Any info on this Lens? Exakta Mount Aetnar 105mm f/3.8

Punkinhed7

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• Jun 1, 2017

• #1

Recently got this lens in a bunch of other stuff. Can't find anything about it on the internet. Came with a THC lens cap (which I'm assuming isn't original since the lens was made in Germany, not England). Pretty sure it's Exakta mount. Other than that, no idea of the maker, etc. Any help would be much appreciated.

Also, any idea on the "HH" mark on the bezel?

 

AgX

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• Jun 1, 2017

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Must be quite obscure, as I could not find it in my archive or elswhere.
Maybe someone can begin something with that HH-logo.

 

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Punkinhed7

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• Jun 1, 2017

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AgX said:

Maybe someone can begin something with that HH-logo

Click to expand...

I feel like I've seen it somewhere else before...just not quite sure where.

 

AgX

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I got that feeling too... but my feeling fooled me in the past...

 

shutterfinger

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• Jun 1, 2017

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Likely Atena Optix makers of Exakta.

 

AgX

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• Jun 1, 2017

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Exaktas were made by Ihagee.

What you mean is Aetna. Yes, it could be that Aetnar was a brand name of that US dealer, but it seems not to have been registered there.

 

OptiKen

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• Jun 1, 2017

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From the Wiki:
Aetna Optix was a US distributor of photo supply, already active in the 1950s. It sold camera lenses under various brands, such as Actinar, Coligon or Rokunar. In the early 1990s, it was bought by Brandess-Kalt, itself the result of the acquisition of Kalt Corporation by Brandess Brothers in 1987.

 

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Punkinhed7

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Scanning google image results I've found another German-made lens with the "HH" marking (though other examples of Actinar lenses that I've seen don't have it) that appears to be of similar construction. It's also clearly marked "Aetna" while my Aetnar is not.

So, assuming the maker/distributor of my lens was indeed Aetna, and that they were for the most part a third-party distributor as was suggested earlier, the question would then be which German firm made those "HH" lenses?

 

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Punkinhed7

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• #9

Though, thinking about it a bit more...If the early Aetna were a US-based distributor/re-brander of third party optics, wouldn't that aperture setting read "3.8" rather than "3,8?"