Sears (Tokina?) 135/3.5 preset - thanks Andy !

[luisalegria]

Yet another lens very generously supplied by Andy (F16sunshine) !



This is one of a series of preset lenses that are commonly found under merchants brands, like Accura, Lentar, Vemar, and some camera makers labels also, like Ricoh, Mamiya (it seems only a 400mm) and Petri. And this one of course was sold by Sears. I have seen 105mm and 200mm lenses of this series sold under the Tokina-Tokyo Koki brand, so it seems to establish that these were made by Tokina -

See Prometheus' 105/2.8

http://forum.mflenses.com/who-made-my-tokina-105mm-t10311,highlight,tokina+105.html

So far it looks like there were at least the following models in the series -

105/2.8
135/3.5
200/4.5
300/5.5

Of these, oddly enough, the 200mm and the 300mm are the easiest to find.

I'm guessing this series is from the 1960's, probably 1965-1970 or so, the marketing period may have overlapped the release of the celebrated automatic lens series, as many vendors had to have a cheap product line on offer. Tokina must have sold a massive number of lenses in the US, preset and automatic, under all these brands.

This is in most respects a very typical preset lens, solidly made and well finished according to the high standards of the day. One unusual feature is that unlike so many of these generic Japanese lenses of the period, this one does NOT use a T-mount, it is in fact a fixed M42. Others in this Tokina series did though. Perhaps Sears had an objection to T-mounts ?

Performance is excellent. Wide open it is perhaps a hair less sharp than my Super-Takumar 135/3.5, which is saying something, and I can't distinguish them beyond that. Perhaps both are better than my sensor ? Flare resistance and contrast are excellent also, and I can't detect a problem with color fringing.

All these at f/3.5







Other apertures -











The bird -



crop -

[F16SUNSHINE]

OK send it back with a cheat sheet please

These samples are superb!
2 and 4 are absolutely textbook perfect comps and exposures.

Luis you are a super asset to our group.
My vocabulary is not deep enough to properly express this.
The most humble lens becomes thunder in your hands.
It goes to show that many lenses are not so humble as they appear.
And the photos life is still in the hands of the photographer.

Beautiful!

[patrickh]

luis
I am with Andy on this - what a demo



patrickh

[lulalake]

Ditto on the photography assessment Luis.

Mamiya made several Sears lenses, or more accurately, whoever made Mamiya's, made Sears also. I have a Sears/Secor M42 lens and several others

Question . . are these shots from the K-mount or and M42?

Thanks

Jules

[sichko]

These pictures are simply stunning.

[glockman99]

Dang, now I have a different view of lenses marked "Sears", as that is one sharp lens! Very nice!

[yalcinaydin]

[luisalegria]

Thanks again Andy !

It really isn't hard to find a good picture around here, I am very lucky to have this place to live in. The problem is that they tend to be the same ones pretty much, so the boats, the bridge, the bird, the office towers, well, thats whats on offer.

And thats the truth about a lazy mans photography, all I want to do is walk around to see if there is a picture to be had, high tech really does the rest. Back in the day it was indeed tough, without feedback or second chances.

Exposure is no problem, even if the meter often doesn't work reliably with a given lens/aperture. Take a test shot, adjust, take another until it looks reasonable. Same with focus, I don't trust the confirm anywhere away from infinity because its too coarse. I take a test shot, zoom into the image to check whether its sharpish at 10-12X, adjust a bit from the other direction, do it again. "The bird" usually takes 6-12 shots to get a reasonable one, between exposure and focus and the fidgeting of my model. The high-tech lets it happen in a minute or two.

It also helps to have unlimited film. I am approaching 25,000 exposures on this K100D, in 8 months of use. Out of all that SOME pictures have to be OK.

My PP is with plain jpeg on Photoshop, I use "Levels" and the contrast setting to touch things up sometimes. This lens didn't need much of that.

[revers]

Absolutely fabulous shots.

[Himself]

Nah, my educated guess is that Louis has a flock of tamed seagulls or it's the same one in every picture no matter the lens
Excellent images Louis!
I plan to visit SF some time in the future.
My first picture would be that hill with tramways.

[Heathcliff]

Excellent pics ! And i love San Francisco !

[walter g]

Very, very nice! I will keep an eye out for that lens.

[Wadidiz]

Another "bonus" lens that came in package of gear. 12 aperture blades and compact. Tokyo Koki Tokina 135mm/3.5 preset, M42 mount.