Is it a lens made by other company for horseman(like rodenstock makes caltar for calumet)?

Aaron

-- Aaron Rocky (ar7786@hotmail.com), November 24, 1999

Answers

Topcon has been making lenses a long time, made lenses sold under the Calumet Caltar brand for a while, and apparently now really specializes in medical/industrial equipment. I wouldn't assume a Topcor isn't good without trying it.

I believe Horseman and Topcon are owned by the same individual; that's why Topcon Topcor lenses for little Horseman cameras.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), November 24, 1999.

The Japanese firm of Komamura Photographic Co. Ltd. is the maker of Horseman and Topcon insturments. The last line of lenses I'm aware they marketed were the Super ER series, ranging in focal length from 65mm to 180mm and the LF Topcor series which span 90mm to 300mm. The ER's were designed for their VH medium format technical camera and the Topcors were made for the 4x5 format. Some of the Topcors were available with Prontor Pro shutters. A few of the ER lenses actually covered 4x5, but only barely, so movements would be quite restricted on the front standard. Only the 300mm LF Topcor coveres 8x10, a format of camera they also produce(d). One other interesting optical item they made was a universal tele-extender that could be screwed onto the rear cell of their 150mm to give the equivelent of 300mm albeit at a loss of 2 f stops! With the appropriate adapter ring, you could use in on a number of Schneider, Fujinon, Nikkor or Rodenstock 150's as well. This device, having needing only about 60% of the bellows draw of a normal formula 300mm, would enable using that focal length with their compact 45FA camera. Hope this answers your questions about Horseman and Topcon.

-- Robert A. Zeichner (razeichner@ameritech.net), November 25, 1999.

With reference to the x2 extender, I am quite sure that these are still imported (in the U.K.) by Robert White (www.robertwhite.co.uk) and work on any 150mm lens with a max aperture of 5.6 or wider. Give him a try for anything Horseman !!

-- Paul Owen (paul@paulowenphotography.freeserve.co.uk), November 25, 1999.

The Horseman 2X LF Teleconverter 150-300 was a nice addition to my VH- R kit. It performs quite well as long as you remember to allow for the extra exposure. I forgot a few times! To gain a bit more speed and for ease of use I retired it in favor of a 300M Nikkor.

-- Garrett Adams (gadams@jps.net), November 25, 1999.

I have a 10.5cm Super Topcon PS lens which I think is a quite rare 5x4 lens made around 1981.

Tony

-- Tony Smith (tsmith1916@aol.com), March 04, 2002.