An ode to my first 58mm f/1.2 Minolta Rokkor and a hello to a my new Frankenstein Rokkor:

I have been a self-confessed Rokkor addict since this lens got in my hands this spring. It rarely leaves my 5D. Only my Zeiss 35 1.4 sometimes get to take its place.

But a month ago I slipped, fell and smashed my laptop and bent the hell out of my Rokkor which was hanging off my shoulder attached to my 5D. The lens front went straight down on pure concrete and bent the filter threads and the entire front inwards toward the glass. I could not turn the focus ring as it was bent as well as internal parts, but somehow the front glass escaped the crash without a blemish. After much bending with pliers etc I got things back in usable shape. But everything was offset with a tiny bit, deformations everywhere internally and externally. At certain distances I could not get sharp focus anymore for reasons I dont understand, but continued to use it with itīs newfound limitations. However I had two more Rokkors sitting at home just for this event: One old metal version and a newer rubber grip version.
After much trial and error, I now have a 900 dollar Frankenstein Rokkor. The shim, rear glass holder, drilled adapter and lens cap comes from my original. The rear lens group assembly comes from the rubber grip version. This rear group actually has some different designs than the metal ones, but they are still interchangable. The rest is the 2nd metal copy. I have cleaned the 2nd metal copy of heavy internal fungus, used isopropanol to get oil off the blades on two copies, put a thin double layer of electrical tape between the lens itself and the shim to build back out to infinity focus on the Frankenstein which had a difference in distances, and I spent the last two night testing and building and rebuilding the lenses in various combinations.
I have tried most available combinations of elements from the three lenses as well as simply using the two other lenses "untouched" with the shim and mount from the original, but for various reasons they were not happy campers individually. The rear glass on the 2nd metal copy was very damaged from cleaning, the rubber one was clearly not as sharp as the metal ones. Wide open it was ghosty and simply not sharp. Interestingly enough the rubber one completely cleared my mirror at infinity. The Frankenstein Rokkor reaches the mirror with a hairīs width, but no big problem. But now I have a perfectly working, sharp rokkor again. And I wish to say - all the work and cost is worth it :-)


Edited by ovredal73 on Sep 08, 2008 at 11:22 PM GMT

Let's see it!
Glad you were able to get it back up and running.

IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!!

I like my Rokkor quite a bit, but not $900 quite a bit. Glad you have a working lens again, but that's quite the amount of work!

Haha. I will take some pics of it maybe tomorrow as well as post a couple of shots of the damaged one.

Quite a story. Not sure if I should laugh or cry. Can't wait to see the photos

Your horror story reminds me of the shot I took yesterday when I was out with the young ladies to accompany their shopping down at Manhattan, of course I brought the Rokkor with me.

I call the shot "1 to 3", or "1 2 3" if you feel like. Please excuse the motion blur, I took it when we were taking the subway.

Years ago, i purchased a new SRM, with 85MM lens, from i believe Olden camera, in NYC. While shoppin at a JCPennys, in Mesa, AZ, i spotted the 1.2 lens in their camera counter case. When asked about it, i was told it had been special order, and the customer never came back. So it was mine for about $40, or so. I had it for several years , until i parted with the SRM. I liked it a lot, and used it at weddings, night drag racing. Whe i took that stupid battery handle off the SRM, put on the F1.2-the balance and feel were terrific. Yesterday, at a Lions club garage sale i picked up a jamed SRT 101 and three Minolta lenses. If interested, send me an Email for descriptions.
Cheers
Harry

I have a 58mm here with missing rear glass and retainer, bent front ring (but filter goes on), missing spring and ball for aperture. I thought about selling it for parts, but decided to keep it if I need the parts myself later, or If I wanted to get my Rokkor back to org minolta mount. The 58 I use is Rokkor-x with rubber grip, the damaged one is old Rokkor PG. I have thought about changing the front elements many times to see if maybe I can get some super awsome Rokkor that is super sharp in foscus and melted butter bokeh in the off areas. I think I am dreaming though.

Christopher, my combined version seems to be as sharp as my first copy, however there was some extreme ghosting in reflected highlights in a test shot earlier this evening. I will try to provoke this problem in other shooting conditions before hopping around.

Leon, nice shot, and I hope you are right Will try to take some decent shots tomorrow and post them in addition to the shots of the lens.

Good job!

When I was rebuilding a 60's vintage Minolta TLR camera this winter I talked extensively with a pro service guy that specializes in these cameras. He said never to mix and match lens groups from one lens to another. When Minolta collimated the lens at the factory it was adjusted as a complete lens and changing lens groups will change the collimation. If you are mixing lens groups you may also have to consider re-collimating.

tm

well I thought i was dreaming. Not a big deal, I got this on ebay and it was using a very very nice srt 101 as a rear lens cap, but he had it listed as a 1.4, and even though picture was not the best I noticed the silver ring was to the inside of the lettering on the front, and knew it was a f/1.2 and made an offer which he accepted and got it for song. Although the lens was damaged, it help me restore another 58mm that I found almost new in box, with a bent filter ring. I wish I had scanned or taken photos of the user manual, just did not cross my mind until I had it sold and shipped. I really wanted to see what the user manual stated as the correct hood. Maybe I could email the guy and just ask.

tmessenger wrote:
When I was rebuilding a 60's vintage Minolta TLR camera this winter I talked extensively with a pro service guy that specializes in these cameras. He said never to mix and match lens groups from one lens to another. When Minolta collimated the lens at the factory it was adjusted as a complete lens and changing lens groups will change the collimation. If you are mixing lens groups you may also have to consider re-collimating.

tm


That's good to know. However, if you were to get two damaged lenses cheaply enough, it's only around $100 or so to have a complete calibration. Then you have a lens that's dead-on, something you can't be sure of with any used lens no matter how good the condition, and it will be 100% dust-free as well.

Definitely worth considering.