Can Someone Tell Me What The Heck I Just Won?

[magkelly]

I just won this entire lot of lenses, filters and other stuff for $11 on Goodwill. I know the pics are very small, sorry, but can anyone tell me which lens mount these are, and in particular what that Vivitar 300MM is? I actually bought the whole kit at the very last second because I saw I could probably get it really cheap and because it had a Cokin filter I've been wanting (sunset) and don't have. I'll probably re-sell a lot of the other stuff, but I'd probably jump for joy if that big mama lens actually fits something I own! I have a K-mount camera, an M42 mount camera, and a Canon FD camera currently. I figure for $11 I didn't go wrong. I could sell a couple of things and make my $$$ back real quick, but I'm not so sure of what some of this other stuff is really...

Thanks!

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=6351218

 

[Ian Grant]

I'd doubt that Vivitar lens is up to much. There's such a mismatch of equipment you need to wait see what you get.

However if you sold one or two of the items separately you'd more than double your outlay

Ian

 

[magkelly]

Actually at least 75% of that can go and I'd be perfectly okay with it. I'd been looking online and realizing that in order to get those 2 Cokin filters I'd be spending that anyway. I figured I might as well try and get a few other things out of the deal as well.

There are so many mounts listed for both these online that I can't quite tell what I've gotten though. I was hoping they were either K or FD, but I don't think so, and I'm admittedly lousy yet at recognizing anything that's not an M42 mount, which these definitely are not. Looking at the rest of the stuff with it, I'm thinking either Minolta or maybe Nikon? There are flashes for both there with the lot. Could be they came with the lenses, who knows? If it's Minolta, they get sold. The Yashica stuff I also know I have no use for but I'm kind of curious about that small Toko lens, wondering what that is for.

 

[domaz]

The Toyko Japan lens might be a screwmount Rangefinder lens- perhaps a Telesar wide angle. If that's the case you struck gold- almost no RF lens goes for less than $100. Could also be an off-brand piece of junk.

 

[magkelly]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-M-unSync-...=ViewItem&pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item43a004743a

I'm not sure if it's the darker brown case or the carmel colored one that has that lens but the case on this one could be it. It looks a bit wider to me, but if you look closely at the Ebay auction, the button and the style it's almost the same I think as the one in the Goodwill auction.I am thinking this is a real Tokyo lens and it just might be from an old rangefinder. I don't know much about old rangefinders, but did they make a slimmer wide angle or pancake style lens for any of those? This case does remind me a bit of the ones I've seen with pancake lenses for other cameras.

I hope it is a $100 plus lens. That would be NICE. I'm looking at Minolta lens mount and I'm thinking 2 of these lenses might be Minolta MD, the 300MM and the Soligor. Disappointing, but I suppose selling them would get me a few $$$ and maybe then I can afford a good M42/K in at least a 200MM/300MM range.

There are 4 Cokin filters there it looks like. The 2 they're calling "Polas" one of them is definitely a Cokin polarizer, but the other is listed by # as the star filter and isn't a polarizer. So really I just got 4 Cokin's plus those shapes. Those I probably have already, so those can go too it looks like.

Most of the lot will probably go. I'm going to keep the filters and the bag and turn it over to get stuff I can use. I'm definitely not going to buy a Minolta just to be able to have a 300MM lens and a wide angle finally.

 

[cowanw]

I think the Vivitar may be a Contax mount.

 

[magkelly]

I'm kind of thinking so too. I'm sitting here looking at some and it's looking a lot more like that than Minolta. Makes sense really since the 50MM is labeled as a Yashica/Contax. Maybe those and the Soligor they all came from the same camera? I'm trying to look up the Soligor to see if that might also be Y/C.

Yup, there is one for Y/C, so it looks like they might all be Y/C lenses?

Goodwill has a habit sometimes of separating lens groupings from cameras and auctioning them off that way to hopefully generate more $$$ I guess. Maybe they split the Yashica camera from the lenses and then threw in some other stuff in to make up a good lot.

Ah, yes, looks like they might have.

(Playing Sherlock Holmes....)

This just ended too...

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=6350830

I think that one is an old rangefinder? Could this be what these lenses all went with originally? It would make sense in terms of what lens is listed as being on the Yashica FX-D. That lens covers what the zoom I got doesn't. It goes up to 72MM, which is where my 75-300MM zoom starts and that could be an extra lens for that rangefinder.

 

[Ian Grant]

Just wait and see It's all part of the anticipation.

Ian

 

[magkelly]

Nah, it's more fun to play detective, grin. In any case I think I just might be right. Note, the batteries in the case that I won go for that Yashica camera in the other auction and the field case also looks a lot like the rangefinder lens case, SO logic dictates that they likely split the lot and that I've got a Tokyo lens that goes with that rangerfinder and the lenses that went with that FX-D!

Oops, I feel bit bad now. The person I was bidding against is probably pretty ticked that I got the rest of their kit! ;P But I think I'm right and that does help me ID the rangefinder lens and the camera that went with it too.

Look here at a pic of the ciro35.

http://twoliver.ctzphoto.com/cameras/ciro35.html
http://www.pbase.com/maderik/image/118729565

Does that lens not look like it could fit into the small case in my auction. I think just maybe, but I can't find any pairing of ciro 35 and tokyo lens. Looking....

Laughing...

Couldn't do this in a million years I'm sure but...

http://www.pbase.com/wesleywong/diy__convert_yc_to_m42_mount

 

[magkelly]

Yashica Lens DSB 50mm Lense- Y/C mount

Soligor C/D Wide-Auto-Minolta MD

Vivitar 75-300mm Macro Focusing Zoom- Y/C

Small Toko Japan Lens in Case-Possibly a Nikon Rangefinder Lens

This is what I think so far.

 

[maderik]

that I've got a Tokyo lens that goes with that rangerfinder [...]

Look here at a pic of the ciro35.

http://twoliver.ctzphoto.com/cameras/ciro35.html
http://www.pbase.com/maderik/image/118729565

[...] but I can't find any pairing of ciro 35 and tokyo lens.

The Ciro35 does not have interchangeable lenses -- it was offered with fixed f/2.8 or f/3.5 or f/4.5 50mm lens options. Your second link points to my camera with the f/2.8 lens.

Alas, "small lens with case" usually just means a cheap teleconverter or closeup lens set.

 

[w9cae]

I think the Vivitar may be a Contax mount.

And I was thinking it could be Praktica bayonet hmmm

 

[magkelly]

I guess we'll find out soon about the little lens, if they ever get to shipping my lot! As for the 300MM being a Praktica lens, I don't think so. I found that 300MM lens mentioned as having Nikon, M42, K, Y/C and Minolta mounts, but that's all I can find. No Praktica. Doesn't look like it's K mount, unfortunately, because I have a K-mount camera and would have been thrilled, so I figure it's got to be either a Minolta or a Yashica.The other lenses in the lot are Yashica and Minolta I think so it makes sense that it's one or the other.

I'm a little nervous though because usually they ship right out after payment and this time Goodwill is dragging their heels a bit. Could be it's just that store, but the last time they did this I never got what I bought due to some clerical error. They did refund me, but it made me mad because it was something I really wanted at the time. Since that other auction had cameras and batteries that likely matched the lenses in mine it's got me going "Hmmm..." that they've not shipped two days after payment.

On a more positive note my Spottie II is on it's way. It should be here on Tuesday. Can't hardly wait to debox it and check it out. I do hope it's in decent shape and that it works. It sure would be nice to be able to use it, not just sit it up on the shelf until I have a spare $100 to send it in to get it fixed up properly. Probably will eventually anyway, but I really can't right now. I'm thinking of selling my SPI for parts maybe if the SP2 works. I may be getting a K1000 in digital imaging job swap soon here so I guess I won't really need that SPI if I do. I'm not giving it up though until I know I have two working Pentax bodies.

 

[Ralph Javins]

Good morning, MagKelly;

Praktica was the original M42 by 1.0 TPmm or Pentax or Unversal Screw Mount. The very similar T-mount by Tamron is M42 by 0.75 TPmm. Your Prakitca 300mm lens could very well be a DDR manufactured lens.

 

[magkelly]

Thanks. I did some reading on Prakticas last night out of curiosity. I think I am going to post a good pic when they get here and let you all decide from that. I'd have been over the moon if it actually fit my Pentax but that's definitely not the M42/K mount I know. Can you tell me what DDR is? I've not heard that term as yet and I can't find much info on it online, thanks!

 

[MattKing]

DDR = East Germany before re-unification:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany

 

[magkelly]

Ah okay, gotcha. I thought it was some kind of camera term, an alternative to SLR or something, German-style. Those Prakticas may be good cameras but honestly I think they're pretty darned ugly some of them. They remind me of those boxy East German police cars you'd see in spy movies in the 70's and 80's. The mechanics may have been superb but the aesthetics definitely left something to be desired and they actually look like they might be uncomfortable to use. Are they, any opinions? Just curious. There was one, an earlier one that I saw that was curved quite a bit. That was interesting, but overall I don't think I'd want to be lugging one around.

Yeah, that kind of thing DOES matter to me. Even though I am a confirmed Pentaxian there are Pentax models out there that are very good cameras mechanically speaking that you couldn't pay me to use because I think they are flat out UGLY compared to my beloved Spotties. I like both, good mechanics and elegant design.

I'm like that with pretty much everything actually. If I have to choose two dish drainers and both work perfectly fine but one is priced slightly more but looks more aesthetically pleasing I'm going to buy the more expensive one even if it does mean I am spending more. If I have to look at it every day it can't be ugly. It has to work well, no matter what, because I won't buy crap regardless of design, but it also has to be nice looking sitting there.

About the only truly ugly thing I've ever let into the house was a dog pal. He had a truly great personality, total cutie pie, but he was so darned ugly it was hard to be around him, no kidding. Badly messed up face, car accident. We loved him anyway, but still there were times when I just wanted to cover his mug with a mask a la the POTO or something cause he was just too freaky to look at sometimes! He was such a good boy though. He's gone now, old age, but I really do miss him, ugly face and all, now that he's gone, sniff.

 

[John Koehrer]

Not to be mean but I don't believe that "good camera" and Praktica can be used in the same sentence>
It's illegal!

Where you at? for your profile.

 

[loman]

Funny. I do very much believe that "good camera" and Praktica can be used in the same sentence.

 

[magkelly]

You know what? With any luck it just might be a Toko lens. It's not spelled Tokyo on the auction listing. It's Toko. I couldn't find anything with that name on it so I just figured it was supposed to be Tokyo. But they may have spelled it right.

Check this out, read all the way down about the lenses for this thing...

http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Semi_Leotax_DL_and_R

Maybe?

I'm bookmarking this entry just in case. Delivery F or Sat. I'm going to put up some pics that night to see anyone can ID it for real here. I'd appreciate it if you guys would chime in if you do see something you recognize then okay?

Might be something like this. This sounds about right. The company apparently went to calling themselves TopCon later, but their earlier lenses had Toko. Can't be worth much but likely it's one of these. Case looks similar too, right company only later, but this one is labeled Tokyo, not Toko. I'm thinking he earlier rangefinder ones were the ones labeled Toko instead because of reading the above. It's all very interesting anyway regardless.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Topcon-Topcor-1...ViewItem&pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item5888765e3c

 

[Ralph Javins]

Good morning, MagKelly;

The "Toko" designation I believe to be a contraction of "Tokyo Kogaku K. K." That was the name of the company around the time of World War II. Later in the 1950s they shifted slightly to "Topko," sort of a concession to the English speaking photographers they were encountering, and was for "Tokyo Optical Company," sort of. Later they became the much better recognized Topcon brand name here in the United States. They were one of the earlier companies to adopt the SLR camera design, and I believe that they were the first in Japan to use a Through The Lens (TTL) light metering design.

As a minor point of interest, the US Navy thought enough of the Topcon SLR camera (possibly the Topcon Super D) to have bought a large volume of them in the 1960s for their photographers to use in the performance of their official duties. The Nippon Kogaku K. K. Nikon F was not the only Japanese camera the US Navy used.

 

[magkelly]

Turned out to be nothing but a negative viewer, alas, but thanks for the info. I found the reading I did trying to figure it out pretty informative actually. I like reading about the old cameras and their makers.