Manual Focus Lenses Forum

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Found another 2/28mm again serial 22 (i begin to think Mitake was kind of predecessor to KIRON)
This is GoKevins's FORMULA 5 by MITAKE: Click here to see on Ebay.de

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Transferring from other topic. Beautiful Photax-Paragon 2.8/100mm:

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Paragon and Super Paragon were the lenses sold by the Photax / Interfit group of stores. Most of the Paragon's that I've seen have been Cimko - with the unequal diamond focusing mark.
I think Photax sourced decent lenses for re-branding rather than buying the cheapest available whatever the quality. I have a 135 / 2.8 that is excellent, and a 28 / 2.8 that was equally good but I swopped it for something else.

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Indeed only few Photax / Super Paragon lenses can be contributed to Mitake.

Here nice photos of both 35mm and 135mm Mitake sold as Kamero:

Link: http://foto.ua/forum/threads/60403-Kamero-Auto-135mm-1-2-8-Kamero-Auto-35mm-1-2-8-M42

cyberjunkie · Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:20 am

Reviving this old very interesting thread
Just bought for quite cheap an M42 Weltblick 1:1,8 35mm, with 58mm filter thread and A/M switch.
It makes a nice couple with the Porst 1,8/135mm in PK mount i already have.
I confirm i have seen it marked as Weltblick, Porst, Formula 5, Kenlock, Eyemik, Spiratone Pluracoat.
I doubt it was ever sold as Mitakon.

I have mixed feelings about Mitake-made lenses.
The more recent ones, made in China, have no appeal.
The older ones, made in Japan, were a mixed bag, as far as i understand (i judging from the pictures i found on the Web).
Some were prime price bottom quality optics, others were better.
IMHO, the faster ones are the most desirable.
The large aperture and the right amount of aberrations can give the kind of rendition that sets them apart from modern time kit zooms... and without spending a fortune Smile

cheers

Paolo

Oldhand · Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:46 am

I tried a Formula 5 - 28mm f2.8 back in the 1970's and it was rubbish.
It sold cheaper than the Tamron adaptall 28mm f2.8 and so I thought - why not?
Well, sadly it was so bad that I returned it and swapped for the Tamron.
The retailer was understanding on the matter and still had a sale I suppose.
This left a bad taste for the Formula 5 brand from that point, and I never considered another.
T

buerokratiehasser · Joined: 12 Jun 2011 Posts: 470

UNI AUTOMATIC, now there is a creative relabel.

I have a 2.8/35 branded as SUPER carenar, having this distinctive broad-barrel look. Very heavy.
It fell down and took some damage but had not been very impressive anyway. As in, hard to get a really crisp shot with 1:1 pixel peeping.

Can we perhaps agree that whoever made that bottle sold it to everyone?

visualopsins · Expire: 2027-07-11

http://forum.mflenses.com/spiratone-12-5-f24mm-and-12-8-f24mm-t32788.html

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 1152 Location: Reading UK

Eyemik MC 200mm f3.5 Non-Macro

I wanted a 200mm lens to possibly use as a tube lens for macro focus stacking. For that purpose, I needs not to be of the highest quality. However, it would be good if it also functioned well as a prime lens. Having taken some shots of brick walls, which showed good performance, I decided that these Pussy Willow catkins might be more pleasing and more testing.

Not being a close-focusing lens, these were at, or close to, its closest focus. I have cropped the images by about 50-75% and given them normal processing. I tried the lens on my A7R, which shows its worst shutter bounce effects with lenses of around 200mm. All were at f8 in sunlight, hand-held.

The first was at high ISO, 1/4000 sec, the second and third at low ISO, 1/320 and 1/800.

In the images, the best parts are the ones to look at, as the branches were not all parallel to the focal plane.

e6filmuser · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 1152 Location: Reading UK

Today I took some more pictures, again mostly at about the closest focus distance and at f5.6. I have used normal processing.

I took these after reading some very poor reports here on Eyemik and other lenses, all apparently made by Mitake.

I post the full frame and then, when I think it will show the detail better, a crop, two stages for the pheasant. The last one is just cropped slightly for composition.

I used the A7R body.

I conclude that, although not my best lens, it gives a decent performance.

wolan · Joined: 30 Jun 2015 Posts: 605 Location: Zurich

Sorry which lens you used to take the last picture with the cat?

benadamx · Joined: 25 Feb 2019 Posts: 329

i just got a matching pair of exaktar lenses, 35mm/2.8 and 135mm/2.8, build looks quite a bit similar to others in this thread.. (35mm is missing the rubber grip on the focus ring, but the 135mm has it intact)

... could they be mitake? so far they seem to be.. unimpressive, and the auto-only aperture is annoying with an adapter, so i've only been shooting wide open so far.

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Nah, just an early Samyang.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 5455 Location: Switzerland

Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 790 Location: New Zealand

I saw this for sale recently in China, and it gives a fascinating (partial) insight into the early years of the Chinese Mitakon company. According to their website: Shenyang Zhongyi Optical & Electronic Co., Ltd was established in 1984 as a joint venture company with a Japanese investor.

This lens is exactly the same as the Cimko MT 50mm F/1.7 which was the lens sold with their LS-1 camera. According to internet lore, that camera was first developed to be sold by Topcon, who declined for whatever reason to continue with the idea, following which, it was sold by Cimko under their own name. Predictably it did not sell as well as perhaps it would have if the name on the front was Topcon.

The LS-1 is very rarely seen secondhand on western selling platforms, but is very commonly seen for sale inside China, which perhaps gives a clue as to where Cimko may have decided to turn to sell its' unsold stock of this camera. They may have even sold the design and tooling for the camera.

This Seama camera is also commonly seen for sale inside China, and is very similar looking to the LS-1, but not exactly the same. It does not have an electronically timed shutter, slow speeds are timed by an escapement, and features a viewfinder needle type metering system. Note the MTK serial number on the Seama branded lens which is also a dead ringer for the Cimko 50/1.7 lens.