Data sheet: Miranda Auto 135 mm f/3.5 (for Automex and Sensorex)

Pekka Buttler, 06/2026

Pictured: Auto Miranda 135 mm f/3.5

Specifications

The table below summarises the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on sample pictured above):

Brand:MirandaLens name1:3.5 f=135mm Auto
Focal length(s)1135 mmAngle-of-view264 °
Maximum Aperturef/3.5In Production1966–74 (this version)
Lens mount (this lens)MirandaMount subtypeAutomex/Sensorex
(Auto aperture and external
aperture coupling arm)
Length394,4 mmDiameter457,4 mm
Filter ring diameter46 mmWeight377 grams
Lens element count4Lens group count3
Aperture blades (S/R/C)56 SFocus throw300 °
Minimum focusing distance
(measured)
152 cmsMaximum magnification
(measured)
1:8,9
Has manual aperture ringYESHas Manual focus ringYES
Aperture mechanism typeAutomaticAperture click stops 6none

Other notes:
• If you want to use a lens hood with this lens, any tele lens hood using a 46 mm filter thread will work nicely.

Left: Miranda Auto 135 mm f/3.5 focused at inifinty
Right: Miranda Auto 135 mm f/3.5 focused at MFD

Historical notes:
• Miranda was – in its heyday – an advanced Japanese camera manufacturer. You can read more about Miranda camera in the JAPB company profile on Miranda camera.
• At this stage Miranda was offering two families of technologies: bodies that used an external aperture coupling arm to communicate the selected aperture to a compatible body (automex series and sensorex series) and bodies that in no way communicated the selected aperture to the camera body that relied on stop-down metering (f-series, g-series and sensomat-series). In many sources these are abbreviated and called the ‘sensorex’ and ‘sensomat’ series respectively.
• These pictured samples are for use with Automex/Sensorex cameras, but the same-era lenses for the f-series, g-series and sensomat-series rarely differ substantially.

• Importantly, Miranda was a camera manufacturer and not a lens manufacturer. This mean that from early on, Miranda cameras came equipped with various brands of lenses, including some rather prominent manufacturers such as Kowa and Zunow.
• Lenses branded as “Miranda” or “Soligor Miranda” were not manufactured by Miranda, but were sourced from other manufacturers and branded ‘Miranda’. Most often these lenses were sourced from Miranda’s long-time partner (and later: owner) Soligor (Allied Impex Corporation). Hence, the actual manufacturer of “Miranda” lenses is most often impossible to discern with certainty.

Versions/variants

The table below summarises the development of Miranda 135 mm f/3.5 lenses. (Underlined data is based on measurements, other data is based on Miranda documentation.)
For more information on generations of Miranda lenses, see the Miranda lens compendium.

Mainline specYearsGenerationRecipeMFDFilterLengthDiameterWeightNotes
135 mm f/3.51959M/Punknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
135 mm f/3.51960–64unknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
135 mm f/3.51960–64M/P5 eunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
135 mm f/3.51960–64unknown6 eunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
135 mm f/3.5unknownPAD4e / 4g1,8 munknownunknownunknownunknown
135 mm f/3.51963–68F-G-MAT4e / 3g1,5 m46 mm95 mm58 mm411 g
135 mm f/3.51968–1972F-G-MAT4e / 3g1,5 m46 mm94 mm60 mm410 g
135 mm f/3.51966–74MEX-REX4e / 3g1,52 m46 mm94 mm57 mm377 g(this lens)
135 mm f/3.51972–76E4e / 3g1,51 m52 mm94 mm59 mm413 g[data sheet]
135 mm f/3.51974–76DUAL4e / 3g1,5 m52 mm95 mmunknown400 g

Adapting

This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Miranda Camera film body. While this lens will mount on any Miranda camera that uses the Miranda mount, its automatic aperture stop-down will work only on Miranda bodies after the Miranda F (launched 1963). For the aperture communication arm to be able to communicate aperture values, this lens needs to be mounted on an Automex or Sensorex series body.

Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable adapter. However, Miranda adapters are not as easily available as adapters for many other legacy era camera mounts, nor is there a wide variety of specialist adapters.

Using Miranda lenses on dSLRs is a theoretical possibility. Thanks to the relatively short flange focal distance of the Miranda mount (at 41,5 mm, clearly shorter than that of any full-frame dSLR mount), any adapter will necessitate some corrective optics to achieve infinity focus.

Footnotes

  1. Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
  2. Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
    > 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
    70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
    50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
    40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
    20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
    10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
    5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
    < 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎
  3. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at its shortest. ↩︎
  4. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
  5. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
  6. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.