I have finally managed to nab a good copy of the Soligor 135mm f2, so I thought I would put one of the test images up as my first post to the group. The subject is a bit boring, but it serves to show sharpness etc., and some of the bokeh effects.
The lens has a Nikon non-AI mount which in the past has been (very skillfully) converted to AI. This lens has a mechanical design flaw that makes it prone to the filter thread holding section coming loose, depending upon the type of mount fitted, this can cause problems with aperture control. My lens had developed this fault in the past and someone had "fixed" it by squirting glue into the lens to stop the movement.
I discovered this when the glue failed as I attempted to screw a filter on, so I had to strip the front of the lens to remove the glue and make a proper repair.
Once fettled, I'm very pleased with the lens, it is quite sharp for a "3rd party" optic, although not as sharp as the Canon FD 135mm f2 from the same era (1974). The contrast is also lower than the Canon, no doubt due to the pale straw-coloured coating. Commendably, it does not show any of the "dreamy" bluriness that is common with old fast lenses at full aperture.
It is early days, but so far I see more structure in the bokeh than with the Canon,which has a very smooth texture-free rendering, so it is looking very promising.
This is a "stereokeh" image, set up for crossed-eye viewing, over the years I have posted quite a few of these to the soon-to-be-vanished DPReview Adapted Lens group, and the bods there seemed to like them.
If you can't do the ocular trick needed to view in 3D, just treat one pane as standard "flat" image.
Shot taken at f2 with a Sony a7rII.
I am not used to this method of image uploading, so I hope it works!
