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Kaligar (Itoh or Itohkogaku) 400/6.3
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:26 pm    Post subject: Kaligar (Itoh or Itohkogaku) 400/6.3 Reply with quote

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


PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like 1 small Like 1 small Like 1 small very nice Luis!


PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Certainly an 'up close and personal' Lens.Fantastic shots.Smile


PostPosted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks nice and sharp, thanks for sharing.


PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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).