Ancient Pentax lens ! And Minolta too !

[luisalegria]

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.

[Attila]

Congrats for this rare gem! ... and for lot of details about this lens!

[marty]

Indeed interesting item. Congrats for the excellent research job on the lens history.

Cheers, Marty.