Has anyone tried the Sankyo-Kohki W-Komura f=28mm 1:3.5?

Yes, I have one - I bought it very cheaply because the rear element was covered in fungus.  It is easy to work on and cleaned up well, but the rear element will never be truly good.  Nevertheless it makes reasonable images.  Perhaps a perfect one would be worth the type of money that they tend to sell for.  I generally like Komuras as a brand.

Lloyd B wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Yes, I have one - I bought it very cheaply because the rear element was covered in fungus. It is easy to work on and cleaned up well, but the rear element will never be truly good. Nevertheless it makes reasonable images. Perhaps a perfect one would be worth the type of money that they tend to sell for. I generally like Komuras as a brand.

Hello Tom, thanks. I saw one lens selling for $46. It is intact, old, but clean. I just dont know it it will work well with my Pana bodies, eg.GX7.

Mind if I ask for some of your picture taken with the 28mm. Thanks again Tom.

Simple answer - if you don’t want it then I will buy it! - have you seen the regular asking prices for this lens?  I have so many lenses and am not a regular note-taker that identifying old images back to lens is impossible.  I will try and find time to take some more images, but in general terms this is a good lens and even mine with a shot rear element is reasonably good.

Lloyd B wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Lloyd B wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Yes, I have one - I bought it very cheaply because the rear element was covered in fungus. It is easy to work on and cleaned up well, but the rear element will never be truly good. Nevertheless it makes reasonable images. Perhaps a perfect one would be worth the type of money that they tend to sell for. I generally like Komuras as a brand.

Hello Tom, thanks. I saw one lens selling for $46. It is intact, old, but clean. I just dont know it it will work well with my Pana bodies, eg.GX7.

Mind if I ask for some of your picture taken with the 28mm. Thanks again Tom.

Simple answer - if you don’t want it then I will buy it! - have you seen the regular asking prices for this lens? I have so many lenses and am not a regular note-taker that identifying old images back to lens is impossible. I will try and find time to take some more images, but in general terms this is a good lens and even mine with a shot rear element is reasonably good.

LOL, yeah I was really thinking that you will buy this one if you have the chance to
Thank you Tom. I'm not really sure how much is the regular price. This lens has a mark "UNI AUTO." Don't know what it means or its significance though. Any idea?

If it is what I think it is now it is not the lens that I thought it was.  This is the same lens formula as the well sought after quite small RF lens in ltm mount. That lens fetches reasonably serious money for one in good condition. The “Uni Auto” as far as I know was a patent Komura exchangeable mount format for slr lenses - these are not nearly so well regarded and are not worth a lot.  I don’t think that I have a Uni Auto type lens in my collection.

Lloyd B wrote:

kuuan wrote:

the uni-auto have exchangable SLR mounts, concept similar to Tamron Adaptall.

mine is a Uni-Auto SLR lens, not a RF lens Tom mentions. Imo a good lens nevertheless but not same collectors value as the rarer LTM.

Thanks kuuan. You have a point, I had the feeling that this is not at the level of what Tom have, comparing the price of $46 dollars to that of a “close your eyes” price LTM lens. Would love to try it on my GF1 I recently hacked though, old camera plus an older lens. But, yeah, will just wait for another komura.

I have bought quite a few Komura lenses recently.  I feel that they are an unappreciated brand generally.  They range in price from sky-high for the rare fringe ones with so-called Ernostar configuration to some very reasonably priced ones that I think are good value.

The issue being to get one in good condition as because they are not sought after they may well not have been well kept.  This may in fact be because the later sold Komuras (Uni-Auto?) may have been sold cheaply to clear stocks and were not bought by those who may have looked after them.  Once they come back on to the market in poor condition they get a bad reputation by those who have snapped them up just because they were cheap.

My inclination was that Komura did not deliberately down-build their product.  They did make a relative huge variety of lens types and in different mounts some of which were swappable but their similar configured lenses in LTM and SLR from were very obviously different build.  They also were a principal supplier of lenses for Bronica and I am sure Bronica’s repation would have sffered if the Komura lenses attached were not any good.  Then “how come” the crazy prices asked for the fast Komura “Ernostars” and LTM lenses?

Many Sonnar type Komuras have very stiff focus rings - luckily they are (relatively) easy to work on. Others have not been looked after in a general sense.  But well kept Komuras are a good lens to have.

The longer “LTM” mount Komuras are a special case in point as they were meant to work with a Visoflex style adapter which is as common as hen’s teeth and the commercial straight through “Visoflex” replacement tube adapter is not quite the correct length. I am still working on this issue - I have some notes lying around somewhere with the exact focal length necessary.

Best value Komura lens at the moment in my book is the 135/2.8 where you can get a Komura Ernostar/Sonnar like compact lens in very good condition if you buy carefully without paying the huge premium for (say) a 105/2.0 with exactly the same build quality.  You read it here first - get in before the rush - I bought mine early when it was still “Komura-who?”.

Lloyd B wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

It is easy to work on and cleaned up well, but the rear element will never be truly good. Nevertheless it makes reasonable images.

You cleaned the rear element? How?

I just used my little old lens spanner and took it out - in fact the LTM version of this lens is very easy to work on.  Stripped cleaned like new and put back together again.  Unfortunately it had been stored lens end up for many years in a damp dirty environment and the rear lens was etched - but hardly so that you would notice without close inspection.  It still works reasonably well but I doubt if it would match one in pristine condition.

I wold never sell it because of its history, but it did not cost that much so I don’t really care.