Soligor (Tokina) 200/3.5 T4 - later compact version

[luisalegria]

This was a lens I had never heard of until Bill (member casualcollector)mentioned having one. He also spotted this one for me on ebay. Thanks Bill !



It looks like it replaced the very large original version, with a tripod mount - mine is a Sears, but the large version was also sold as a Soligor T4, etc. -

http://forum.mflenses.com/sears-200-3-5-department-store-value-t6439,highlight,sears+200.html

Here it is compared to some of the other longer Soligor/Sears Tokinas -



Left to right - 300/5.5 Sears, 250/4.5 Soligor T4, 200/3.5 Sears (large version), 200/3.5 Soligor T4(late compact version)

Besides being shorter, it lacks a tripod mount and takes a 62mm filter instead of the 67mm of its large ancestor.

It looks like its the same lens sold under the Mamiya brand, as there were apparently at least three versions of that, besides the old large version. It was possibly also sold under other brands but I haven't spotted any for certain. It is definely less common than the large version.

Its a very conventional lens and a typical T4 lens. It is, however, a very short 200mm. For its day it must have been one of the smallest 200/3.5 lenses made (well, it still is quite thick). Its shorter than my later Sigma 200/3.5, Tamron 200/3.5, Yashinon DX 200/4, etc.

Performance is reasonably good I think. Perhaps the large version is a bit better, but thats very hard to prove.



My boys airplane stuck in a tree













The reserve fleet (mothballed naval auxiliaries) at Suisun bay, shot from a moving train through dirty glass. I have to redo this shot under better conditions. On the far right is the stern of the old battleship Iowa.



The bird -



crop -

[Attila]

Some killer shoots here ! You are master of lights! Look rose for example!

[patrickh]

Luis
You keep doing this to us! Many thanks for the beautiful way you introduce all these different lenses


patrickh

[casualcollector]

Good timing on the purchase. I would like to have gotten mine for so little. As always, excellent use of the lens and choice of subjects. The bird seems a very good test for the lens' definition. Somewhere I have a bird shot from my Sears 200. I was quite surprised with it!