Sears (Tokina?) 135/3.5 preset - thanks Andy !

[luisalegria]

Yet another lens very generously supplied by Andy (F16sunshine) !



This is one of a series of preset lenses that are commonly found under merchants brands, like Accura, Lentar, Vemar, and some camera makers labels also, like Ricoh, Mamiya (it seems only a 400mm) and Petri. And this one of course was sold by Sears. I have seen 105mm and 200mm lenses of this series sold under the Tokina-Tokyo Koki brand, so it seems to establish that these were made by Tokina -

See Prometheus' 105/2.8

http://forum.mflenses.com/who-made-my-tokina-105mm-t10311,highlight,tokina+105.html

So far it looks like there were at least the following models in the series -

105/2.8
135/3.5
200/4.5
300/5.5

Of these, oddly enough, the 200mm and the 300mm are the easiest to find.

I'm guessing this series is from the 1960's, probably 1965-1970 or so, the marketing period may have overlapped the release of the celebrated automatic lens series, as many vendors had to have a cheap product line on offer. Tokina must have sold a massive number of lenses in the US, preset and automatic, under all these brands.

This is in most respects a very typical preset lens, solidly made and well finished according to the high standards of the day. One unusual feature is that unlike so many of these generic Japanese lenses of the period, this one does NOT use a T-mount, it is in fact a fixed M42. Others in this Tokina series did though. Perhaps Sears had an objection to T-mounts ?

Performance is excellent. Wide open it is perhaps a hair less sharp than my Super-Takumar 135/3.5, which is saying something, and I can't distinguish them beyond that. Perhaps both are better than my sensor ? Flare resistance and contrast are excellent also, and I can't detect a problem with color fringing.

All these at f/3.5







Other apertures -











The bird -



crop -