More Soligor

I've been using my new Soligor 135mm f2.0 quite a bit recently and have been pleasantly surprised by the results.

When researching the lens before actually nabbing one, I saw many complaints of flare problems. The lens has a pale straw coloured coating that does not look like it would be too effective, but I have not had any flare problems to date. I did fit a a metal tele hood to the lens as the built-in lens hood is only 16mm deep, I suspect that the built-in hood is the cause of other folk's flare problems as it is really not effective and probably lulls them into a false sense of security.

Above "stereokeh" pic taken with Sony a7rII, f2, 800 ISO.

I have a thing for fast 135mm's and one oddity with the Soligor was its cleanliness, there was zero dust or debris inside the lens. Every other "vintage" 135mm I've got had to be stripped right down for cleaning; the Sigmatel, in particular, had a huge lump of stuff between the elements, and I never did find where it came from, or how something that big got in there in the first place.

The 1970's seem to have been the boom decade for fast 135mm's and sure enough, the Soligor hails from 1974. It is much sharper and more contrasty than the Soligor 135mm f1.8, the Sigmatel f1.8 and the Spiratone Plura-Coat f1.8, and is about on par with the Rokunar (Spiratone) f1.8, the Canon FD f2 beats all these. Or at least, that's what I found comparing the copies of these lenses that I have/had.

I think that this one is defintely a keeper!

Nice!
Unfortunately after trying the newer Samyang 135/2.0 you will forget about all the old 135mm..... (-:)
That thing is so incredibly sharp and without C.A. already at f/2.0!
Well, I am keeping the Minolta 135/2.8 MD-III also. One less aperture, not as good but one of the best legacy 135, and half the weight of the Samyang.

Interesting - but I suppose that's only true if you get a good copy... Samyang (though it was another lens and several years back to be fair) is the only manufacturer, where I got two new copies of a lens which were so bad in terms of CA that I immediately returned them and never tried another one. It's quite possible that I just had very bad luck though... 😓

Errr..... no.

I have a Sigma 135mm f1.8 ART, for a long time this was the best lens that Photozone had ever tested. Incredible sharpness and contrast, and they raved about the bokeh...

.. and it's even got AF.

I hardly ever use it, I find the bokeh bland and boring, and that is the bit I am after.

Conversely, my ancient Soligor, Rokunar, etc. 135mms get a lot of use, because they have bokeh that I like. I really don't care about them being MF and not ultimately sharp.

Definitely a case of :- "never mind the definition, feel the bokeh".

Great to hear you're enjoying the look of some older lenses as well! My modern AF lenses are quite disappointed as well with how little use they get... 😅

BTW. I've recently started a thread here about Your favorite projection lenses and because I've seen some of your great shots with wonderful Taylor Hobson and other projection lenses, I would really appreciate your contribution there, if you can think of a couple you'd consider interesting!