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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 6602 Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:46 am Post subject: Soligor (Tokina) 135/3.5 T4 - the last of a kind ? |
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luisalegria wrote:
This is yet another of the lenses in that incredibly ubiquitous Tokina automatic lens series. I've been looking for one of these for six months, they aren't that easy to find. So far for my Tokina collection I'm only missing the rare 250/4.5.
At one time, from the late 1950's-through the 1960's - it was the custom for lens makers, especially the Japanese OEM manufacturers, to provide an expensive large-aperture and a cheaper smaller-aperture lens for certain focal lengths, almost always for 135's. So you would usually see in the same catalogs a 135/2.8 or 2.5 and a 135/3.5~4.5. All the preset ranges of the era were like that, and indeed many of the camera manufacturers ranges also.
This practice may have died out with the popularity of zooms and price reductions for 135/2.8 lenses, and this one may be the last of its type, the "cheap" 135.
It certainly is much harder to find this one than its 135/2.8 brother. This T4 version was sold by Soligor and Vivitar, and also sold in fixed mounts through various vendors like Mamiya and Sears at least, though it seems it was not available under as many brands as others in the series.
It is in every way a conventional T4 lens, and a typical well-made Tokina product of its time, and this one is in excellent condition. Performance is very similar to the 135/2.8 (which I have the Sears and Vivitar versions). Close focus isn't very close for any of them, at 6 feet/2m, which is probably its biggest fault. Its a perfectly adquate lens when used properly, and like the 2.8 seems to give results up to the capacity of my sensor.
Lots of birds on this one -
The (last) bird -
crop -
_________________ I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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casualcollector
Joined: 01 Aug 2008 Posts: 749 Location: Spaced out on Florida's Space Coast
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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casualcollector wrote:
Hi Luis,
I have this lens also, and as a Soligor. My Soligor T4s seem to show less wear than my Vivitar equivalents. Maybe the Vivitars got used harder!
There may have been a revival of 135/3.5 and similar lenses that went along with the compact SLR movement started by the Oly OM-1. I've seen auctions for Cosina made 135/3.5 that would post date the Tokina of your post.
Canon introduced a line of slower, slightly less robust lenses after they introduced the TL-ql in the late 60s. The TL was a "decontented" version of the FT-ql. No 1/1000 shutter speed, self timer, mirror lockup or battery check. The "FL Compact" lenses were 35/3.5, 135/3.5 and 200/4.5. These would have compared with the 35/2.5, 135/2.5 and 2003.5 in the regular FL lineup.
Bill _________________ In Search Of "R" Serial Soligors
Found: 135/2.8 #R407660, 200/4 #R405526, 300/5.5 #R411127 |
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rick_oleson
Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 386 Location: Lexington Kentucky USA
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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rick_oleson wrote:
Olympus offered different speeds in a number of lenses, possibly more for compactness than cost; their slower offerings were usually made to fit a 49mm filter so you could build a pretty complete system with only one (very small) filter size.
The resurgence of lower-priced lenses came a bit later: Pentax revived the Takumar name for a series of bargain (not necessarily slow) K-mount lenses, Minolta made the Celtic line, Nikon had Series E and Konica had Hexar. Olympus never followed that path, there was only one OM series although it evolved over time in design and construction. _________________ I don't know what I want to be when I grow up |
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KarelDH
Joined: 24 Mar 2011 Posts: 169 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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KarelDH wrote:
Hi,
I have the same lens, looks the same exept the front nose is 2 times as big. (Canon fd)
I would like to know if there is any site/document that has more info aubout this serie ?
Ty
Last edited by KarelDH on Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:58 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Lloydy
Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 7788 Location: Ironbridge. UK.
Expire: 2022-01-01
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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Lloydy wrote:
Wow, this is an old topic I haven't stumbled across before, and I like my Soligors.
I have the 2.8, it's one of the first MF lenses I bought for my K10 about 5 or 6 years ago, and I was very impressed with it. Of course I didn't have other lenses to compare it to at the time, but I got sharp pictures and that was good. It's a lens I still use today, not often as I have a bigger choice now, but it still gets used.
It's a big and heavy old thing, but a solid performer. I think the majority of the chrome eared series are. Not all are Tokina, but the other manufacturers seem to equal their performance.
As for information, there's another topic here regarding Soligor serial numbers that provides a lot of information -
http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=30866
The detailed history has surely been lost over time, but I would think the information gathered by the people on this forum is as good as it gets. _________________ LENSES & CAMERAS FOR SALE.....
I have loads of stuff that I have to get rid of, if you see me commenting about something I have got and you want one, ask me.
My Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/
My ipernity -
http://www.ipernity.com/home/294337 |
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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 6602 Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:57 pm Post subject: |
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luisalegria wrote:
Thanks, you really cant do better than the Soligor serial number thread.
Soligor sold lenses made by over a dozen different makers, and from several series from some of them. _________________ I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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Lloydy
Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 7788 Location: Ironbridge. UK.
Expire: 2022-01-01
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:02 am Post subject: |
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Lloydy wrote:
I've got 5 chrome eared soligors, 2 Tokina's, 2 Kirons and a Sun. At a quick glance they look the same, but when you look closely there are minor cosmetic differences. _________________ LENSES & CAMERAS FOR SALE.....
I have loads of stuff that I have to get rid of, if you see me commenting about something I have got and you want one, ask me.
My Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/
My ipernity -
http://www.ipernity.com/home/294337 |
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