Kyoei 250/4 - Sonnar

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

I spotted this in my usual search for obscure Japanese lenses. The name seemed curious, and luckily I recognized this for what it was.

"Tekkor" is probably a distributors trademark that I have never seen before. I expect it is quite rare, and possibly may not have been used in the USA. What this lens is is a Kyoei Acall, I have seen this under that name before. I guess that it dates from around 1960.

Kyoei of course was a very small Japanese lens-maker of the late 1950's-early 1960's. One will most commonly find Kyoei Leica/Canon rangefinder lenses, but they made a small volume of SLR lenses also, as well as supplying the early Petri SLR lenses. I have a Kyoei Acall 180/3.5 -

http://forum.mflenses.com/kyoei-acall-180-3-5-m42-a-rare-lens-t14579,highlight,kyoei+180.html

All Kyoei SLR lenses are quite uncommon, and the 250/4 is more uncommon than say the 135 or 180 Kyoei's. One of these days I would like to run across that 500/8 Kyoei, its likely to be very interesting.

In any case, this one is in worn but perfectly functional condition. The helical and diaphragm are a bit stiff, which will mean some work at some point, but I'm reluctant to open this as it does work very well anyway. Someone at one time replaced one of its lens mount screws, so its not in collectors shape, but so be it. it also came in a formerly nice leather case that is falling apart. It also came with the proper hood, which is a huge thing - and exactly what it should have, many dedicated hoods are way too small.

It is a very heavy lens. This thing feels solid, like its full of glass. I expect that this is due to a lot of brass in its construction - or perhaps its got some thick pieces of glass in there. Oddly enough, it does not have the same style in its rings as the 135 and 180 Kyoeis. The tripod mount is very distinctive. It focuses remarkably close for what it is, 10ft/3m, which was uncommon in those days.

Performance is mostly excellent. This is a sharp lens at f/4, which is not common among "fast" lenses of the time. This thing is after all nearly a 300mm. Its better than my Telemegor 300/4.5 and my Takumar 300/4, and is almost as heavy.

It does suffer from flare. Its not good shooting into the sun or backlit subjects, there is a tendency to ghosting. A big and deep hood is a necessity for this thing.

I used my Exakta->Pentax K adapter, which gave me "infinity at about 50-70 meters, which is more than enough for my usual purposes.

The bird -

crop -

Mist · Joined: 28 Jul 2009 Posts: 134 Location: Toronto, Canada

Congrats with great find. I like the photos, the are contrasty and sharp.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Another super find, that lens looks a beast! Loving the photies as well, good to see you've been collecting again Smile

Séamuis · Joined: 20 Jul 2008 Posts: 157 Location: here & now

wow! I am impressed! and that lens hood.... Shocked

nice piece of kit this thing is.

Tervueren · Expire: 2014-11-08

Just bought one of these, mine is marked Acall and comes with original leather case and also a little fungus, can't wait for delivery and to see it in the flesh lol

patrickh · Expire: 2011-11-18

Very nice results, Luis. I have an Acall and like its rendering.

patrickh

kopi234 · Joined: 25 Jul 2012 Posts: 103 Location: Indonesia

seems pretty sharp and good color rendering.
BTW You're right about the weird name, tekkor (tekor) in Indonesian it means suffering losses.
however due to good performance, it seems that this tekkor will make you happy.
congratulation! Laughing

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

I actually also just foumd another, in Kyoei Acall brand. Not yet received.
From the bid pictures it seems to be in appalling condition, hence a very low price.
It seems to have lost its lens mount and its tripod mount.
But no mount = opportunity to add a mount, which may give me this lens in proper PK mounting.
Of course it may also be a total loss, that's the fun gamble with this hobby.

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Congrats, another great find!

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

I just got my new one.
Working on it last night, and I have it going, more or less.
Mount was missing entirely, someone seems to have ground it off. I drilled and tapped the blank spot and put on a PK mount, cleaned the glass and unfroze the helical. Its working now, but not quite hitting infinity, maybe by a half an mm. I may need to do some more grinding.

I was able to check out the lens formula - five elements in three groups, the middle group a huge thick chunk of glass, apparently three cemented elements - i.e., as best I can tell, an "Olympia" type old-fashioned Sonnar. The 180mm is the same btw.

Tervueren · Expire: 2014-11-08

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Good luck ! Look forward your shoots, I did re-ject it due I didn't expect much, Luis certainly best photographer ever he can make all strange stuff to Golden Leica Smile

Great series Luis, I love them all.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

I have another of these. I found one last year that was in terrible shape, missing its lens mount and tripod mount.
Besides being extremely dirty, stuck focus, stuck aperture, etc.
Someone apparently had ground off the old mount.
I fixed it, by adding a PK mount on the ground down rear where I believe an Exakta mount used to be, to give it infinity focus with PK, which I cant get with the Exakta mount version. That one is lovely, but less usable.
In the process I also found that this lens is an original Sonnar formula. So in a sense it is almost a direct replacement for the Zeiss 300/4, certainly on APS-C.

So now its not so bad -

Samples -

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Looks pretty darn good I'd say!

Nordentro · Expire: 2015-01-29