Soligor(Komine) 180/3.5

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Well, thats an impressive comparison, if it can top a Takumar 200/4.

Soligor was just a brand-name used by a marketing company, Allied Impex. They didn't make anything. Like Vivitar, Hanimex, Porst, Sears, etc. they were just merchants. They contracted with the manufacturers, who actually had factories and skilled workers, for products, on which they put their brand names.

A manufacturer was an outfit like Nitto Kogaku, who had their own trade-name, Komine - and they called their lenses Kominar, when they didn't sell through marketers like Allied Impex (Soligor) or Ponder&Best (Vivitar). Nitto Kogaku is still around, btw.

http://www.nittohkogaku.co.jp/flame/nittohcontents.html

Other such manufacturers who sold mainly through marketing companies (for some decades) were Tokina, Tomioka, Kiron, Sun, Fujita, etc.

F16SUNSHINE · Expire: 2011-11-18

Once again you make these old and "cheap" lenses look great. The Knowledge of the history of these lenses is a true asset to the forum. Thanks so much for the contributions.

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

I guess I must improove my test photo skills ( should take you for an example, Luisalegria )
but of course I am curious how my copy of the Soligor ( once again , this is not the Komine of Luisalegria, the OP ) compares to my other two teles, which are the S.M.C. Takumar 200mm f4 and an AF zoom lens, a Pentax FA J 75-300mm ( set at about 190mm, with this lens f5.6 is wide open )

here charts of photos taken with these three lenses on Pentax *istDS, RAW converted with Lightroom' default settings, no other PPing but cropping in PS.
left side wide open, right side f11:

100% crops centre

100% crops right lower corner

what I can say with my limited knowledge is that specially the wide open performance of the Soligor seems very impressive.
Curious about your opinions,

cheers,
Andreas

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

That is a very good, rigorous yet practical test, well done.

Me, I'm just fooling around, its all how I feel about it, not a bit scientific.

Your results are amazing really. I wish I knew who made your Soligor. It looks like a prize. I have to look for ones in that style.

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Very well done !

I particularly like #1 and #2; #3 would also make a fine publicity shot for the musician.

I have rarely had good luck with high ISO on the K100D, is the *istDS better at this ?

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

Gurdie · Expire: 2013-02-20

Hello,

I got a cheap Soligor 180 mm 3.5 T2, the same version as Kuuan.

The glass surfaces are clean, but unfortunately there�s oil in the aperture blades, and the action is sluggish. Maybe this is not so serious for a pre-set lens, but before I invest 15 - 20 euros for a T2-Nikon adapter, I�d like to know, if this easy to fix at home. (I�ve never taken a lens apart, but maybe this would be a good on to start.)

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Its a very simple lens, so it would be good to start.

Don't disassemble the diaphragm if you can avoid it, its troublesome to reassemble (I had to on mine). Take out the lenses and try put some lighter fluid in the mechanism if its sticky.

eagle_ · Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 9

Hi,

just got a very similar lens, physically it seems the same, there are slight differences. Pics:

The first obvious difference is that it is a Petri bayonet mount... Sad

I'm thinking of altering a M42-EOS adapter to fit this in my camera. Any ohter ideas?

It's a Hanimex, and there's a not so obvious difference: the scale in meters and feet is switched! Do you think that this is also a Komine made lens?

sichko · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 2475 Location: South West UK

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Hi Eagle,

Nice looking lens !

The good news is that that s a T-mount, I'm almost certain. You should be able to just unscrew that and put in a T-mount for your DSLR.

I don't know if its a Komine, it could be. I am not sure about the size of the objective vs the lens barrel, yours seems to flare out to a larger size than mine, but I'll have to check that.

There were several other makers of 180/3.5 presets like this. Vivitar sold one from an unknown maker (I have that) but its rather different. Others were Kyoei (I have one) and Tamron (I have that too). Both are also different.

Tokina had one, which seems to be quite rare as I've never seen it. Yours may be one, Hanimex did sell the common Tokinas (as well as a lot of others). Cosina also had one, never seen that either.

eagle_ · Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 9

horvlas · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 202 Location: Budapest, Hungary

WOW. What a sharpness! It's sharper than takumar!

eagle_ · Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 9

Luis, You were right! It is an adapter, the lens has a screw mount that i can't identify (it's not M42), maybe it's T-mount has you said. I'll measure it and find an adapter.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Hi Eagle,

T-thread is 42mm but the thread pitch is .75mm instead of 1mm with regular M42. And of course the back-focus without an adapter is much longer than with M42.

You should be able to measure it, the outside diameter of the male thread should be 42mm (or close to it).

I am certain this is a t-mount.

eagle_ · Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 9

Hi,

i measured it today and it's about 46mm. I didn't take pics yet. Is this any known mount?

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Are you measuring the thread on the lens ? That should be 42mm or very close.

Or are you measuring the inner ring of the T-mount ? That can be left on if the T-mount is removed improperly, and it could be 46mm, although there is no standard for that, T-mount makers make their inner ring design as they like.

The T-mount comes in two parts - the inner ring with 42x.75 female thread and the knurled outer ring with the lens-mount. They are held together with three set-screws. But the way to remove the T-mount is just to unscrew the whole thing from the lens. The set-screws are just there to adjust the T-mount so the lens alignment is correct - the top is on the top.

eagle_ · Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 9

Hi,

i'm not sure i understood.

I saw that it has an inner "adapter" - a 42x0,75 male ring that was completelly attached. I unscrewed it a bit, it looked like this:

And here it is off the lens:

So the lens itself has a 42x0,75 female thread. This means that the T-mount->EOS adapter has a male thread?

Can you show some pictures of yours and the adapter you use?

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

You have an odd one ! Thats not a T-mount if the outside male thread is 46mm.

The outside male thread on the lens should be 42mmx0.75

I suspect you have a dedicated lens mount then, and things won't be so simple. You may be able to adapt a T-mount to fit by removing the inner ring and fitting it on with the set-screws (I do that a lot).
There may be issues with back focus, as the adapter distance won't be standard. The lens will either overshoot or come short of infinity. And it won't be as strong and stable a mount.

I will take pictures of a typical T-mount lens and adapter and post them.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

This is a typical T-mount lens (Lentar 135/3.5 preset) and a standard T-mount -

The lens has 42mmx.75 Male thread and the mount has a female threaded inner ring, held on the mount by three setscrews.

tkbslc · Joined: 02 Jul 2009 Posts: 194 Location: Utah, USA

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I just found one of theses lenses too. I found a poorly worded auction offering this 180mm f3.5 along with a Soligor 200mm f3.5 as well. Got them both for the starting price of 99 cents (+$16 shipping!) Unfortunately I do not have an SLR with me for a few days to test it out, but it looks very promising from the samples in this thread. My biggest surprise was the FIFTEEN aperture blades. I also like the smooth continuous preset aperture motion. It is like I have infinite aperture stops.

Sorry for the bad pics, but as I said, I don't have my SLR with me today.

Look at all those blades! Smile

The Soligor 200 3.5 seems pretty ordinary and looks brand new.

Edit: ODD my pictures work in a preview, but not in the final post
??

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

Aykman · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 57

this message is outdated and deleted!

tkbslc · Joined: 02 Jul 2009 Posts: 194 Location: Utah, USA