Tanack LTM Tanack SD

[hilltime]

Finally located one of my all time bucket list collectible RF cameras, a Tanack SD body. Have kept my eye peeled for 15 years and only very recently have I seen two different models for sale. One was on Japanese Yahoo auction site and was not in terribly good condition. It still sold for a surprising amount of money. It has been said that this model was not close to being a commercial success with maybe 500 units being sold in 1957-1958, and the much more widely available IV-S, is pretty commonly found, being made from 1955-1958 and superseded by the Tanack V3. I have mounted the Tanar 5CM/F2 lens as it did not come with it's exceeding rare mate, the 5CM/F1.5 Tanar, which is even more rare and so valuable, I'll doubt ever finding one to afford.

I did after this find a needle-in-the-haystack, Tanar 10cm/F3.5 tele lens which is about non existent out there, also. I finally now can use the 8.5,10,13.5 Tanack finder I bought about 10 yrs ago, thinking maybe one day finding one of those lenses, other than 13.5/F3.5 Tanar, which again is quite plentiful, if you are interested. From all I have read, the 8.5CM/F2 was never made or has never been seen, even though advertised with this camera model. Again I feel very lucky to have found the 10CM/F3.5 which is a bit smaller than the Canon RF lens of the same spec. If it is as good as the Canon I'll be very happy.

2023 was a very bad year health wise for me, but I did find a number of very rare pieces for my collection which makes me think a lot of very rare Japanese cameras and lenses have seemed to make an appearance either out of collections or now is just the time to sell these, which have been squirreled away for years. I am looking forward to a much healthier 2024, but I don't know if my bank account will stand many more of these long sought after pieces!
Happy 2024 to All...

 

[David Murphy]

Wow super looking camera Gary, congratulations on the SD acquisition, and I hope your health continues to improve. I can't ever recall seeing one of these for sale myself. Does this camera have multiple frame lines? How do you like it overall? The finder window looks really oversized. The camera has sort of a Leica M2/M3 look to it at first glance -- I even might see some Contax influence.

 

[hilltime]

Thank you David. It only has one frame line (50mm) projected in the viewfinder, but has parallax correction down to about 3 ft focusing. It’s going to need a CLA as shutter speeds are mostly not working correctly, although focusing, advancing, rewinding all work correctly. I could not pass this camera up as it is so super rare, even though there is going to be an expense down the road. It was thought of as a Nikon S2 copy, but with LTM availability. It has been compared to the Melcon II and the Honor SL, although this camera does have 1/1000 top speed. I look forward to shooting it once everything is sorted out. It will sit proudly with my Leotax G which I also acquired this year, after again looking for 15 yrs. So great to finally have an opportunity to find these rare gems after so long a search.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Just Wow. Glad it is not on my Bucket List, the Nikkor 5cm F1.5 and First Batch 5cm F1.5 Sonnar have checkmarks beside them.
This one is now on my grab-in-a-heart-beat list.

 

[David Murphy]

There are a couple of 5cm F1.5 Tanar's on eBay right now in poor condition at extraordinarily high prices. So yes that's rare bird in any condition at any price, apparently.

 

[hilltime]

I have seen them..... and it's amazing to me the potential value of so many of the very rare LTM fast lenses, which are not even in
great condition, i.e. usually anything Zunow! Don't ever need anything this badly where $$$/vs condition are upside down.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I picked up the Tanar 5cm F2, black, mint, on a IV-S for $215 at a camera show years ago. Compares with the Nikkor version, almost the same.
If I stumble into the 5cm f1.5 Tanar, would grab it. Probably about as many made as my LTM Nikkor 5cm F1.5. The latter- near mint, $1500. Glad to have it, makes it easy to pass up poor-condition and over-priced lenses. The Simlar 5cm F1.5, mine needed a full CLA- worth it, has perfect glass. Collectible lens, but optically not as good as the Nikkor and Canon lenses. Same unusual optical 1-3-2-1 configuration as the Canon 85/1.5. Gives much the same rendering. Maybe the Cinema industry will pick up on it.

 

[wlewisiii]

It really does look like they decided to make a S-2 in LTM 🙂 Neat camera! Enjoy!

 

[hilltime]

I picked up the Tanar 5cm F2, black, mint, on a IV-S for $215 at a camera show years ago. Compares with the Nikkor version, almost the same.
If I stumble into the 5cm f1.5 Tanar, would grab it. Probably about as many made as my LTM Nikkor 5cm F1.5. The latter- near mint, $1500. Glad to have it, makes it easy to pass up poor-condition and over-priced lenses. The Simlar 5cm F1.5, mine needed a full CLA- worth it, has perfect glass. Collectible lens, but optically not as good as the Nikkor and Canon lenses. Same unusual optical 1-3-2-1 configuration as the Canon 85/1.5. Gives much the same rendering. Maybe the Cinema industry will pick up on it.

Many years ago, the first Leotax I purchased was an F model which had mounted the Topcon 5cm/F1.5, the later day version of the Simlar. I did use it a bit but thought the 5cm/F1.5 Zeiss Opton was much better on my Contax IIA. I started getting more interested in the Leotax brand and eventually got a pretty mint 5cm/F2 Black Topcor which I mounted on a TV2 and eventually on my first FV. I thought after awhile why do I need the 5cm/F1.5 Topcor, when I was very satisfied with the F/2, and the F/1.5 seemed to be increasing in value. I sold it for something less than $700, which I thought was quite good. Now I find them going for $1200-2000 in nice condition. Kinda makes me wish I had held onto it, but in reality, how many of these high $ lenses do you really need? As an aside, the 5cm/F2 Tanar, Black, on the SD body, I also got on a IV-S, and even though the focus is a bit stiff, it is a very late version and has mint glass. It will be quite satisfactory in lieu of the scarcity of the 1.5 Tanar, not to mention I recently also got a mint 5CM/F1.9 Tanar from Japan to mount on my lonely Tanack V3 body. My collection keeps growing and my bank account keeps shrinking, but better than when I used to say, "I collect red wine", and after awhile found that "collection" kept disappearing, as each nice dinner was consumed! Without some constant replenishment, it wasn't much of a collection at all!

 

[David Murphy]

I used to own a Simlar 5cm F1.5. I bought it about 20 years ago for almost nothing, and sold it about ten years later for about $600 which at the time I though was a crazy high price. I shot with it and I thought it was a fairly mediocre lens actually. I can't quite understand its extreme price on the used market now, except perhaps because of its scarcity. Perhaps optically it was a too big a challenge for the time (although Leica accomplished optical excellence with the 50/1.5 Summarit very early on IMO). I have found the Topcon LTM primes are very good performers by any standard.

Gary how do you like the V3? I've been considering buying one, although the seem to come and go on eBay lately.

 

[hilltime]

The V3 was the updated version of the IV-S and wasn't around for much more than a year before Tanaka went bankrupt. I do like the lever wind
and the easy loading with the back door instead of bottom loading, which is all three which I have. I did take it on a trip to Maine in October to shoot along with the recently acquired 5CM/F1.9 Tanar, which was designed to replace the F/2. I also brought along a Fujinon 3.5CM/F2 to give me some wider angle capability. The camera worked well and was quite light and compact. Somewhere I read the build quality didn't stand up to some of the other Leica copies, but I find the bodies and lens quality to be very good.

 

[David Murphy]

Wow, those photos are stunning. It looks as if some were taken with the Fujinon 3.5cm

 

[hilltime]

The later two were with the Fujinon. The film was a long expired Fuji Superia 400 which I questioned using, but seemed to be OK. Interesting meeting with these guys who had just hiked the Appalachian Trail starting in Georgia and on their way to Baxter St Park in their final leg of their journey. Always wanted to do that in my earlier years, but time never presented itself. That photo was from my wife’s IPhone.