on the Exakta.



















PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice looking lens and shots!

I have some sun lenses that have a similar button to what this lens has on the aperture ring but I don't think there is any connection.


PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 10:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The lens is very interesting, but what is more important: I really like your shots!!


PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 11:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have to ask what is stuck to the car...looks like a bottle jack and tow ball covers stuck on the roof...but I have NO idea what is on the bonnet??

Did you buy the lens for the look or for the range Very Happy It is a cool looking lens!!


PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sexy lens alert!! Laughing


PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The car with the plastic bits is a neighbors pickup truck turned-art piece. He collects bits of "drift plastic" from the beach and sticks them on the car.

Another from the Soligor -



It has very poor corners indeed in FF, which perhaps explains its relative lack of success.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is this one?? made by sun
Click here to see on Ebay


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

I do have a copy of this lens, recently acquired, in M42 mount. It's branded "Tower" - the Sears house brand.

One thing that's become clear to me, reading this thread as well as others relating to Fujita, is that there does seem to be, as Luis points out, a fair amount of variation among the company's designs; although the push-button preset mechanism appears to be a constant.

I haven't had the opportunity to take any pictures of or with my lens, but I can say that it has more in common, stylistically at least (down to the zebra focus ring), with the Asahiflex-mount f/2.5 Tower shown here than with this Soligor. The most obvious difference between my Tower and the Soligor is the size of the front element; although the maximum apertures are the same, my lens's front element is of modest size.

Interestingly, I was doing an unrelated Web search and came upon this page showing illustrations of some other early Fujita-made Soligors - in this case, Miranda-Soligors - that are also similar to my lens. The illustration of the 35mm even shows that lens with the tiny, almost vestigial lens hood that was attached to my Tower when it arrived.

Cheers,

Jon


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i much like the tonal texture of this lens.

those vertical streaks in the long shot look similar to what i have gotten lately in my praktica ltl ...


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK, Mo-Fo has thrown me for a loop.

Thats definitely a Sun brand on that 135, and the lens design is a dead ringer both for the 3.5/35 I have AND Univers' different 35 (and the one listed in the Miranda page).

It seems identical to the 135mm on the Miranda page.

So, perhaps just some of the lenses I was assuming were by Fujita are actually so, and others were made by Sun ?

This is an interesting development, because I have other Sun lenses of the period (mid-1950's, from when Sun used the Sola brand), and they are quite different in every respect.

Mysteries on mysteries.

The lens on Australian ebay actually looks like its on an Olympus Pen F adapter, and its native mount could easily be Exakta or Miranda, or M42 for all we know. As the Pen F came out @1963, it would be odd to find such an early lens design with a native mount for the Pen F.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well maybe there is a connection after all.

All I know is that some of my more modern sun lenses have exactly the same button as this lens has on the preset mechanism only on my lenses it's for switching the lens between auto and manual.

I noticed this sun version of the 28mm in this thread has it too:

http://forum.mflenses.com/who-made-these-28-2-8-sun-or-tokina-t15298,highlight,sun.html


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thats my own Sun 28mm. It has a knob, but it is not the same in detail as the button on the Fujitas. Its also from about ten years later than the Fujitas.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

Interesting stuff!

I'm not in front of the lens cabinet at the moment - am I right in remembering that some of the Auto Mamiya/Sekor lenses featured a similar A/M switch "button" or "knob"?

Cheers,

Jon


PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, the older Mamiya Sekor SLR lenses did have these knobs, just like on that Sun I have. I distinguish "button" from "knob" (not a technical definition) in that the button on the Fujitas actually is used to unlock the aperture settings, the knob on my Sun is mostly just decorative, or at best something to help locate the control by feel.

I am actually uncertain whether my Sun 28 was actually made by Sun, or whether it was supplied to Sun by another maker to fill out a product line, or something like that. The reason being that that same lens (with or without knob) was part of several series (like Mamiyas early SLR stuff) that are all or mostly otherwise probably Tokina-made.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Worth a bid?? Very Happy anyone here going to have a bid on it??