What's the latest lens you added to your collection?

cyberjunkie · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2023 7:01 pm Post subject: New/repaired adapted lenses

I just got a new (to me, of course Smile

) Jena B 2/58mm (that is, a Biotar for export).
In the following pictures is portrayed on a Sony A7II, fitted with a Techart AF adapter via a M42>LM ring.

The following lens is a Pentax-110 20-40mm zoom, shown fitted on a custom made adapter (with iris!) on an Olympus E-PL3 camera with electronic viewfinder. For some strange reason the P110>m4/3 adapter can't be fitted on the Panasonic GX8 because of wrong tolerances.
I already had most of the Pentax 110 lenses: 18mm, 24mm, 50mm and 70mm. With the zoom I completed all the lenses I want.
There is a kind of lens cap without diaphragm, but I'm not interested.

Instead the Panasonic Gx8 is shown with a Som Berthiot Cinor B 1.9/25mm from the fifties, originally meant for 16mm cine cameras.
The Som Berthiot lens is not a new acquisition. I acquired it in the eighties, had an inversion ring made at the lathe to use it inverted for extreme macro, and then was left alone for a long time. When I discovered it in a drawer i found that the focusing helicoid was stuck hard. It stayed that way for long, until my friend/repairman finally fixed it. So it's kind of a new acquisition.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4087 Location: Switzerland

cyberjunkie

I have two more acquisitions. One new and one repaired.
Normally I don't buy Takumar lenses. I am a Pentax user since the seventies, so I have nothing against Asahi Pentax optics. It's just that K mount lenses are more ergonomic and usually cheaper. I don't know why, it seems that even when two lenses have an identical optical construction, the K mount usually sells for less than the M42 version.
I love the build of Super Multi Coated Takumar lenses, mechanically outstanding and often working as new after all this time.
On top of that, as the name implies, they are multicoated, unlike previous Takumar generations.
Whatever... this time I decided to go for a Super Takumar for an odd reason: it has the M58 lens hood I was looking for Smile

The newly acquired lens is a 4/200mm, with original hood, caps and quiver, and in like new conditions.
The hood perfectly fits one of my favourite K lenses, the SMC Pentax 2.5/135mm. It can be screwed-in reversed, taking no room.
The only problem is that the original lens cap doesn't fit with the hood reversed. Fortunately I found at home a Schneider push-on front cap that works OK.
The Super Takumar 4/200mm is pictured on a Pentax K200D (APS-C), that was unusable until a few days ago.
The lens release button broke down, so the AF zoom that was fitted on the camera couldn't be removed.
The same friend/repairman that fixed the Som Berthiot drilled a microscopic radial hole on the side of the bayonet, to remove the stuck lens (a Tamron f/2.8 zoom).
Now I have a nice working APS-C zoom, and an APS-C camera with CMOS sensor, that will be used from now on as an M42 camera.
Instead of the original Asahi Pentax M42 adapter ring, I chose to use a black Hama adapter that works great with auto M42 lenses that don't have an Auto/Man switch.
Unfortunately the lenses don't sit right. The focus/diaphragm indicator is close to the bottom of the camera, not on the top.
The K200D is like a new acquisition, cause it feels like I have a new digital camera with M42 mount, and with a nice accessory AA battery compartment, that allows to use the camera with a total of 8 standard AA batteries.

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

Most recent lens I acquired was a Helios 81M to make up for the lack of standard lenses for Nikon.
Ended up buying two of them and an Arsat 50/2 for the AI coupling.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

cyberjunkie

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3225 Location: The Netherlands

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4087 Location: Switzerland

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3225 Location: The Netherlands

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4087 Location: Switzerland

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1216 Location: Winnipeg Canada

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

Oldhand · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2023 1:03 am Post subject:

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

vivaldibow · Expire: 2021-03-09

Vivitar VMC 55mm f/1.4, by Cosina. I am assuming it is the same lens as Sears/Rikenon 55mm/1.4.

blotafton · Joined: 08 Aug 2013 Posts: 1636 Location: Sweden

Edixa Xenar

#1

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4087 Location: Switzerland

Oldhand · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 10:14 pm Post subject:

Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 662 Location: New Zealand

I received the Soligor 135mm F/2.8 on the right, which I think is a variation of the quite common early Komura lens, two versions of which are shown on the left. The link to Komura for these lenses is seen on this thread ( http://forum.mflenses.com/komura-koki-tokyo-135mm-f2-8-t33340,highlight,%2Bkomura.html ). The black lens is very similar, but not exactly the same. It has 20 aperture blades, darkened. As an aside, I have had 6 copies of the lens pass through my hands now, and have only ever seen them with 20 blades, not the 18 or 22 talked about elsewhere. I have had the silver coloured lenses with either 'Y' or 'S' prefix serial numbers, however this version has the serial number E-4440.

The lens is similar, but not exactly the same, as it is longer than the other two lenses, indicating that some tweaking was going on optically early on. Apparently this was a very early Japanese SLR lens, perhaps one of the first of the third party efforts.

A front on view.

This is what interested me when I saw the listing, as this lens has a strong family resemblance to other early Soligor and Soligor-Miranda lenses which also have 'Y' prefix serial numbers. From left to right, the Soligor-Miranda 50mm F/1.9 in M44 mount, two early copies of the Soligor 35mm F/3.5 with clearly different optical arrangements, again pointing to optical adjustments on an ongoing basis. Then a 135mm F/3.5, and the 135mm F/2.8 lens. All the other lenses here are 'Y' code lenses. The 50mm, the smaller 35mm and the 135mm F/3.5 all were released as Soligor-Miranda lenses in M44, however my 35 and 135mm lenses are for Exakta and M42 mount.

There is a lot of conjecture in some online groups about who made the early 'Y' code lenses for Miranda cameras, as there were three other versions of the 50mm F/1.9 which also had 'Y' codes, used on later versions of the Miranda T, and the Miranda A/B cameras. One excellent online examination can be found here ( https://koiwide-com.translate.goog/j-lens_miranda-soligor-1?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc ), however this lens challenges some common assumptions normally made, one of which is that any Japanese lens with the protruding button on the aperture setting mechanism must be made by Fujita. I think it makes a strong case for Komura as the manufacturer of 'Y' code lenses.

Front view of the black lenses. All lenses share a very similar/same distinctive blue coating colour, as do the two silver lenses featured in the first photo.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4087 Location: Switzerland

@ Alun: Interesting stuff, as ususal - keep posting (and buying lenses ... Rolling Eyes

)

S

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2537

Coming in from Japan
SMC Pentax 85-210mm 1:3.5 (rare in Europe the 4.5 is much more common).
Tokina AT-X 90mm F2.5 MACRO (PK)
Mamiya-Sekor E 35mm 1:2.8 (M42)

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3225 Location: The Netherlands

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2537

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3225 Location: The Netherlands