Minolta 135mm lenses - three generations

[scsambrook]

I recently spent some money buying Minolta 135mm lenses on eBay. My total outlay came to around the same as buying three fancy coffees and three small cakes in Starbucks or somewhere similar . . .

I bought a 135mm f 4 TC Rokkor - preset iris, three elements, the 'classic Cooke triplet', with an almost circular iris which has so many blades neither my wife nor I can be sure what the total actually is; a 135mm f3.5 MD Rokkor - the heavy all-metal body version, not the later lightweight one; and a 135/2.8 MC Rokkor PF - the one with six elements in five components. That one came with free fungus, despite having been inspected by a professional. I'm not sure what profession the inspector follows but he ought to see an optician before too long.

I think the 135 TC is rather good given its simple design. I must try it some more to see if it gives Bubbly Bokey or Swirley-Wirleys. And I suppose I should go looking for its 100mm pre-set companion, the one that the UK importers used to give away with SRT-101s back in the early 1970s.

Rokkor 135/4 TC (pls ignore typo, I forgot my comupter specs this morgnig)


Another one . . .


Rokkor 135/3.5 MD ( a breeze was blowing when I took this)


Rokkor PF 135/2.8 MC - this has a really nice spider-web fungus growth on the inside of the rear component

[Minolfan]

Nice samples!
The Rokkor TC 135mm 4.0 in bellows model was my first extra lens in the sixties, used it on small foldable bellows; I still like it.

[Igor]

all Rokkors are great ! very nice samples, TFS.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I have the early 100mm, not tried it yet due to stuck aperture, but it is otherwise in nice condition.

Are you sure the 4/135 is a triplet? I thought it was a 4/3 tessar type. The head can be removed to use for macro work on bellows.

[scsambrook]

Ian - I've always understood it to be a 'simple' triplet. Minolta's two-letter suffix indicates number of components and then number of elements. The first letter stands for the number in Greek, I think, but can't be sure now. The second for the order of letters in the alphabet - so PF is 5 components (penta) and 6 elements (f being 6th letter of alphabet). So whatever the T in TC actually stands for, C indicates 3 elements.

As for the bellows lens head, was there also a different one to the TC? Or was it the 100mm I'm thinking of? Further info welcome !

[mo]

On Keh at the moment there are two TC 135/4 s, one is for bellows only and the other is for the camera.So I gather two different lenses? not sure on the internals though ...had a look at the specs and they say 3 elements in 3 groups.

[iangreenhalgh1]

So it's a triplet then.

Same lens Mo, just one is without the helicoid/tube.