Pekka Buttler, 12/2025
Introduction
Komine was a relatively small but high‑quality Japanese OEM lens maker best known today for producing many of the more desirable Vivitar, Soligor and Panagor lenses in the 1970s–1980s.
Vivitar (Ponder & Best) and Soligor (Allied Impex) list ‘Komine’ as one of their key manufacturers of lenses, which likely refers to Komine Company, Ltd of Japan.
Komine Company Ltd.
Based on openly accessible sources, very little can be said about the company. It seems to have had its operations in the Shinagawa, Tokyo, and at least at some stage the company president was Majiro Komine (Komine is a relatively common Japanese surname). Public sources about the company seem to end at the end of the 1980s. Some sources speculate about bankruptcy being the cause of the company’s disappearance.
Komine seems to have produced lenses to be sold only under other brands and the co-operation between Komine and Vivitar is well documented but Komine also manufactured lenses to be sold under the Soligor and Panagor brands. Unlike many other Japanese lens makers, Komine never got around to trying to launch their own brand, but according to trademark office filings in several countries1 the company was considering to launch their own ‘Minec’ brand
Komine lenses on JAPB:
- Vivitar 35 mm f/1.9 [data sheet] [walk-around]
- Vivitar 90 mm f/2.8 Macro [data sheet]
- Vivitar 135 mm f/2.8 [data sheet]
- Vivitar 200 mm f/3.5 [data sheet]
Back to the listing of all JAPB company profiles
Footnotes
- At least Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan… ↩︎