Hoya HMC lenses

[iangreenhalgh1]

Hi folks

I've been collecting Hoya HMC lenses because I love their build quality and the IQ is excellent for the price (rock bottom!).

I can't find much info on them at all and I have done a lot of googling...

Seems that Hoya in some way own Tokina or that some of Hoya's owners hold Tokina as a private company, it's not clear.

However, Hoya definitely supply all the glass to Tokina.

I have a strong suspicion that Hoya lenses are made by Tokina, the metal bodies and quality seems the same to me a the Tokinas I own.

So far I own these Hoyas, all mint or near-mint, all were 5-10ukp to purchase:

2.8/24mm
2.8/28mm
2.8/135mm
3.5/200mm
3.8/75-150mm
4/80-200mm
4.5/75-260mm

I haven't even been able to find a list of what lenses were sold under the Hoya brand but I now there are some shorter zooms and 300 and 400mm primes I need to add to my collection.

So does anyone know anything about Hoya lenses? A catalogue or advert would be interesting to see.

[martinsmith99]

[Nesster]

I do have a review of several Hoya lenses, but unfortunately the magazine is packed up and I don't have a scan. From an old post I made at pentax forums, a precis of at least one:

Hoya HMC Tele-Auto 135mm f/2.8, ser 61####. Average in size, weight, and appearance, but well above average in performance.

We found our sample smooth in operation and easy to handle. ... Hoya has included two of its most recent optical glasses within the four air-spaced elements, which provide no disappointment in the image.

Typical pattern of slight overcorrected spherical aberration at f/2.8, showing some zonal aberration. A relatively small red flare was also seen. No prominent axial color was seen etc etc... and the image became excellent at f/5.6 for both on and off axis.

Field test: our color transparancies showed a slight softness when the lens was used at f/2.8. The lateral color could not be observed in the film image, as we expected. At f/4 the center and edge image quality were excellent. Cloise in we noted a slight loss of sharpness in the corners, but this improved as we stopped down to f/8 or smaller apertures, as would be expected.

The resolution chart has Excellents and V.Goods all the way down to f/16 - at f/22 the diffraction takes over... the center settles on 52 lines/mm, though it has a peak at f/11 and 62 lpmm... the edge cruises along at 48lpmm for most of the range

Contrast typically for the tests of this era are low, though get to the Medium range between 5.6 and 11. It is in the mid 50's % at 30 lpmm.

this in the Nov 1978 Modern Photography

In context? The measured and slide film performance beats the Pentax SMC-M 135/3.5 (May '77)

[martinsmith99]

That's not bad performance stopped down, but soft wide open.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I forget where I read the article that said Hoya supply all the glass to Tokina, sorry.

I did find this info on the 2.8/28:



And my use of that lens confirms that review - it's a very good lens, not outstanding but for the price, a real performer.

[Orio]

These are very good images.

[Lloydy]

I'm sure I saw a M42 Hoya 500 mirror the other day, cheap as well. I can check next weekend ?

[iangreenhalgh1]

Ooh, yes please David, I would love to add that to my collection, I intend to add the 300 and 400mm Hoyas as well, not seen them cheap enough yet, 20-30ukp for ones in less than pristine condition, I know I will see them mint for a good price eventually.

BTW, I've arranged my shifts so I can come to the october camera fair, I'll bring you those PK lenses I promised and the Viv S1 135.

[iangreenhalgh1]

[GrahamNR17]

Good info Ian, thankyou

Of course, the Google gets hold of this post, the frigging prices will rocket!

I'm hitting ebay, I have a spare ten quid note and I'm going to see what Hoya glass I can pick up (probably a UV filter knowing my luck)

[iangreenhalgh1]

There's a 2.8/135 for 9.95 + 3.95 postage on ebay right now.

There are a few 2.8/28s listed too, seems to be a pretty common lens, always a few on ebay. A tenner should secure you one.

Was just looking at a Vivitar with a 22 serial that looks very similar to a HOYA lens, the 'VMC' in blue on the Viv is idetical to the 'HMC' lettering on the Hoyas and the font used for the front lettering is identical too. Whatever that indicates...

[Lloydy]

Ian, I'm pretty sure it's a 500, but it might be the 300. I saw it a few weeks ago for about £40 and had a look at it, and it's in very good condition.
It was still there on Saturday, with a cheaper price on it - I can't remember what. I'd already decided that I didn't want it.

If you really want it let me know tonight and I'll try and get there tomorrow. I'll check this thread later.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I would definitely like it, been looking for a mirror lens, if it's a 300mm mirror, even better, I would love a compact tele of that length for use with my NEX, strapping my Tair-3C to the NEX is a bit ludicrous and my Soligor 5.5/300 is so light it's almost impossible to handhold on the NEX.

[Lloydy]

OK, I'll see what I can do.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Much appreciated, cheers.

[visualopsins]

WOW that is a nice collection of HOYA lenses.

HOYA HMC zooms:

http://forum.mflenses.com/hoya-hmc-zoom-and-macro-100-300mm-15-62-t32886.html

and

http://forum.mflenses.com/hoya-hmc-zoom-and-macro-35-105mm-13-5-72-t32812.html

also

http://forum.mflenses.com/hoya-hmc-35-105mm-zoom-macro-3-5-t31487.html

[William]

Ian, I'm not sure if you have an OM mount for either camera but this could be interesting with a constant f4 aperture:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOYA-28-85MM-TELE-ZOOM-LENS-f4-INC-CASE-/140605464789?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item20bcbd20d5

Hope you have good luck with the 24mm, I'd be interested in one in PK mount if it's decent, Pentax wide lenses (apart from the 28/2.8 ) are very expensive.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Interesting, thanks guys.

That 100-300 looks very similar to the 75-260, not tried mine yet to see what the IQ is like.

[ManualFocus-G]

Here's my experience:

Hoya 24/2.8 - an excellent value, compact lens which doesn't show up too often. As far as I remember it had better corners than the Tamron AD2 24/2.5, but wasn't as sharp in the centre until stopped right down. Outclassed by the Nikkor 24/2.8 AIS though which is sharper in the corners and in the centre.

Hoya 100-300 - Very good once stopped down to f8, but soft wide open. However, the viewfinder is dark at f8 so it's not that easy to use except in bright light. Not as sharp as the Tamron SP 60-300mm, but not far off and slightly less purple fringing.

Hoya 300/5.6 - A lovely looking prime. Performance is not brilliant though, it's average in terms of sharpness with lots of purple fringing.

[Lloydy]

My mistake, it wasn't a Hoya mirror lens but a crappy Centon. And although it looked in good condition it felt cheap and nasty. So it's still on the shelf.
They had a Hoya of some description in there a while back, that's what threw me. When I go in there I just look at the fresh stuff.
Oh well, I did get a huge pile of good slide magazines and storage boxes for £3 while I was there.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thanks for the info guys and cheers David for looking at that lens for me.

I'm going to try to collect all the Hoya lenses eventually, be nice to have the full set.

[koji]

Some one has already the full set?:

here > http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/sbko-hq/Okie's_Lens_List.html

I could not use [URL]...[/URL] for the above address, somehow my post
became all BLANK if I used [url] ... [/url]. Attila can answer this I guess.
[I think [url]..[/url] may not like the letter (') apostrophe.]

Data for Hoya lens> http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/sbko-hq/OTHERS/HOYA_HMC_LENS.html

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thanks very much for that info Koji, that is exactly what I need!

From that list, the only primes I am missing are the 2.8/35, 2.8/135 CF, 300 and 400, I have seen all of those for sale apart from the 35.

Still many zooms I don't have, I'll pick those up one by one as I see them cheap.

I think I will take that info from Okie and reproduce an English version, it would be good to have a Hoya lens infobase methinks.

[GrahamNR17]

Ian, you're a star

Since I discovered my old Tamron 80-210 was buggered at 80mm and infinity, I was able to replace it with a fairly small Hoya 70-150 for less than ten quid. A few quick test frames at lunchtime today suggests it is very sharp. I shall take it out for proper testing tomorrow.

But thanks for the heads-up

Graham

[iangreenhalgh1]

Good to hear Graham. I have the 70-150, mint, probably unused, must try it out.