What is Soligor?

Apparently they (once) made lenses to fit Nikon, as well as spot meters.

 

Did they make good prodcuts?

Soligor is a photograhics distributor in the 70s and 80s. Their lens are mostly made by their selected Japanese manufactures at the time. One example of their good product is their 135mm f2.0.

Optically the Soligor lenses were pretty good,but they were cheaply designed and put together and the sharpness went away after they were used. I would pass on a 20 yr old Soligor lens myself.

I believe you mean "Soligar." This third party lens manufacturer made lenses that competed with Vivitar back in the day. Today, comparable lines are produced by Sigma and Tamron. Generally not high-end glass.

No, SoligOr is (was) correct.

 

"Today, comparable lines are produced by Sigma and Tamron. Generally not high-end

glass."

 

Though most of the A-brands' lenses are also manufactured by those same "3rd party

manufacturers" (don't forget Tokina). On the same assembly lines. Only to different

specifications. Nikon, Canon e.a. simply outsource much of their manufacturing.

I stand corrected. I see Soligor was also a manufacturer after a little googling. Soligar was another maker. Wonder how they got such similar names. As for current manufacturing of various brands, I don't think the prior comment is wholly accurate, but that's been covered in other threads.

How about Soligor spot meters. Are those any good?

Soligor is to Allied Import-Export Corporation (later Allied Impex Corporation, later AIX) as Vivitar is to Ponder and Best (later Vivitar Corporation). Soligor and Vivitar were brand names, that's all. Allied Impex and P&B were importers/distributors of photographic equipment. Neither was ever a manufacturer, both claimed to have commissioned lens designs to be made for them under contract (Soligor C/D lenses, Vivitar Series I).

 

Some Soligor lenses were good, others not. Some Vivitar lenses were good, others not. So, Norman, if you are offered a Soligor lens and want to know if it is worth having, buy it and try it out and then you'll know. With this stuff, buy and try is the only way.

 

Old meters are a crapshoot. That one works doesn't mean that it works correctly. In their day, Soligor meters were seen as ok.

Re: the meters, I would assume that any old meter that you buy needs to be professionally calibrated. That said, I have a (professionally calibrated) Soligor Spot Sensor, and it's a great piece of equipment.

The first lens I purchased back in 1979 was a Soligor. I returned it after a week because the optical quality was so bad. Got the Nikkor 105/2.5 instead and still have it.

The meters were okay, and accurate, but not at the same ruggedness a pro might expect from a Sekonic, Gossen, or Pentax meter. I used a nice Soligor selenium meter for a lot of years without trouble.

.

 

Earlier: "... want to know if it is worth having, buy it and try it out and then you'll know. With this stuff, buy and try is the only way ..."

 

YES! YES! YES!

 

Especially with USED gear - who knows if the one sample you're looking at matches any other person's experience of another, unrelated sample. I guess this goes for NEW stuff also, eh, since magazine reviewers do NOT sample, say, 10 random items available world wide, do they? ;-)

 

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soligor

 

"... Soligor GmbH is a German MANUFACTURER of photographic equipment, optics, video surveillance equipment, and personal electronics. Founded in Stuttgart in 1968 as A.I.C. Phototechnik GmbH, the company changed its official name in 1993 to match the brand name used on its optical products. The company is currently located in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, just outside Stuttgart, in Baden-W�rttemberg ..."

 

... doesn't say much about product range or market position or market history, eh?

 

More at a Google search for [soligor history] http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGIC,GGIC:2006-38,GGIC:en&q=soligor+history

 

From http://www.ihagee.org/top02.htm#tr051

 

"... Manufacturers of lenses, [service request:]

Soligor and Vivitar T4 and TX mount lenses were both made by Tokina according to my information. A Vivitar 35-105 and 35-135 zoom lenses were made as well as 80-200. T4 mounts will work on T4 and TX lenses; however, TX mounts will not work on T4 lenses, with the exception of screw mounts. I don't think Exakta mounts were made in TX. Go to: http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/third/table1.txt (old link - try new http://medfmt.8k.com/third/cult.html ) for a list of lenses including Soligor and Vivitar ...

The lens you own was produced in 1969. Unfortunately, we have no information left for this product. Kind regards, SOLIGOR GmbH, Renate Bachmann ..."

 

Regarding Vivitar, whom Soligor and Spiratone and others hitchhiked onto, Vivitar DID hire some of the world's most free-thinking lens designers and patented some WONDERFUL designs which they put into production through various subcontractors - see http://www.uspto.gov/ for Vivitar patents over the years. Vivitar had the world's most complete line of photographic equipment from filters and lenses and cameras with wonderful flash units to developing and darkroom gear and of course, projectors, and all the tripods and other stuff in between. You could own 100% Vivitar gear and have everything you needed - no one else could say that - surely not Nikon (Tripods? Projectors? Enlargers?)! Soligor and others tended to follow on and re-label stuff that Vivitar initiated so the factories at Cosina, Kiron, Olympus, Tokina, Samyang and many others (Schneider Optik, Ozone Optical, Komine, Makinon, Asanuma, Bauer, Perkin Elmer US who made some unbeatable Vivitar mirror lenses, Chinon, Tokyo Trading, Kyoe Schoji, Hoya Optical, Polar) could keep production and profits up after fulfilling Vivitar orders. Nikon especially went crazy trying to deal with inexpensive but high quality competition from Vivitar Series 1 zoom lenses, and so Nikon lens designers left and started Kiron in response to Nikon's in-house lethargy regarding creative lens design ... unsubstantiatable rumor over the years? Join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kiron-Klub/ and find out! ;-)

 

For more on Vivitar, see http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/vivitarphotography/ :

 

"... originally named Ponder & Best, Inc., established in Los Angeles in 1938 as a distributor of photographic products. Through the years, Vivitar became a multinational manufacturing and marketing company with subsidiaries in Japan, West Germany, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland, marketing its own line of highest quality inventive (patented - see http://www.uspto.gov/) lenses, especially the Vivitar Series 1, electronic flash units, darkroom enlargers, as well as entire camera systems ranging from pocket 110-types to 35mm reflexes. Vivitar has one of the most comprehensive, extensive, complete and high quality systems of photographic products in the world - welcome to Vivitar Photography! ..."

 

So, Vivitar was NOT just a re-marketer - they actually manufactured stuff, though, yes, the stuff we most admire today may have been built by subcontractors to Vivitar's class-leading specifications.

 

However, again, there's NO WAY to predict which gear is superlative and which was nothing special, nor which is worn out or misaligned today. Regardless of comparative condition, if ANY gear has the potential to matches your needs, then:

 

... buy it and try it, and YOU TELL US!

 

Hey, it's cheap enough!

 

Basically, Norman, there are "finds" out there waiting for you to discover and appreciate, and you may find one of them to become a favorite. Me? I have a Vivitar MF 28-105mm f/2.8-3.5 Macro zoom that I love and had rebuilt by artisan Ang Nguyen at his Alpha Camera Repair (now defunct?) here in Arlington, Virginia, US and I find it a delight to use and capable of capturing satisfactorily accurate latent images. You may just do the same for yourself - let us know how it goes!

 

Click! Peter Blaise, Soligor Photographer ... and Vivitar and so on!

 

Norman, to me it was-is a good lens. I had a 200 mm back at 1973<div></div>

I have a Soligor 35-105 Macro C/D, 1:3.5, 72m filter size that came mounted on a Nikon F. On the bottom of the barrel it says lens made in Japan. I bought it from a photographer who told me he was done with this job and never going back out there. He sold me all his equipment to get plane fare. This all happened in February of 1967 which is before Soligor existed according to everything I read on the net. The lens is very high quality, all metal, very heavy, is not adapted for this camera the mount is 100% Nikon with the ever popular finger. In 1985 it was disassembled cleaned and resealed and the guy that did it wanted to buy the lens, he told me it was an excellent bit of glass and probably would last longer than I would. I have had it for 41 years and it works smoother than I do, for sure.

Bob,

 

Those are good news. Hope you to keep it working for another 50 years, at least.

 

Regards.

I used to own a Soligor 90-230mm f/4.5 T4 zoom lens mounted on a Minolta SRT-101. It was an effective and heavy lens. It was able to get me shots of celebrities like no other lens at that price at that time. I sold it around 1978 and switched to Nikon.

So sad to see so much nonsense. Soligor has been, is a German Manufacturer since 1968, Designer of Lenses. Many Soligor employees worked for Zeiss Jena, Schneider, and other German Companies. This Company is active today as I write this note. It's amazing the stories you people make up. Vivitar never made one single lens, not one ! ! ! No Flash, no Camera, no Accessory, everything was importet, When Vivitar finally had no one else to cheat, they had to give up selling Lenses ! ! ! The great Vivitar Lenses were made by Olympus, Kino Optics, Komine, Tokina, Polaris, Hoya and a couple more. Perhaps it would be best if you pick up a book from time to time and read it.

 

Every Vivitar Lens that was similar to a Soligor was in fact a loaner Design from Soligor, please get your facts straight before talking out loud. - by the way Soligor Lenses are better. Nikon is just a Copycat with a good Advertising team. They approach teachers in schools, give them free equipment and in return a teacher will tell his students that Nikon is the best, it is the sad truth, Nikon is overprized crap. One more thing - I have an Exakta TX-4 Mount, so they were made ! ! ! The TX System is also a Soligor Invention, and it was made by Tokina ! ! Soligor and Vivitar mounts are identical ! ! !<div></div>

Here is another Soligor Masterpiece which appeared 2 years later as Vivitar Model. This Lens was made by Asanuma, as later Vivitar models are made by Tokina. The Design is German ! !<div></div>

An even greater Lens, a rather ulitmate Achievment. 130mm to 650mm internal focus Super Zoom Lens - Extremely sharp & fast compared to it's Size, German Soligor Design made in Japan by . . . can anyone tell me. Well I keep looking for your answers<div></div>

Wellll, oh-kay, Mischa. Welcome aboard. Make yourself at home. It's always good to have folks so willing to share their expertise on obscure matters without resorting to haughtiness. You'll fit in nicely here I'm sure.

BTW, Mischa, you should consider writing an entry for a photo wiki. There isn't a lot of this information readily available online for Soligor. Perhaps you could gain some recognition for being the person who finally puts a stop to this dreaded ignorance about one of the world's premier photo equipment concerns.

 

Many a time I have fondled my little Soligor optical trigger for hotshoe flash units and pondered the question: "Where did you come from, my little Soligor optical trigger for hotshoe flash units?" I mean, other than the pawn shop where I bought it 10 years ago...

Vivitar, Soligor,Tamron, Komur, Accura, Aetna-Rokunar, Caspeco, Busnell, Novoflex, Telesar, Kilfirr- Zoomar, Vernon, Cambron, and Spiratone were all brand names of aftemarket lenses for 35mm slrs in the 1960's; some later too :) The 1968 date of Soligors birth is abit puzzling. I bought a 135mm F3.5 Preset Soligor from Cambridge back in 1965 for 19 dollars; it was a made in Japan; it ws a decent lens. I also bought a 28mm F3.5 Preset Soligor too'; I was terrible unless really stopped down alot. Maybe the 1968 date is like Biden saying Roosevelt got on TV when stocks tanked? Maybe Allied bought out the Soligor name from another; since there were Soligor lenses made before 1968. Most of the names listed above just rebrand lenes; Like Radio Shack has Uniden make a radioshack CB; the trim and knobs different.

In the 1960's alot of the makers made preset T mounts for all slr brands; even the more obscure brands. Thus one could buy that 135mm F3.5 or F2.8; and use it on an Alpa, Exakta, Petri, Miranda, Konica, Sears, Practica; Penticon, Kodak, Ricoh, Kowa,Olympus Pen,Mamiya, Exa, Topcon, Yashica, Praktina etc slr. <BR><BR>Some other brands of 35mm slr aftermarket lense hawked in the 1960's were Sigma, Tannar, Angeniux, Steinheil, even Zeiss too like the 58mm F2 Zeiss Biotar.

<p>Wow, I expected to see more professional comments on this sight. Make the point but do it in a way that doesn't belittle another.<br>

There must be more than one Soligor company, since I bought a 200mm f2.8 in 1966. It still serves as a paperweight. And, for Nikon, they have made numerous lenses for 35mm makers such as Canon, medium format lenses for Bronica and even large format lenses which Professionals use and appreciate.<br>

Every maker makes good and poor lenses and surely each needs an assist from other makers from time to time. As for Vivitar, I have several series one lenses which are very good, but not the best I've used. if they were made to specs from Soligor or by Soligor, it doesn't impress The best ever? that title would go to some Leicas, some Leitz, Alphas and a few others. As yet, in my reading, Soligor has yet to be included.<br>

I have a russian Vega which is too sharp and a second russian lens which is pure junk.One new lens from Tokina arrived with an unglued element. Tamron would be prefered, I believe. Seldom does these cheaper lenses find themselves on my cameras. For film, the lens is the first consideration, so it must be trusted. It really doesn't take a gaggle of lenses to be sucessful, rather understanding the ability of the focal length used. I've had people claim how poorly some euipment is made. This is from every maker, when the problem lies with the user-go figure!<br>

The lenses from Soligor and Vivitar are all for Nikon and as one should expect the mounts of Soligor and Vivitar are identical. What is the point?<br>

It's disconcerting to read the type of postings that deny someone else their opinion. It would be benificial to see some of the articles that states the things in the pro-Soligor gentleman's postings as opposed to photos of lenese and out dated cameras.</p>

<p>I see that you're relatively new here John. Before you get too flustered, the only posts above that you're referring to are by one person whose 3 nuggets of delight (all in a row) are the only "contributions" that M.L. has made to this illustrious site. </p>