Polaris 70-230 history and experiance ?

[aliasant]

I found this old thing and Im starting one of those love affairs with it... sort of....

It weighs a ton and it has the Y/S mount so I need to get one of those T2 to P/K adapters to be able to really use it.

As for now I have used the M42 lookalike and screwed that halfway onto a M42 to P/K adapter.
Someone had done that before me so I only used the old damaged flange....
Its a 2 ring zoom and even though I dont have the correct distance from the lens to the sensor its amazingly fun to shot with.... until your arm starts shaking from the weight.
my plan is to take it apart and clean it proper + getting the T2 to P/K adapter.

I have screwed it apart once already and its a simple design so doing the real job wont be hard.

I have been looking thru this forum for any experiance or history but havnt found much other then that it is often mentioned next to Spiratone and other well renomed lenses.
Googling it didnt get me much at all

Any and all info would be much appreciated.

I took some images of it so you can see the monster.

[PBFACTS]

[luisalegria]

I have the same lens (almost), in a preset version branded by Yashica -

http://forum.mflenses.com/yashinon-r-75-230-4-5-preset-t-mount-oversize-zoom-t11445,highlight,yashinon.html

Yashica also sold the same lens in an auto version. I have spotted it under various other merchants brands also, such as "Polaris".

From what I know my guess is its an early Sigma product, based on an early Sigma catalog that was posted on the internet. It could of course also be a Sun. I have not seen this lens under the Sun brand, but that doesn't mean anything.

[aliasant]

Nice intel both of you!

I read your other thread... "Tomioka could be the maker"...
Any more info on that?

btw.
Those pictures you took with your version are stunning !
Nice job m8!

[luisalegria]

Tomioka was my guess at the time because I did not know of any other maker for this and because of the Tomioka relationship with Yashica.

My guess now is Sigma, or possibly Sun.

[nemesis101]

The Y-S designation was also used on Accura lenses like my 28mm f2.8 'Diamatic'.. but the game is given away by the small Sigma character before the serial number (720300772) and I have seen other variants on the Y-S theme, but all, I suspect, Sigmas in disguise



Doug

PS Hmm defective coating too with tiny 'cleaning' marks or somesuch, though these never show up in pictures taken WITH rather than OF this lens! That ancient Nikon S 50mm when used on the Panasonic L-1 is MUCH too sharp for its own good! lol

[aliasant]

Intriguing all of is.


Are there any contemporary Sigma zooms that can be compared whith?
It really doesnt feel like a Sigma even though I have only tested newer ones. My impression of the sigmas I have owned or tested were, cheap, lightweight and most importantly, crappy optics. This one has nothing of that but maybe its the age..
I do think most older lenses has a lot better optics then todays except the really expensive ones maybe and maybe that was true even for Sigma

[nemesis101]

Some 'ancient' Sigma lenses were not at all bad... indeed some modern ones are outstanding, though their consumer grade stuff can be truly horrid, both in performance and build quality - some of my AF stuff (oops bad language like AF will get me put in the naughty corner...) has a 'silky' finish which wears off in about 20 seconds leaving a slippery shiny one beneath (The UC ll series)...

Older Tamron lenses , including the SP Adaptalls seems to be pretty good, and so is much of their modern stuff although the Tamron 28-200mm lens (also badged by Pentax, to their everlasting shame) is ABOMINABLE and got a mighty 1.7 in a lens test. Tests are not real life, but a 1.7 score flattered this horror! lol

So.. I have about 35 odd old zooms, some from Marshall Ward (Fred Ward's offspring) some Phoenix, some Focal and some with no name at all.. but they are all fun, and some are sturdy enough to be weapons of mass destruction in careless hands as my toes will testify!

Doug

[luisalegria]

The mechanical quality of almost all lenses was much higher at the time this was made - @1968-1973 is my guess for your Polaris. I think mine may be from 1965-1969.

That was a time long past when even the cheapest Japanese lenses were made by competent craftsmen out of solid metal.

That said, I am not impressed by the construction quality of the one I have. It has a strange internal construction where half the lens is attached to the other half (split where the preset or auto mechanism whould be connected to the optical parts) using large setscrews in slots. These are easily loosened, making the lens feel like its coming apart in two halves, and in mine one screw even broke.

[aliasant]

[alex]

[stevemark]

[aliasant]

Ouch. Thos was an old but nice thread

I have often been thinking I should dig out that old Polaris I have and put it to a real test now that I have both a cinema lens projector and collimator.
I just have to find it. I do remember it had a fantastic golden flare. Very romantic.

Your copy might have been tinkered with a lot buy previous owners. Most old lenses has gone thru curious hands and suffers from really bad optical performance. Not so easy to fix i less you have the right equipment and time.

[stevemark]