JC Penney 135mm f2.8 lens made by whom?

<p>I recently adopted a 135mm f2.8 Pentax mount lens. The lens says JC Penney. The theta symbol is a bit odd in that the bisecting line is straight up and down. The lens has a integral pull out metal len hood. It takes a 55mm filter. The focusing barrel tapers down just a bit to the aperture ring. The lens has six aperture blades. The lens is made in Japan. The focusing scale is from 1.5 meter to infinity and minimum aperture is f22. I believe the lens was made by Ricoh. Can any of you Pentaxians identify the parent company of this lens?</p><div></div>

<p>Another view.</p><div></div>

<p>The back side.</p><div></div>

<p>Photo</p><div></div>

<p>Pentax had a deal with JC Penny and some other department store chains some years ago; who specifically made it, I don't know. I would imagine that it would be a Chinese factory under contract with Pentax. It'll probably fit, and probably work; primary benefit will be from direct use. That is, they're not going to be super-rare; they're not much discussed, I don't guess; but, I don't see why using it would really be any less than any other. Fire that puppy up and shoot some negs with it. </p>

<p>Okay, if the thing says, "Made in Japan," it's made in Japan. My flub, there. But, anyway, these department store deals were common. I think most every store in the 1980s had one; now that you mention it, I don't think that sort of thing is done with as much frequency these days. I don't know, I hadn't thought about it. </p>

<p>Overall, I'd rate it as Pentax, and drive on.</p>

<p>I don't have that particular lens, but I have a different JC Penny's and Sears Lenses. There is some purple fringing and the like, but my Sears 200mm f4.0 lens will remain in my collection until I truly get something better. I agree with John, forget who made it and just enjoy shooting the heck out of it.</p>

<p>Not that this necessarily has any relevance on quality or desirability but I'm going to guess the lens was made by someone other than Pentax only because as far as I know, Pentax has never released anything with a 55mm filter ring. They usually jump from 52 to 58, and even 52's aren't super-common historically in Pentax-land.</p>

<p>Looking at who did sell K-mount in 55mm, Tokina, Vivitar, and Soligor did (there may be more). My understanding is that Vivitar usually contracted with others to make their lenses, not sure about Soligor. Since Tokina has been known to produce lenses for others, I'm going to guess that there's a fair chance that lens was made in a Tokina factory.</p>

<p>If the lens is an A lens, it might be Cosina.</p>

<p>My Dad had a 135mm PKA JC Penney that I am "fairly" certain was a Cosina made lens. I am not sure how I came to this conclusion but somehow I did. If I'm wrong I'd love to know.</p>

<p>I'll disagree with John Odom in that it's not a chinese knockoff. Actually, I never used this lens on digital, but on film it was a VERY nice lens. I never pixel peeped but I had a few slightly larger prints I know where definitely made with this lens, and both wide open and stopped down I liked it (again assuming it is the exact same lens, the # markings look slightly different, and you don't mention it being an A mount). This lens and a few other low cost primes produced a portfolio that got me my first photography job!</p>

<p>As far as Vivitar, they designed the designs for the lenses, but I do not believe they ever had their own production plant. Vivitar (if my history is correct) was actually the first design company to use CAD to produce optics. This is why their zooms and primes were among the very best for that era, and actually still hold there own as cult classics today.</p>

<p>Sakar just bought the intellectual rights to Vivatar property, including the designs for their lenses. One can only hope Sakar intends to start manufacturing possibly updated (coatings??) for digital Series 1 and non series 1 lenses by vivitar. I'd personally be happy with a digitally coated, "A" series Vivitar MF lens lineup. Make em in China, Korea, Vietnam, or (gasp) even the USA and sell them for about or less than the Cosina/Voigtlander series and you'll have a winner.</p>

<p>I have a Samyang 28mm 2.8 PKA that is a well built lens and has suffered a lot of abuse. If Samyang could be contracted out to produce the Series 1 "D" lenses by Sakar, I think build to cost ratio would be very nice favorable!</p>

<p>John,<br>

I don't know who was the OEM for that lens, but I enjoyed the Google search. What is fascinating to me is that there were JP Penny-branded lenses for Pentax, Nikon, and Olympus mounts at least. The idea that a catalog house/retail store that I now associate with clothing offered such a diverse line of photo gear is slightly mind boggling.</p>

<p>ME</p>

<p>My Dad got his K1000 and several lens kit, including a flash at JC Penney in the early 1980s. It was after a lot of his photogear and other stuff was stolen during a house break-in.</p>

<p>I remember the photo center at Penney's was actually very large, like a camera store and really impressive.</p>

<p>That 135 PKA was/is a nice lens, I have seen very few of them over the years in the KA mount!</p>

<p>I have a JC Penney 28-80 f/2.8 zoom I bought along with an A3000 when JCP was getting out of the camera business in the early '80's. I used it almost exclusively when shooting with the A3000 until I went digital. It produced some fine shots. I haven't really tried it on the K10 or 20D.<br /> <img src="http://wtlwdwgn.smugmug.com/photos/442343472_EGpEe-M.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="402" /></p>

<p>It looks very much like a bottom-end budget <em>Makinon </em> sold in the UK in the 80's. I inherited one, and found it to be of average quality' It's probably in my junk box now. It amazes me how budget lenses similar to this are 'talked-up' nowadays.</p>

<p>At that time there were dozens of lens makers in Japan. The UK importers rarely discussed who made what in those days, so here we had many store brands selling the same lenses (around 20 independent brands in 1984 according to adverts in Camera Weekly mag.) Of course, not all were as good as Tokina, Tamron or Komine; indeed most were (almost by definition) simply 'average' and priced accordingly.</p>

<p>After doing more research I'm 98% sure this lens was made by Chinon. The font used for the markings on this lens is somewhat unusual and matches what Chinon used on their lenses. We did some comparitive tests against a Pentax 135mm f2.8 and it performed quite well. We used a 6 mgpxl *ist D. On a higher megapixel SLR there I'm sure there will be a greater difference. </p>

<p> I've been searching for the same thing for a couple of years now, and I finally found it today!!! <br>

It's definitely a Makinon. I found an auction on ebay.be for a Makinon lens that definitely matches. They are the only third party manufacturer with the slope on the back of the barrel like this. If you are quick, you may find the auction still up, but it ended March 8th. If not, I poached the picture. Here is the item number:<br>

<a href="http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/Mint-Makinon-Auto-Multi-Coated-2-8-135mm-Pentax-PK_W0QQitemZ220370607102QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_123?hash=item220370607102&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1399|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318">220370607102</a><br>

Dean</p>

<p>Thanks Dean. I've never heard of Makinon before.</p>

<p>One of the many Japanese lens makers. Makina Optical Ltd. If your Vivitar lens serial number starts with 32xxx , you have a Makinon.<br /> Dean</p>

<p>i got one of these with my minolta xg1.</p>

<p>I Just got a Jc penney 135mm F2.8 (for Minolta) brand new in box, and box says "made in Korea" </p>