Konica and bellows

<p>Recently picked up a 105mm Konica bellows lens, complete with the bellows, so I have just taken some pics in the backyard with a roll of Fuji 200 to see how it went.<br>

The bellows unit is quite huge, and beautifully made, with smooth adjustments. The 105mm is very sharp as you would expect, and the only problem was flare with the single coated Hexanon, so you have to be careful with bright light sources. Otherwise the contrast and colour saturation are excellent..a worthy addition to my Konica colection.<br>

Here is the beast.</p><div></div>

<p>Another</p><div></div>

<p>A few pics.</p><div></div>

<p>2.</p><div></div>

<p>3.</p><div></div>

<p>4.</p><div></div>

<p>5.</p><div></div>

<p>6.</p><div></div>

<p>7.</p><div></div>

<p>That's it folks, scanned from Fuji Superia 200 on an Epson V750.</p>

<p>Beautiful work Tony. They don't make equipment like that anymore. Solid, substantial and smooth.</p>

<p>Damn wonderful.</p>

<p>I have two of these lenses and one Auto Helicoid. I don't believe the lens is single coated. The front element smply is not recessed very deeply. A lens hood can be helpful in these stuations. Usng a bellows with a camera which has a microprism and/or split image focusing screen can be tedious. I have an FT-1 and a T2 which have Nikon E (grid type) screens. This makes focusing a lot easier. The same company which make the Konica Auto Belllows and Bellows III also made the Soligor Multiflex bellows. I was missing the focusing rail for a long time and finally found a Soligor rail which fits perfectly. The 105/4 is a decent lens even if it is a little dim to focus. </p>

<p>Thanks folks, the outfit can be a bit hard to focus, although the micro-prism on the T still works with this lens. I have a later 55mm 3.5 macro that is multicoated with more contrast, but I prefer the bokeh and longer working distance with the 105.</p>

Great work. Thanks for sharing.

<p>The 105/4 is also multicoated. Some multicoatings work better than others. By the time the 105 appeared Konica was on at least its third version of multicoating. You need to go back more than forty years to find Hexanon lenses in AR mount without multicoating.</p>

<p>Thanks Jeff, the simple blue coating just looks like single coating, and it does flare a lot for a multi-coated lens.</p>

<p>Nice photos, Tony, especially number 4. But what struck me as odd, was that these bellows look almost exactly the same as my Fujica bellows for the Fujica X mount. The knobs, the plates for the lens mount and the camera mount, the rails (although mine directly mount to a tripod, without the focusing rail) all look exactly the same. Even the nameplate's location and shape is identical, although mine says "Fujica; Fuji photo film Japan". Could these be re-badged bellows from the same manufacturer, only with different lens mounts? Sounds strange to me.</p>

Not so strange, perhaps. Many camera manufacturers outsourced the manufacture of system parts.<br>Karl Müller, a.k.a. Novoflex, made bellows (and other parts) for many brands, including Minolta, Topcon, Canon, Nikon, Bolex, Alpa, Pentax and quite a few more.

<p>Wonderful, close and far. A bouquet for sure.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>