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killwilly
Joined: 16 May 2011
Posts: 111
Location: United Kingdom
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 Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:40 pm Post subject: Helios 135 f2.8 |
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killwilly wrote:
Can anyone offer any information about this lens? It was made in Japan and has a pull-out lens hood. It's in great condition and as sharp as tack.
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Alan. |
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sichko
Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 2475
Location: South West UK
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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sichko wrote:
It was distributed by Technical and Optical Equipment Ltd. (Company ?) who were the UK agents for Zenit. I've no idea who made it but I've seen several different body shapes - so maybe they used more than one manufacturer. I've also seen a Helios 28 mm, again imported from Japan by T&OE. And I believe there are some zooms as well.
Presumably TO&E, and its customers, found the lens attractive because of the automatic aperture. The common Soviet 135 mm lenses (Jupiter 11, 11A, 37A & Tair 11A) of the time were all presets.
There are quite a few examples of this lens currently for sale on the big auction site. A couple come with boxes - in the characteristic Helios/TO&E red livery.
It's sometimes suggested that T&OE "stole" the name 'Helios' from KMZ/Zenit. Others suggest that it was never registered in the UK.
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martinsmith99
Joined: 31 Aug 2008
Posts: 6943
Location: S Glos, UK
Expire: 2013-11-18
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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martinsmith99 wrote:
Was there ever a bad 135mm?
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Casual attendance these days |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
Posts: 15685
Expire: 2014-01-07
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
| martinsmith99 wrote: |
| Was there ever a bad 135mm? |
Yes, but not many.
Sigma made Pentacon Prakticar 2.8/135 - quite a rare one I think, the copy I had was low in contrast, weak colours and soft, even at f8 it wasn't as sharp as I'd like.
Vivitar Series 1 2.3/135 - the copy I had was awful, CA was massive and it was very very soft, only really usable at f8, above that the CA and softness was bad.
Cosina made Petri 3.5/135 - tiny lens, sharpness was okay but contrast and colours very weak.
Tokina made Hoya 2.8/135 - very well built lens, felt like a Pentax-M in quality, but had purple fringes until f5.6 and was quite soft with poor contrast.
I still don't know whether I just had unlucky bad copies of these lenses or what, but they were all poor lenses I quickly got rid of, no sense keeping a less than great 135mm when there are so many great ones to be had cheap.
I've seen the OP's lens before in other brands, quite often people saying 'got this really cheap and it surprised me'; no idea who made it, TOE sourced a lot of stuff from Sigma and Cosina but I don't think this is made by either. There's a couple of other ubiquitous 135s that have the same surprisingly good IQ, one I have had 3 or 4 copies of is a Samyang, it's seen under at least 6 or 7 brands (Mirage, Kestrel, Exaktar etc) but doesn't look like the OPs.
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I don't care who designed it, who made it or what country it comes from - I just enjoy using it! |
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Jesito
Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 5745
Location: Olivella, Catalonia, (Spain)
Expire: 2015-01-07
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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Jesito wrote:
I own a copy of that lens and I'm happy with it.
I used it heavily with the SIGMA SD9:
And these are some samples wide open:
Regards.
Jes.
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Jesito, Moderator 
Jesito's backsack:
Zooms Sigma 70-300, Tamron 35-135 and 70-210 short, 70-210 long, 28-70 CF Macro, 35-70, 35-80, Vivitar 70-210 KA, Tamron 70-250.
Fixed Industar-50, , Tamron 24mm, Tamron 135mm, Sands Hunter 135mm, Pancolar 50mm, Volna-3, many Exakta lenses
DSLR SIGMA SD9 & SD14, EOS 5D, Sony A700 and NEXF3, Oly E-330, E-400, E-450, E-1
TLR/6x6/645 YashicaMat, Petri 6x45, Nettar, Franka Solida, Brilliant
SLR Minolta X300, Fuji STX II, Praktica VLC3, Pentax P30t, EXA500, EXA 1A, Spotmatic(2), Chinon CM-4S, Ricoh, Contax, Konica TC-X , Minolta 5000, 7000i, 3Sxi, EOS 500 and CX
Rangefinders Chinon 35EE, Konica C35 auto, Canonet 28, Yashica Lynx, FED-2, Yashica electro 35, Argus C3 & C4, Regula Cita III, Voigtlander Vitoret (many), Welta Welti-I, Kodak Signette 35, Zorki-4, Bessa-R & L, Minolta Weathermatic, olympus XA2
Compact Film Konica C35V, Voigtlander Vitorets, Canon Prima Super 105, Olympus XA2 and XA3
Compact Digital Olympus C-5050, Aiptek Slim 3000, Canon Powershot A540, Nikon 5200, SIGMA DP1s, Polaroid X530, IXUS55, Kodak 6490, Powershot G9 and G10
CSCCanon EOS-M, Samsung NX100 and NX210, Lumix G5, NEX-F3 |
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Pancolart
Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 3693
Location: Slovenia, EU
Expire: 2013-11-18
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:41 am Post subject: |
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Pancolart wrote:
Nice samples. Good sharpness and no CA to be noticed.
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Minolfan
Joined: 30 Dec 2008
Posts: 3437
Location: Netherlands
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:42 am Post subject: |
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Minolfan wrote:
| Jesito wrote: |
| I own a copy of that lens and I'm happy with it. |
Mine is good too, except purple fringing WO in backlit situations.
It is exactly like yours: NO. 786039! |
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killwilly
Joined: 16 May 2011
Posts: 111
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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killwilly wrote:
Many thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated. 
PS: As an afterthought. does anyone know what the -3 at the end of the number on my lens is?
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Alan. |
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Jesito
Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 5745
Location: Olivella, Catalonia, (Spain)
Expire: 2015-01-07
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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Jesito wrote:
| Minolfan wrote: |
| Jesito wrote: |
| I own a copy of that lens and I'm happy with it. |
Mine is good too, except purple fringing WO in backlit situations.
It is exactly like yours: NO. 786039! |
38 serials away! Probably they were built in the same batch/same day
Our lenses are close cousins 
Jes.
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Jesito, Moderator
Jesito's backsack:
Zooms Sigma 70-300, Tamron 35-135 and 70-210 short, 70-210 long, 28-70 CF Macro, 35-70, 35-80, Vivitar 70-210 KA, Tamron 70-250.
Fixed Industar-50, , Tamron 24mm, Tamron 135mm, Sands Hunter 135mm, Pancolar 50mm, Volna-3, many Exakta lenses
DSLR SIGMA SD9 & SD14, EOS 5D, Sony A700 and NEXF3, Oly E-330, E-400, E-450, E-1
TLR/6x6/645 YashicaMat, Petri 6x45, Nettar, Franka Solida, Brilliant
SLR Minolta X300, Fuji STX II, Praktica VLC3, Pentax P30t, EXA500, EXA 1A, Spotmatic(2), Chinon CM-4S, Ricoh, Contax, Konica TC-X , Minolta 5000, 7000i, 3Sxi, EOS 500 and CX
Rangefinders Chinon 35EE, Konica C35 auto, Canonet 28, Yashica Lynx, FED-2, Yashica electro 35, Argus C3 & C4, Regula Cita III, Voigtlander Vitoret (many), Welta Welti-I, Kodak Signette 35, Zorki-4, Bessa-R & L, Minolta Weathermatic, olympus XA2
Compact Film Konica C35V, Voigtlander Vitorets, Canon Prima Super 105, Olympus XA2 and XA3
Compact Digital Olympus C-5050, Aiptek Slim 3000, Canon Powershot A540, Nikon 5200, SIGMA DP1s, Polaroid X530, IXUS55, Kodak 6490, Powershot G9 and G10
CSCCanon EOS-M, Samsung NX100 and NX210, Lumix G5, NEX-F3 |
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Misha_M
Joined: 08 Oct 2012
Posts: 178
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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Misha_M wrote:
LOL, Japanese faking Soviet lenses
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Tair 11 133 f/2.8 1958
Jupiter 9 85 f/2 1959
Helios 44M 58 f/2 1978
Helios 44-2 58 f/2 1977
Helios 44 (13 blades) 1959
Helios 77M4 50 f/1.8
Zenitar-M 50 f/1.7 1986
Industar-61 L\Z 50 f/2.8
Helios 40-2, 85 f/1.5 1974 |
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Oreste
Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Posts: 451
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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Oreste wrote:
| martinsmith99 wrote: |
| Was there ever a bad 135mm? |
That length of lens is not particularly challenging to design.
Last edited by Oreste on Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Attila
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 57849
Location: Hungary
Expire: 2025-11-18
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:53 pm Post subject: |
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Attila wrote:
| martinsmith99 wrote: |
| Was there ever a bad 135mm? |
+1
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Items on sale on Ebay
Sony NEX-7 Carl Zeiss Planar 85mm f1.4, Minolta MD 35mm f1.8, Konica 135mm f2.5, Minolta MD 50mm f1.2, Minolta MD 250mm f5.6, Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f2.8
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Oreste
Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Posts: 451
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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Oreste wrote:
| Attila wrote: |
| martinsmith99 wrote: |
| Was there ever a bad 135mm? |
+1 |
In my entire photographic career I have never owned or used one, which now that I think about it, is amazing. |
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