Komura 500mm f/7

[woodrim]

Well, I had sworn that I was done buying lenses, then something happened. I was window shopping in ebay and saw a Komura 500mm f/7 lens. They seem to be quite rare, so I didn't expect to win the auction. I put in my bid and went to bed. Woke up in the morning to find I own it. Does that count as an accidental purchase? Here's a picture:

And here is a better assortment of pictures from a website:
http://www.cameraquest.com/ek500kom.htm

Think I'll need a tripod? Anyone know about this lens? It's an Exacta mount like on the web page, so I'll have to convert it along with my 135mm Komura - Exacta.

[Nesster]

Congratulations, that looks wild

Obviously, this was entirely accidental, you just put out a bid for sport and it hit you. So no, I would not count this as being against your resolution

[ManualFocus-G]

Now THAT is a sexy lens

[martinsmith99]

Does it come in two halves?

[luisalegria]

I was after that one !

Wasn't paying attention at the time though, so it slipped away - to you !

Its very easy to adapt the mount - get an M39-M42 ring and an M42 extension tube. The native mount on these is actually M39. They were originally designed to go on a Visoflex.

Komura supplied them with SLR mount tubes that screw on to the M39 and have the SLR mount at the other end. You should be able to just unscrew that Exakta mount.

So the easy fix is to use an M39-M42 ring to adapt the screw and use an M42 extension tube to add the necessary extra length (as the Visoflex register was quite long).

If you don't want to do your own adapting, the real Komura mounts can rarely be found separately, or you can look for the fairly common 200mm or 300mm in this series that use the same mounts. These often go cheaply.

[fatdeeman]

This looks interesting, I'll look forward to seeing more!

[Attila]

I expect nice colors and week sharpness , I look forward your reports! Congrats for this rare piece!

[woodrim]

[woodrim]

[woodrim]

[Attila]

[indianadinos]

Congrats for the "accidental purchase" , i wish i had more like this ...
Hopefully, we'll see soon some samples in the gallery ...

[luisalegria]

No picture series unfortunately. I will have to dig up my M39-42 adapter as I have mislaid it. I'm just relating what I did with my own Komuras, I have the 200,300 and 400 of this series. I have an original Komura M42 mount now so I don't have to use this fix.

Just -

1. Unscrew the lens mount adapter tube. You will see an M39 screw
2. Screw on an M39-M42 adapter ring. Lots of these available from Russia.
3. Find an M42 extension ring thats long enough to give you infinity. This is trial and error. Screw on to the M42 thread.
4. Screw on an M42-Sony A adapter.

The key is to find an extension ring thats more-or-less long enough, if I recall correctly I used one thats @25mm. You won't find one thats perfect. You just want it to get to infinity, its OK if it goes a bit over, all you will lose is a foot or less of close focus.

[woodrim]

The 135mm isn't like that, is it? M39?

[luisalegria]

Nope, there were just four of these Komura Visoflex type lenses that I know of; 200mm, 300mm, 400mm and 500mm.

There was also a series made for Bronica (an interesting set with common focusing mount and interchangable lens heads), but these are quite different.

The only 135mm Komura M39 lenses I know of were rangefinder coupled and they have the rangefinder-type short back-focus.

[woodrim]

luis: What are your impressions of those other three; 200, 300, & 400? Getting at Attila's comments, I'm wondering what to expect.

[luisalegria]

400- wonderful ! very sharp wide open, little fringing.

300- lousy. I actually have two of them, one much worse than the other. Very light lens for a 300/5, but if it doesn't deliver...

200 - average for a 200/3.5

I haven't tried any of the 500's, but I have seen good comments on it.

[woodrim]

Luis: PM sent.

[Kathmandu]

I am curious how much that set you back -if you care to indulge.

[woodrim]

$102 with shipping. Given its rarity, I expected it to go much higher. We'll see about the quality after I receive it in another week. I'll be sure to report out here. If you're thinking about my comment about it costing as much as my most expensive lenses, well yes, I'm a tightwad But I've landed some very good lenses, all $100 or less.

[Kathmandu]

Congrats on the deal-I think you're a very smart shopper -not a tight wad. Jim's camera in Seattle had one(he may still have it)- it was priced quite a bit above what you paid.

[woodrim]

Well, the monster arrived today - just three days - not bad. I have yet to do anything with it and now the lighting is too dim. Tomorrow I will see if I can get a few pictures off by holding it up to the camera. It will take me awhile to get the mount situation straightened out.

[woodrim]

Today's attempt to use the lens - held to the camera - was a miserable failure. I had a very difficult time focusing and couldn't hold it still enough to get a decent picture. I hope to do better when the mount is converted. If today's pictures were any indication, they are much worse than Attila suggested.

Point of clarification; I actually held the camera to the lens.

[D1N0]

I'll put some images of the lens in this thread (I stumbled over the rear part not knowing what it was so did some research). There are two versions of this. One attaches both parts with a screw mount, the other with a bayonet mount. Also it is possible to attach a filter to the rear of the front part (haven't yet found documentation but I found a pic with filter attached)




With Bayonet:



[/quote]

with filter:


ebay image with both parts in case plus filters:

[John Shriver]

Just to add a extra curve-ball, the mount register of Komura's reflex housing for screw-mount Leica cameras has a longer register than the Leica Visoflex (PLOOT). Like about 5mm longer. Allows a longer mirror.