Not another R serial Soligor!

[casualcollector]

Like the title says, this is not another R serial Soligor. It's labeled Optomax. It has an R prefix serial and is a member of the same family. Spotting features; Aperture ring forward of focus grip, orange triangle reference mark, Nikon/Pentax focus direction and glossy black finish.







It has some trouble with the auto diaphragm lever that may foul the camera so no pictures coming from it immediately. There must be a 35mm focal length from this family out there somewhere!

Bill

[iangreenhalgh1]

I had the 135mm Optomax from the same series, was actually a good lens, sharp and with great bokeh, but a bit low in contrast and saturation. Luis suggested it might have been made by Ittoh I seem to remember.

[casualcollector]

The markings are very similar to preset Itoh Higons. Kawanons were also similarly marked. The stop down lever on this one hangs up but I may be able to work around that with my F-1.

[Pancolart]

Does it have strange removable mount like my Flexomat: http://forum.mflenses.com/unusual-soligor-135-2-8-t33201.html ?

[iangreenhalgh1]

I found the old thread on the similar Optomax i had:

http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=48353

It was a T-mount and dof scale is the same as a Tokina, with the white rectangle, but the rest of the lens looks like an Itoh. Whoever made it, it is a pretty good lens with a whopping 16 blades.

Most Optomax are poor lenses, so I was very surprised I found a really good one, they sold so many different lenses over the years it's impossible to make any broad statements about them.

[casualcollector]

Pancolart: I have not looked at the mount end closely enough to see if it's easily removable. It's easy enough with the 135 and perhaps the 200 I have from the same family. The 300 looks not so easy as the aperture ring is at the rear and has a coupling prong for Nikon F. I'll check it out later today.

Ian: I've seen the 135 Auto Optomax version of the 135/2.8 and one other brand. I think the distinctive three band focus grip was a styling gimmick for Optomax. Nice, heavy construction but I think the auto diaphragm mechanisms are a bit finicky.

I think someone mentioned that Optomax was a brand of UK Distributor J.J. Silber. My Optomax came from Georgia, USA. Wonder how it got here!?

[Gurdie]

Somewhere in the net I found the mention, that R-serial Soligors were made by Itoh.

Ian´s 135 mm Optomax looks like my 135 mm f/3.5 Itoh Higon with a H-serial.

http://forum.mflenses.com/itohkogaku-higon-135-3-5-preset-samples-t19061,highlight,%2Bhigon.html

[Pancolart]

To resurrect this thread, here 2.8/25mm under brand Cosinon: Click here to see on Ebay

[casualcollector]

Very interesting. Very clumsy looking.