Top, or not? UV Topcor 1:4 135mm Tokyo Kogaku

Cost: $19 (average market price $30)

I stumbled on this lens by accident in a thrift store. Just as I used to buy music albums based on the cover alone, I bought this lens because it was gorgeous. Nice mat black barrel and focus ring with a shiny mat metal base. No cheap plastic on this lens. And a good looking built-in lens hood as bonus. They don't make lenses this good looking anymore.. but maybe one day, it will become a trend again. Hopefully soon.

When arriving home, after a closer look, and to my surprise, I noticed that the lens did not have an aperture ring. After some research, I found out that these lenses from Topcon where made for a cheaper SLR system, where the aperture ring, as part of the camera body, could be shared amongst all lenses, therefore saving a few bucks. So, low budget as target. Not very promising.

To my dismay, it also meant it was not compatible with any of my existing adapters. And to further dismay, I was not able to find a cheap Chinese adapter on eBay or Amazon. So the lens stayed in my drawer for a while, until one day, doing some further research, I found a company that makes low volume, specialty adapters, including one for UV lenses. I was lucky enough to find one on time, as it was their last copy, and has been removed from their website.

So a few weeks later, I received the adapter and was able to go out an do a few shoots. Sadly, although good looking, the quality of the lens was indeed sub-par. Not very sharp, lots of color fringing, and lack of details in the pictures. Not all photo's were crap, but definitely not across the board. The good ones do have a retro look to them. Was it this specific lens, or symptomatic for the brand? Not sure.. people on flickr managed to take some great pictures with it.

The brand of Topcor does come with good reputation for their more expensive RE type of lenses, who are placed in quality next to Zeiss and other top brands.

Not to many UV-type lenses were made (8 in total), so it's a nice opportunity to build a collection of fine looking lenses for not to much money. I will definitely look out for some other UV-lenses, just because of the sharp and clean look of the lenses themselves. They can't all be bad, can they?

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 135mm
Maximum Aperture: F4.0
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: UV Topcor
Optics: 5 elements
Blades: 5
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 180cm
Filter Size: 49mm
Weight: 305g
Length: 84-97mm (add 33mm for lens hood)
Production: 1960's
Serial Number: 13941503
Made in: Japan

More information on: Topcon

Samples:

1/125s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/400s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/1000s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/160s - ISO160 - Handheld

1/500s - ISO400 - Handheld

1/640s - ISO400 - Handheld

1/400s - ISO400 - Handheld

1/400s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/800s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/400s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/320s - ISO100 - Handheld

Sources:
flickr.com
wikipedia
camera-wiki
All Photo Lenses