Kyoei Acall M42 lens

[taunusreiter]

Another arrival to the 1950's Japanese rarity cabinet.

A preset 35/3.5 with fix M42 mount. I rarely seen Kyoei Acall in SLR mounts. Normally the are LTM (M39)

It looks like uncoated glass to me, but I can be mistaken (the front element is very small and deeply recessed)

Possibly the same lens (in a later mount) as the Soligor seen some time ago attached to a Pentax K (1958)



This participates in the rivalry "First Japanese wideangle SLR lens" (with the Takumar 35/4 and the Fujita 35/2.5)

[rbelyell]

neat, never heard of it; would love to see how it renders!

[estudleon]

Very nice lens.

Uncoated? Is there any wide lens uncoated in original M42 mount?

I think not.

Rino

[taunusreiter]

The front element is nearly flat and colorless, as can be seen in first pic. My other late 1955-1960 Japanese small company lenses (Kyoei, Fujita, Komura) are bluish coated, like the early Asahiflex ones. I think this was the first Japanese coating, similar to the early Zeiss T.

[luisalegria]

Very interesting. thank you. Very attractive lens indeed.

This is the 35mm Kyoei I spotted - yours looks about the same



The picture I have shows the original hood.

This is also the same as was sold by Petri, in M42.

The Soligor you have I have seen a few times, also under the "Gamma" trademark. I used to think these were Fujitas, but as come out recently, these may also be by Sun.

[taunusreiter]

What makes me wonder is the connection to Soligor. General knowledge tells Soligor was belonging to Miranda (either their lens making company or just a trade mark) before Miranda's crash (1972), when the right on the name was sold to Germany.
Kyōei Optical Co. was an independent lens maker before bought, or sought by Sankyō Kōki/ Komura. The name Kyoei Acall disappeared then (~1960?) and all lenses branded Komura. Yours is an all black lens, probably among the latest with this brand. Miranda and Sankyo Kohki were entirely different. like Canon and Nikon. Or was Fujita (and Fujitar?) merged into Miranda? Confusing...

[luisalegria]

Everything to do with the Japanese photo industry is confusing !

Soligor at the time (@!1954-197?) was just a brand name used by a USA company, Allied Impex of New York. Allied Impex was importing lenses from several makers into the US, and also acting as a wholesale distributor around the world. Allied Impex sold many makers lenses under its brand, ones I know for sure (I list them by their own brands) include Tokina, Kiron, Sun, Komine, Kawanon, and Fujita. Allied Impex also sold Japanese cameras under the original brand as well as rebranding some as Soligor - the Fujita 66 SLR was also sold as a Soligor 66 for example.

Miranda made cameras, but not lenses I understand. They got lenses from several makers also.

Allied Impex bought Miranda in the late 1950's (so it was a US-owned Japanese company), and kept the brand. Miranda-brand lenses continued to be made, coming from several makers as before. Many of these look very much like lenses also sold as Soligor. By the mid 1960's there were several aspects of shared style between Miranda-brand and Soligor-brand lenses, particularly the chrome aperture ring with "ears".

Fujitar was a brand used by Fujita, particularly seen on some lenses made for the Argus C3, that are also more commonly found as Soligors.

[calvin83]

I think you paid 24.9 GBP for this lens. Right?

[estudleon]

[precertvideo]

Can I just say I have the lens in the first 3 pictures with the Soligor name on it. Or could it be a very close copy, for it is not quite identical?

And it was also sold under the Taika Terragon brand.

[luisalegria]

Definitely made by Kyoei, which was a manufacturer. Acall was its house brand.

Also sold by Petri ( a camera manufacturer) under their brand as part of their catalog offerings for their first SLR.

Also sold under a few other merchant brands of the time, Soligor, Taika and "Gamma" are known ones, there may be more, possibly Aetna also.

There were variations depending on the vendor, as with most other Japanese third party lenses. The Acall branded ones were plain black for instance, with different focus grip knurling than the ones sold under the Petri brand which were often "zebra" style.

[FluffPuppy]

I was not aware that Miranda did not make their own lenses.