Kominar 85mm f1.8? anybody?

[kuuan]

has anybody heard about Kominar lenses?
or the 85mm f1.8 in particular?

any idea how it compares to the more famous 85mm 1.8?

thank's
Andreas

[luisalegria]

Trademark of Komine, one of the Japanese lens makers that seldom sold under their own brands.

That, or Komine/Kominar are both trademarks of another outfit called Nitto, that was a subcontractor for Mamiya and Ricoh and Fuji, etc., and also used the Kominar brand.

That would be a rare lens, regardless of how good it is.

There was an old pre-set Vivitar 85/1.8

Captain Jack, useful fellow, has a picture -

http://captjack.exaktaphile.com/vivitarpage.htm

This may be the Komine lens. Is yours pre-set ?

I believe the Vivitar is also rare.

Komine had a good reputation as a maker of some of the Vivitar line, including some Series 1 .

[kuuan]

thanks a lot for the info Luis.
The Kominar looks similar, but still different, and yes, it is a preset.

[estudleon]

In the 70's, soligor produced a lens preset 85 mm 1,8. I had it for @two years. So-so at 1,8 it was good lens at 5,6 to 11(better center at 5,6 and better borders at 11). It was in the USA market. May be soligor brands for the importation. Vivitar did it too. I can't tell you more. Good luck.

[kuuan]

I did not go for it, it was sold for about 130 USD.
but on turn by chance had ran into a Kominar 135mm f3.5 ( grrr, another 135...) for 5 USD.
It's focus ring doesn't turn easily but it does, and it seems to have problems with infinity focus. But I think I like the results.
( and time to forget about the 85..sigh..)

thank's
Andreas

[luisalegria]

Where do you run into all these Kominars ?

The brand itself is unusual.

[kuuan]

Luis 'all these'..it has been the very first 2 in my life
I am in Osaka, Japan, right now, and going downtown to find used camera stores and taking photos there is my preferred activity!

The 85mm I had ran across in an internet auction though while looking for availabale 85mm lenses. And then with Kominar in my mind I had run across this 135mm lens in a 'junk' basket in a used camera store. The focus ring is hard to turn, but the lens works fine. I had asked the shop owner about the 85mm and he did not know such a lens existed, just as there is no information on in on the net. I guess I should have grabbed the 85mm also! Sure one could get more for it, don't you think?

I have noticed that cheap lenses often sell more expensive here in Japan than e.g. on ebay.com in the US, but higher prized lenses often can be found cheaper here than even in the US or above all Europe. Makes me think that I could / should offer a service to members here, kind of: tell me which ( japanese ) lens you want for which prize and I try to organize it.

I will make an extra post about the socalled 'Tele-Kominar'

best greetings,
Andreas