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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 6627 Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:26 pm Post subject: Kaligar (Itoh or Itohkogaku) 400/6.3 |
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luisalegria wrote:
Kaligar (Itoh or Itohkogaku) 400/6.3
I found this as usual on ebay several years ago, deliberately searching for Itoh lenses, in the Kaligar brand where they are most likely to be found.
Kaligar Itoh 300mm 400mm by luisalegria, on Flickr
Kaligar (Itoh) 400mm f/6.3 beside its stablemate the 300/5.6
This was made by Itoh, or Itohkogaku. These long Itoh lenses are not very common at all. I suspect they were made for just a short time in the late 1960's. The more common Itoh lenses are the 135mm presets and especially the 100-200/5.6 zooms, which are very "special" in their own way.
It is comparable to the famous Spiratone, Astranar ("girl watcher"), Soligor, Vivitar t-mount teles of this category and era, but it is probably the least common of that lot. I have not found a magazine ad for it.
I have covered some details of Itoh, and the importer Kalimar Co. of St.Louis Missouri here, in the writeup on the 300/5.6
http://forum.mflenses.com/kaligar-itoh-or-itohkogaku-300-5-6-t76885,highlight,%2Bkaligar.html
This one, unlike the 300mm, is a genuine telephoto, 3 or 4 elements in two groups apparently. It has the same construction quality, finish and style as the 300, which is not very well designed I think. It has the same problem with being badly unbalanced for hand-holding as the focus grip is also behind the tripod mount, and it has an unusually and inconveniently long minimum focus of 9 meters/30 feet. It is fairly light as these things went, in the middle of the pack among the cheap Japanese 400/6.3 consumer teles. Otherwise it is an entirely conventional two-ring preset t-mount lens.
Performance is surprisingly good. This is a perfectly fine lens in the class of, for instance, the Spiratone and Tokina made Soligor, very much unlike its companion 300mm. It is capable of sharp results at f/6.3 or f/8 without any weird aberrations. If it werent such a pain in the bottom I would be tempted to haul it out more.
IMGP1136 by luisalegria, on Flickr
IMGP1124x by luisalegria, on Flickr
IMGP1108 by luisalegria, on Flickr
IMGP0998bw by luisalegria, on Flickr
IMGP0941 by luisalegria, on Flickr
The bird -
IMGP1040 by luisalegria, on Flickr
Crop -
IMGP1040crop by luisalegria, on Flickr _________________ I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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kds315*
Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 16497 Location: Weinheim, Germany
Expire: 2021-03-09
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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kds315* wrote:
very nice Luis! _________________ Klaus - Admin
"S'il vient a point, me souviendra" [Thomas Bohier (1460-1523)]
http://www.macrolenses.de for macro and special lens info
http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos for UV Images and lens/filter info
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kds315/albums my albums using various lenses
http://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/ my UV BLOG
http://www.travelmeetsfood.com/blog Food + Travel BLOG
https://galeriafotografia.com Architecture + Drone photography
Currently most FAV lens(es):
X80QF f3.2/80mm
Hypergon f11/26mm
ELCAN UV f5.6/52mm
Zeiss UV-Planar f4/60mm
Zeiss UV-Planar f2/62mm
Lomo Уфар-12 f2.5/41mm
Lomo Зуфар-2 f4.0/350mm
Lomo ZIKAR-1A f1.2/100mm
Nikon UV Nikkor f4.5/105mm
Zeiss UV-Sonnar f4.3/105mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f1.8/45mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f4.1/94mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f2.8/100mm
Steinheil Quarzobjektiv f1.8/50mm
Pentax Quartz Takumar f3.5/85mm
Carl Zeiss Jena UV-Objektiv f4/60mm
NYE OPTICAL Lyman-Alpha II f1.1/90mm
NYE OPTICAL Lyman-Alpha I f2.8/200mm
COASTAL OPTICS f4/60mm UV-VIS-IR Apo
COASTAL OPTICS f4.5/105mm UV-Micro-Apo
Pentax Ultra-Achromatic Takumar f4.5/85mm
Pentax Ultra-Achromatic Takumar f5.6/300mm
Rodenstock UV-Rodagon f5.6/60mm + 105mm + 150mm
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Lloydy
Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 7775 Location: Ironbridge. UK.
Expire: 2022-01-01
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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Lloydy wrote:
I always expect too much from these big old tele' lenses, I take some pictures with them, and then come to the conclusion that they just aren't sharp, and rarely use them again. Almost certainly I'm being too critical, I really should get the Soligor 400 / 6.3 and Vivitar 400 / 5.6 out again and try them, and judge them on 'what they are' not 'what I expect'. Because Luis' pictures with this Kaligar, a store brand lens, are actually very good indeed. _________________ LENSES & CAMERAS FOR SALE.....
I have loads of stuff that I have to get rid of, if you see me commenting about something I have got and you want one, ask me.
My Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/
My ipernity -
http://www.ipernity.com/home/294337 |
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Eddie46
Joined: 05 Dec 2016 Posts: 135 Location: cardiff,UK
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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Eddie46 wrote:
Certainly an 'up close and personal' Lens.Fantastic shots. |
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woodrim
Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston
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Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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woodrim wrote:
Looks nice and sharp, thanks for sharing. _________________ Regards,
Woodrim |
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marcusBMG
Joined: 07 Dec 2012 Posts: 1301 Location: Conwy N Wales
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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marcusBMG wrote:
Mine has a Galaxy nameplate. I've had it apart (easy, separates into segments) to relube the helicoid (stiff) and to try to clean the ojective. No luck with the latter, this has a single element + fat doublet objective (overall 5 elements in 4 groups, though the 5th at the back might be a flat) and the "haze" was slight balsam deterioration.
I agree with the good asessment by Luis, I have been comparing to a Pentax smc-m 400mm f5.6, little difference in iq, even in spite of the balsam (tbc here or in new thread). _________________ pentax ME super (retired)
Pentax K3-ii; pentax K-S2; Samsung NX 20; Lumix G1 + adapters;
Adaptall collection (proliferating!) inc 200-500mm 31A, 300mm f2.8, 400mm f4.
Primes: takumar 55mm; smc 28mm, 50mm; kino/komine 28mm f2's, helios 58mm, Tamron Nestar 400mm, novoflex 400mm, Vivitar 135mm close focus, 105mm macro; Jupiter 11A; CZJ 135mm.
A classic zoom or two: VS1 (komine), Kiron Zoomlock... |
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