Mitsuki 400mm 5.6 (Nikon AI-mount)

[DikkieDick]

Found above lens on the bay. Hard to find any information on this one on mflenses. Placed a bid for a few bucks to give it a shot, but am overbidden right now. 5 more days to go before auction ends. I'll see where this ends up? According to the seller the IQ-quality was better than a 300mm:4 Nikkor with Teleconverter.
Anyone knows this lens? I have a Sigma 135-400:4.5-5.6 which I hardly use and might sell, if I can get this MF for not too much.

[ChrisLilley]

[fatdeeman]

I have owned two Mitsuki lenses, a 28mm that was the same lens as a Tokina 28mm RMC and was excellent and a 135mm that was also allegedly made by Tokina and was also excellent apart from a tendency to produce excessive purple fringing.

I don't know this specific lens but there is obviously a chance it was made by Tokina.

The aperture is pretty fast for the focal length so it might be worth a try, I'm certain there are other 400mm lenses out there that are the same with different brand names on them but without seeing a picture of the lens it's hard to narrow it down.

Can you show us a picture?

[DikkieDick]

It can be found here: http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200450724806&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_4784wt_1026

[fatdeeman]

Looks like it's the same lens as the Hoya 400mm F/5.6 which I also believe is a tokina but I can't be sure:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370324815495

I think it's worth a try, as long as you don't bid too much you should be able to sell it at no loss if you don't like it!

[Boomer Depp]

That is the second compact version of the Tokina built 400mm f5.6....this lens was made for various lens companies.The first version has a tripod mount,where as the second version does not have a tripod mount.I have two copies of the first edition with the tripod mount and a TX lens mount sold by Vivitar,Tokina serial # 37xxxxx.

A compact version by Tokina of the 300mm f5.6 was also sold by various lens companies.Both of these lenses come up regularly on ebay.Both of the Vivitar TX (interchangeable lens mount) 400mm f5.6 were bought for $40 US on ebay.The Vivitar 300mm 5.6 was bought last summer for $10 US.Both lenses give decent results for a bargain lens.

Most of the lens of the TX line 24mm through the 300mm shoot fair to good wide open.The 400mm however requires stopping down to f8 for the images to be acceptable for small prints.The lens needs to be stopped down to f11,to get an acceptable sharpness in the center of the image for larger prints.

Case Study in Variations - Vivitar TX Lenses courtesy of Robert Monaghan
http://web.archive.org/web/20040821085347/medfmt.8k.com/third/variations.html#tx

The Modern Photography review on the Viv 400/5.6 TX lens in "Photo Buying Guide 78". Some comments:
Optical bench:
-red spherical flare at 5.6 but gone by f8.
-considerable secondary color aberration
-overcorrected green sph abber and undercorrect red sph abber.
-this lens is better than average
-in filed tests image sharpness was acceptable bec of low contrast
-color fringing visible
Res(Cont)...Center........Corner

5.6.............37(53)........26 (42)
8................42(62)........29 (40)
11..............47(64)........33 (36)
16..............47(53)........37 (32)
22..............47(46)........42 (28}

I don't know about truth of these results. The contrast figures are f11 are outstanding and belie the narrative part of the test report. After all the stellar Viv S1 90/2.5 had 64% contrast also at f5.6 and f8 in the center.


In the upper left corner,2nd from the left is the first version(w/tripod mount) with a 2x TC,3rd from the left is the first version(w/tripod mount) without a TC,4th from the left is a compact version of the 300m.

[ChrisLilley]

[Boomer Depp]

Opps,my mistake....edited the post.

The lens does need to be stopped down to f8 or f11,I've shot both lens from f5.6 to f16,but f8 is where I usually shoot close to about 50 feet,beyond that distance usually stop to f11.

[DikkieDick]

Well, didn't bid more. Saw that it was sold for €91,33. Thanx for all the information.

[Boomer Depp]

There's another one in the Vivitar TX version in the UK listed BIN....but you would have to pick up a Nikon F TX mount adapter....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vivitar-400mm-f-5-6-Telephoto-Lens-TX-Type-Mount_W0QQitemZ130375105352QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item1e5af63b48