What did I just buy? Super Acall

Brian Sweeney said:
I believe Bill M has one and is quite fond of it.
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Brian beat me to it. I was going to mention that Bill M does have one and it seems to me that it did OK in his comparison testing. I recall when they were selling the Acall lenses through the NYC stores back in the late 1960's and early 1970's. I'd say you did quite well at the price you paid.

Walker
 
That's a bargain! If you don't like it you should be able to sell it for more than your purchase price.
There are bargains to be found on the auction site. Komura and Steinheil lenses sometimes go cheap.
 
Thanks for the responses! Now I'm anxiously awaiting the package. I have a Contax mount Jupiter-11 and rarely use it, I'm more of a normal/wide kinda guy, but figure since I'm switching to LTM this might be OK.

Later,
Greg
 
Ah, so that was you. Yes, I keep an eye on all Kyoei Super Acall auctions. They were also sold under other names, which nets me some great deals from time to time - the seller never knows that a "Bittco" is an LTM lens, or that it is really a Kyoei Super Acall. The one you got looks to be in good shape, I hope that turns out to be true. However, it comes apart really easily (elements just unscrew by hand) to clean inside and out, leaving just an empty tube. Use caution cleaning inner elements, soft glass/coating.

I am fond of the Kyoei, I think it is well-made and gives good photo too. Focusing lube tends to harden, so it may be stiff at first. You can work it back and forth a few dozen times before taking it out for a day's shooting, or I suppose you could disassemble and clean/relube the helical - I've never bothered.

I was actually going to bid on that one myself if you hadn't - even though I am almost totally broke and already have TWO of these. I am the low-buck LTM 135mm king, I've got them coming out the wazoo. It just hurts me to see them listed with a $9.99 starting bid in truly mint condition and no bids on them. Something wrong with that, I can't take it.

Everybody seems to have made an LTM lens at one time or another - mostly a 135mm even if they never did anything else. Canon, Nikon, and Leitz glass all go for fairly high prices - not terrible, but not cheap. And they should, they're worth it. But there are lots of 'no name' brands to look for.

Here are some from http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/clones.html, with my edits:

Leitz - Germany: Lots of old ones, couple of recent ones
Zeiss - Germany: none post-war
Nippon Kogaku (Nikon) - Japan: Full line
Canon - Japan: Full line, early ones called Serenar
* Minolta (Chiyoko) - Japan: Super Rokkor, Tele Rokkor, current 28mm
Schneider - Germany: Tele Xenar, Xenogon, others
** Steinheil - Germany: a bunch
*** Komura - Japan: a bunch
*** Kyoei - Japan: Acall
* Tanaka Kogaku - Japan: Tanar
Olympus - Japan: rare 40mm (only one?)
Voigtl„nder - Germany: old Nokton 50/1.5 (others?)
Voigtl„nder - Japan: new Cosina stuff
FED, Industar, Jupiter - Russian: lots and lots (Zeiss designs mostly)
*** Arco - Japan: Tele Colinar, others?
** Schacht - Germany: Travenar, Travegon, others
Ricoh - Japan: lens from GR (is this so??)
Wollensak - US: Wartime, joint with Leitz NY
*** Soligor - Japan:
*** Adorama (other names) - Japan: couple of wide angles
Sun Optical - Japan: 90mm, 135mm, others?
Angenieux - France: certainly rare
Kilfitt - Germany: viso lenses
Taylor-Hobson - UK: 50mm (rare ?)
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Of these, the ones I've put stars next to are the sleepers - collectors ignore them, shooters also ignore them. The more stars, the more they are ignored. One star is 'kind of' ignored, three stars is totally ignored.

It's fun to try to track them down! My life is so horribly boring, that sometimes I will do a eBoy search on "screw mount" and just scroll through the thousands of listings for something that jumps out at me as a possible LTM lens. I find 'em. I've got some that are not found ANYWHERE on Google as LTM lenses or even as brand names at all, and yet, they are LTM lenses, and they were next to nothing on eBoy. One of the things on my 'to-do' list is to write a perl script that runs on my linux box and searches eBoy for me, using my super-secret criteria. And no, it is NOT like those canned eBoy scripts or third-party things. I'm talking heuristics, baby. Advanced AI and learning functions. Super geek. Geekus prime.

Not that they're all great lenses - they're not. But fun to play with. And if you never use a bad one, how do you know what a good one looks like?

Favorite sleeper (which people are starting to wake up to) is A. Schacht Travenar series (black, not chrome). Nice lenses. Described in various books as 'awful' but they're not. Not, not, not. They're great. But I'm glad everyone thinks they suck - more for me.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

PS - Currently, I am on the hunt for two lenses that were reviewed in Modern Photography in May and June of 1955. One is a Fujinon 55mm f1.2, and the other is a Fujinon 35mm f2. Both in LTM, I have photos and published reviews of both of them, and I've seen them advertised in the back pages of late 1950's camera magazines - but I've never seen one in real life. More rare than the Zunow 1.1, I think. But I keep looking.
 
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Hello Bill,

Guilty as charged, I got that lens. Thanks for the information on LTM lenses. I had seen the page that you referenced before but had not thought about it lately. I grabbed the Super Acall for the viewfinder really but am excited about trying the lens when it arrives. I'm looking for something wider than 35mm now since my shooting tends to gravitate toward wides these days.

Later,
Greg
 
Kragmeister said:
Hello Bill,

Guilty as charged, I got that lens. Thanks for the information on LTM lenses. I had seen the page that you referenced before but had not thought about it lately. I grabbed the Super Acall for the viewfinder really but am excited about trying the lens when it arrives. I'm looking for something wider than 35mm now since my shooting tends to gravitate toward wides these days.

Later,
Greg
Click to expand...

Greg,

Glad you got that lens, if anyone should get it, it should go to an RFF member. Like I said, I don't need it - far from it - but could not stand the thought that it was going unsold (until you grabbed it up). I hope it does a good job for you.

It is hard to find 3rd-party lenses for LTM wider than 35mm, but there are a few out there. Personally, I find that I never use the wide ones - 35mm is about as wide as I really want to go in most cases. I like framing tight and getting up close with a 50mm is something I enjoy - 85mm too. I prefer the Canons for those focal lengths.

Hope no one finds this offensive or controversial in any way.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
PS - Currently, I am on the hunt for two lenses that were reviewed in Modern Photography in May and June of 1955. One is a Fujinon 55mm f1.2, and the other is a Fujinon 35mm f2. Both in LTM, I have photos and published reviews of both of them, and I've seen them advertised in the back pages of late 1950's camera magazines - but I've never seen one in real life. More rare than the Zunow 1.1, I think. But I keep looking.[/QUOTE]
I remember reading about the Fujinons in this magazine, and seeing the ads, they seemed kid of interesting but I never saw one in real life though ,even at camera shows. Kevincameras had some Ltm Fujinons ,& wanted a lot of money for them. Good luck in your quest Bill.
 
xayraa33 said:
PS - Currently, I am on the hunt for two lenses that were reviewed in Modern Photography in May and June of 1955. One is a Fujinon 55mm f1.2, and the other is a Fujinon 35mm f2. Both in LTM, I have photos and published reviews of both of them, and I've seen them advertised in the back pages of late 1950's camera magazines - but I've never seen one in real life. More rare than the Zunow 1.1, I think. But I keep looking.
Click to expand...
I remember reading about the Fujinons in this magazine, and seeing the ads, they seemed kid of interesting but I never saw one in real life though ,even at camera shows. Kevincameras had some Ltm Fujinons ,& wanted a lot of money for them. Good luck in your quest Bill.[/QUOTE]

It seems strange that the Fujinon lenses, at least in the 70's, never really got their due. I didn't know they had made LTM lenses. They have gotten their due more recently, as one can note by the prices on evilbay. Still, the 50's don't go for so much, but the others certainly do.

Here was a 28mm in M42 that went fairly inexpensively (Too close to Christmas?) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7571944434&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEDW:IT&rd=1

Yashinons are in the same boat, but this M42 (admitedly something of a rarity) didn't get away cheap: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7571946799&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1 and there were LTM Yashinons as I recall. Was it LTM or Contax?
 
Mattocks & Co. ~ great lens info. This thread is a keeper for future reference. Thanks!!

Greg ~ I really like the looks of that bad boy. Congrats on a good grab. Hope it works out well for you.
 
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the common m42 Fujinons and m42 Yashinons do not bring in much money except for the super wides. the Ltm Fujinons were never big sellers in the 1950s, they were priced up there with the quality makes like Nikkor & Canon as befitted them. the Yashinon in Ltm was the 50mm f1.8 made for the Yashica (Nicca) YF and a 50mm f2.8 made for the Yashica 33 (Nicca). I will always remember turning down the offer to buy a Yashica YF with the Yashinon 50mm f1.8 , all still in their original box for $ 100.00 CAD in 1989 at the Toronto camera show..live and learn.
 
Hey Bill,

I used to like long lenses when I was using 35mm SLRs many years ago. I was told often by a professor that I should be getting so close to my subjects that I could smell their breath. When I started using RFs exclusively for 35mm a few years ago (after a 10 year hiatus) I decided to follow his advice. My normal lens is now 35mm and I use 50s if the light is too low to effectively hand hold the slower lenses.

Later,
Greg
 
Priority Mail on a Sunday? Christmas Sunday?! Well, when I went to take the dog out Xmas morning I found a package on my front doorstep, the 135mm f3.5 Super Acall arrived!

Initial impression is that it is a simple but heavily constructed lens with nice heavy chrome plating on brass. The RF coupling cam is interesting in that it is a wedge that goes in and out in a straight line to push on the RF lever in the body. It won't work on my FSUs, luckily I bought for a Bessa-R.

The bright line viewfinder is interesting. There is no magnification and it is semi-silvered on the front. I find that if I use it like a classic Voigtlaender Kontur finder and keep both eyes open it works very well. It also has parallax correction by rotating the rear of the barrel. Nice.

It also came with a factory lens hood that is also a Series VII filter holder.

Overall a pretty nice set. I'll probably take shots of the setup with a digicam soon. I'm also finishing up a roll of film in the camera so I should have shots with the lens soon. I can't wait to see what the bokeh looks like. 😀

Later,
Greg
 
I had that on watch but never bid congrats... can't wait to see some photos
 
Do you really want the Fujinon's? 😱

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7577444186&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.com/Fuji-Photo-for-...ryZ17693QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Fuji-Photo-for-...ryZ17693QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Kim

xayraa33 said:
PS - Currently, I am on the hunt for two lenses that were reviewed in Modern Photography in May and June of 1955. One is a Fujinon 55mm f1.2, and the other is a Fujinon 35mm f2. Both in LTM, I have photos and published reviews of both of them, and I've seen them advertised in the back pages of late 1950's camera magazines - but I've never seen one in real life. More rare than the Zunow 1.1, I think. But I keep looking.
Click to expand...
 
Wow! Well, I guess that's out of the question! Well, I could sell the house and we could live in a tent. Sure, the wife won't mind that at all!

Best Regards,

BIll Mattocks
 
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