Storage unit lens - 20 years later

Theo Sulphate · Aug 24, 2016

Maybe 25-30 years ago, someone gave me an obscure-brand 28/2.8 M42 mount lens. Since I rarely used 28mm and have never been fond of third-party lenses, I put the lens back in its imitation-leather case and forgot about it. During a move, about 20 years ago, the lens and case were put in a cardboard box and then into a storage unit. There it sat, in freezing cold and sweltering heat year after year for about 20 years, forgotten.

Today I rediscovered the lens -- actually surprised that I would stash it like that. First instinct was to look at the glass. Fungus? Not a trace. The glass was perfectly clear. The aperture blades were clean, dry, and snapped open and shut very quickly. The focus throw was weighted and smooth. In fact, the lens looks like it's never been used. The only oddity is that the aperture blades don't form a perfect hexagon.

Being that it has been so carelessly stored for so long, yet the glass is perfectly clear, maybe I'm worrying needlessly about lenses in my house.

Here is the lens:

Apparently the "Super Carenar" doesn't have much of a reputation, but I'm eager to try it. With such a history, I doubt I'd be disappointed with it, even if its optical quality isn't high.

Toyo · Aug 24, 2016

What have you got to lose?
Don't believe everything that you read on the internet.
Try the lens for yourself and see how it performs for you. You never know - you might like it
T

LAG · Aug 24, 2016

Excuse me Theo Sulphate

Perhaps the lens has been lucky enough to be preserved from fungus food (well isolated from dirt). I do not see the connection within both cases (stored or used). Congratulations anyway!

By the way, now that you have opened the box, another story begins for that lens. Yes, you should try it, It's you ... or them

AgX · Aug 24, 2016

Theo Sulphate said:
The only oddity is that the aperture blades don't form a perfect hexagon.

I got many lenses that got a non-symmetrical multi-leaf aperture opening. I could start and sort for for brands and test for inconsistancy of aperture size... So far I did not bother. Maybe I should...

Concerning aperture images from compact cameras or some cine cameras: ever looked at the design of those apertures?

guangong · Aug 24, 2016

In the old days makers of quality lenses tried very hard to get as close to circular opening as possible. Some of my Kilfit lenses are of this sort. As time went by a simple hexagon was considered acceptable. Soon after a non symmetrical hexagon was o.k. As AgX notes, for many cameras three non symmetrical blades suffice. This is what manufacturers call progress. Before the 1970s (if not before),improvement in manufacture meant making a better product, later in meant how can the product be made cheaper but still sell at a premium price. An example:Leica!

Dali · Aug 24, 2016

When manufacturers switched from manual or preset aperture lenses to auto lenses, the number of blades decreased for mechanical reason. Aperture was not round anymore but it has nothing to do with quality or profit margin.

Helios 1984 · Aug 24, 2016

I've read somewhere that Carena was a chain of german retail stores and that Cosina was manufacturing lenses and cameras for them (Like Sears & Ricoh).

AgX · Aug 24, 2016

No, Carena was no german chain. But the brand was known here.

Instead Carena was a cine-camera manufacturer from the country Liechtenstein. The brand later was aquired by a swiss retail company. Obviously using or licensing it for asian lenses.

michr · Aug 24, 2016

I don't recall anyone making a fuss over the shape of the aperture on the Olympus XA. The lens on the XA is generally well-regarded so I don't see why it would be a problem here. I hope you show us some photos you take with this lens. I suspect it's good enough. Maybe the corners are soft wide open, there's a little vignetting and chromatic aberration, but the days are gone when it made sense to pay a huge premium to avoid such issues.

Helios 1984 · Aug 24, 2016

AgX said:
No, Carena was no german chain. But the brand was known here.

Instead Carena was a Liechtenstein cine-camera manufacturer. The brand later was aquired by a swiss retail company. Obviously using or licensing it for asian lenses.

My internet source might have been diluted...
Thanks for the correction tho, it's always interesting to learn more about those obscur brands.

dynachrome · Aug 24, 2016

I have a set of Carena lenses in Topcon mount. The set includes 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 135/2.8 and 200/3.5 or 4. I also have a 35/2.8 Carenar in M42 mount. I have no direct information on this but the lenses look suspiciously like similar ones made by Tokina. The ones for Topcon are marked EET.

Theo Sulphate · Aug 24, 2016

LAG said:
...By the way, now that you have opened the box, another story begins for that lens. Yes, you should try it, It's you ... or them

Wise words. Thank you.

michr said:
I don't recall anyone making a fuss over the shape of the aperture on the Olympus XA. The lens on the XA is generally well-regarded so I don't see why it would be a problem here. I hope you show us some photos you take with this lens....

You're right - photos from the XA series are nice. I'm actually not concerned about the shape or bokeh. Definitely I will post photos made with that lens.

Any further information on the history of these Carenar lenses would be appreciated. I wouldn't be surprised if it were actually made by Tokina or Cosina.

AgX · Aug 24, 2016

AgX said:
No, Carena was no german chain. But the brand was known here.

Instead Carena was a cine-camera manufacturer from the country Liechtenstein. The brand later was aquired by a swiss retail company. Obviously using or licensing it for asian lenses.

Germany's largest photo retailer Porst (postorder and later stores too) used the Carena brand amongst two other brand or at least had a lot of Carena-branded cameras on offer.
They either got that brand licenced or were a major retailer for Carena cameras and lenses.
I guess they even got the sole licence to use that brand.

As in their last years Carena was dominantly used by Porst, your internet source might have mixed up names.

My problem is that as there were so many house-brands and some major retailers used several it is difficult to put the right retailer to the brand, or even to know if a brand is a munufacturer/importer- or a retailer-brand.

Theo Sulphate · Sep 18, 2016

Well, I did get a few good images with this lens, but it has very severe distortion at the right edge of every image. I'm wondering if a lens element is out of alignment.

Before using the lens, when I tried to take the filter off, the front assembly unscrewed (a funnel shaped assembly, not individual elements) - perhaps I didn't put it back in correctly, so I'll have to check - though it seemed to screw back in smoothly and straight.

A borderless print, photographed with my phone (note: the print is not lying flat). The bottom part of the tree is distorted (more than being just out of focus); in landscape orientation that would be the right edge.

RalphLambrecht · Sep 20, 2016

Toyo said:
What have you got to lose?
Don't believe everything that you read on the internet.
Try the lens for yourself and see how it performs for you. You never know - you might like it
T

good advise but can't trust it;it was written on the internet

Storage unit lens - 20 years later

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