Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 9:13 pm Post subject: Ancient Pentax lens ! And Minolta too ! |
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luisalegria wrote:
I found this curiosity in ebay- of course -
This is the lens and shutter from an Auto Press Minolta, quite a rare camera, from about 1937-early 1940's, definitely made pre WWII or during WWII, as it is marked "Nippon" and "Patent-Nippon" and the Auto Press was not made post-war.
The Auto Press Minolta was a copy of the Plaubel Makina.
http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki?title=Auto_Press_Minolta&redirect=no
This "Crown-Rapid" shutter was made by Chiyoda, later renamed Minolta to match the camera trademark. Its a copy of the Compur-Rapid.
But the lens ? That "Promar" was designed and made by Asahi, yes, that Asahi, which at the time was entirely a lens-manufacturer. Chiyoda/Minolta bought a lot of lenses from Asahi, many of them branded "Promar".
So this 4-element Tessar-type 3.5/105 lens for a 6x9 copy of a Plaubel Makina is an ancestor of all the Takumar and Pentax lines.
The Crown-Rapid shutter doesn't work, and I don't feel like rebuilding a Compur-clone, I am not good at watch-repair. The lens though is very clear and in great shape, I just need some new plastic body caps to mount more lenses. I'll also probably try it on the Speed Graphic, as that has a focal plane shutter. _________________ 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. |