Cunor (Old Tokina) 2.8/105 T-mount

[luisalegria]

I saw this thing in a lot with other lenses. Somehow I sensed this one was a Tokina, one of the very popular preset line of the 1960's, most of which were made for T-mounts -





Here it is (on the right) beside the very common Tokina-made 3.5/135 preset, mine was sold by Sears. "Cunor" is no dount one of the hundreds of brands used to sell Japanese lenses in those days, though its a new one to me.

It is one of the Tokina line, I am convinced of that. It shares most construction and finishing details with its larger and smaller siblings, down to the form of the numbers and letters.

I believe these lenses were part of this Tokina preset line -

2.8/28 - I am not certain about this
3/28 - not too common; interesting max aperture
2.8/35 - Hard to distinguish from similar lenses from other makers
3.5/35 - Hard to distinguish from similar lenses from other makers
1.8/85 - Uncertain, and rare if it exists
4/100 - rare, I have one
2.8/105 - uncommon
2.8/135 - uncommon; why ?
3.5/135 - very common
3.5/180 - rare, I have seen just one
4.5/200 - very common
4.5/250 - uncertain, rare if it exists
5.5/300 - very common
5.5/350 - very uncommon
6.3/400 - common
5.9/400 - rare, I have seen just one
8/600 - not hard to find

This 105 shares all the good and bad points of the Tokina line - simple and well-made, durable, quite trouble-free (I have never seen a bad diaphragm on these), and a long minimum focus (5', 105's will usually go to 4'). You will always need a short extension ring in your pocket with most of these old Tokinas.

Performance ? Well, like most of the the old Tokinas, it is excellent. This is a sharp lens at f/2.8, to the limit of my sensor. It does have a tendency to flare. I did a "brick test" for distortion, and there is none. Bokeh seems very nice, but you have to hit me over the head with bokeh to make me notice, so I'm not the best judge.

Most are at f/2.8







Flare -













The bird -



crop -

[patrickh]

Luis

Did you train the seagull to sit still for you? Thanks for the introduction to yet another unusual/unknown/forgotten lens. Your threads are always well shot and tell an interesting story Thanks

patrickh

[mo]

I agree with patrick thank you for always willing to share your knowledge and interesting as always!

[Rolf]

I cannot say more than patrichk and Mo-Fo before.

Great series and very interesting story as usual. Thanks for sharing !

[estudleon]

[luisalegria]

Hola Rino,

I thought your 85mm was made by Sankor ?

Do you have a picture ?

Luis

[estudleon]

[luisalegria]

Hola Rino,

Thank you for the pictures.

I never found out who made the old preset Vivitars.

I don't think it was Tokina, but it could be. Or some of them maybe. I now think there were several makers for the Vivitars.

The others in the Vivitar preset series look very different from all the old Tokinas. I took apart an old Vivitar 3.5/200 and its also very different in the mechanics. I have a Lentar-brand 3.5/135 that is the same as what was sold as a Vivitar, and it is also very different from the Tokinas, it even focuses the other way.

But this one could be, at least the focus ring turns in the same direction as the Tokinas.

[ManualFocus-G]

Hi Rino

I have the Viv 85/1.8 as well and it's a stonker! I love it!

[estudleon]

HI Shrek.

This 85 mm has a strong 3 D effect. It's a planar design.

Of course not summilux, not planar, not canon, OK. But with it you can obtain very nice portraits.

Who did vivitar pre-sets ? One maker or more? Who know it tell us please?

Rino.

[tomasg]

well, i just got this lens, the Vivitar 85/1.5 i mean, the guy who sold it to me told me that mine was made by Komine

errata corrige

another lens was made by Komine, not the Vivitar, (i`ve just checked my emails)

sorry for the mistake

[Pancolart]

Vivitar 1.8/85mm T2 can be distinguished by strangely connected aperture blades like seen on photo from LuisPictor (Weltblick 3.5/135mm): http://forum.mflenses.com/weltblick-3-5-135-t4611.html

So if you can find Tokina lenses with such blades than both lenses above are made by Tokina...

[luisalegria]

The old Tokinas don't have that type of blades.

This is the same design as on the Vivitar preset 3.5/200 I had that I gave to Big Dawg. It must be the same maker as that one.

[Pancolart]

Now this is becoming a true detective story...

[estudleon]

[Pancolart]

Would you please share a photo of your type...I've seen three samples all the same, all had blades strangely interconnected on the upper side.

Sharp indeed! Check the two rooftop photos in full size: http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/mfl_club_members/pancolart/VIVITAR85mm/

[estudleon]

I tried but my P&S not shot, I don't know what happen with it.

Sorry.

Rino.

[ramiller500]

Lens components such as diaphragms are not necessarily made by the manufacturer of the finished lens assembly. Manufacturers often change component suppliers. This makes the shape and appearance of some components unreliable indicators of who made the lens. Many components of Japanese lenses were probably sourced "off-the-shelf" to meet lens makers' specifications, but with the lens makers not imposing their own in-house designs.

[Pancolart]

Another possible manufacturer: http://captjack.exaktaphile.com/Taika%20page.htm

[luisalegria]

Taika was I believe a distributors brand.

All Taikas I have seen have actually been made by Taisei Kogaku (Tamron), Kyoei, Tokyo Koki (Tokina), and one probably by Fujita.

The trademarks used with the Taika brand like Coligon, Cinconar, Terragon, etc., were used also with Spectra and Aetna brands, implying some relationship.

[tomasg]

mine has 74 as the two first digits, take a look at this:

http://www.cameraquest.com/VivLensManuf.htm

http://www.robertstech.com/vivitar.htm

[Spotmatic]

And I bought one yesterday at the Houten camera fair. It was cheap (10 euros) but I did remember something from this topic. Also, 105mm lenses are not that common, 135mm lenses were all over the place but lenses of this focal length are really uncommon.

Here it is among the other lenses I found that day:

[indianadinos]

Hi,

[Spotmatic]

[luisalegria]

You have a very clean Biotar !