Data sheet: Soligor 135 mm f/2.8

Pekka Buttler, 09/2026

Specifications

The table below summarises the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured, M42 mount sample):

Brand:	Soligor	Lens name	Tele-Auto 1:2.8 f=135mm
Focal length(s) 1	135 mm	Angle-of-view 2	18 °
Maximum Aperture	f/2.8	In Production	early 1970s
Lens mounts (this lens)	M42	Other lens mounts3	Canon FD, Canon FL, Nikon F, Minolta SR
Length 4	83,9 mm	Diameter 5	66,9 mm
Filter ring diameter	55 mm	Weight	395 grams
Lens element count	unknown	Lens group count	unknown
Aperture blades (S/R/C) 6	8 S	Focus throw	230 °
Minimum focusing distance (measured)	162 cms	Maximum magnification (measured)	1:10,0
Has manual aperture ring	YES	Has manual focus ring	YES
Aperture mechanism type	Automatic/manual	Aperture click stops 7	2.8•4•5.6•8•11•16-22

Further notes:
• It is important to remember that Soligor (a brand of the Allied Impex Corp) was not a lens manufacturer, but a marketing&sales organisation and that all ‘Soligor’ lenses were manufactured by various Japanese optics companies, including both well-known names such as Tokina, Tamron and Kowa, as well as less well-known companies such as Kobori, Kyoei Acall and Itoh (for a full list of Soligor lens makers, see the Allied Impex company profile.
• Throughout the decades when Allied Impex / Soligor was most active (1960s and 70s), Soligor sold a wide range of 135 mm primes with maximum apertures ranging from f/1.8, f/2.5, f/2.8 to f/3.5. Of these, the 135 mm f/2.8 designs were most numerous.
• As indicated by this lens’ serial number, this lens is manufactured by Tokina.

• During this era, Tokina manufactured the fundamentally same lens for Tokina in a wide range of fixed mounts (including Canon FD, Canon FL, M42, Minolta SR, Nikon F) as well as using the T4 intermediate mount. That T4-mount makes it possible for you to find this lens with a very wide range of mounts.

• This M42 mount lens also offers a ring for changing between manual and auto aperture as well as a decently–sized integrated lens hood with felt lining.

Versions

First, I have yet not stumbled upon this lens carrying any other brands than Soligor, meaning that it seems to be a design that Tokina reserved for Soligor.

Second, as already pointed out, this lens exists in both fixed mount versions as well as using the T4 intermediate mount (which means a substantially different rear end of the lens).

There are also clearly several design iterations of this lens, and especially the fixed mount version of this lens seems to also exist in an all-black design.

Adapting

Adapting Minolta SR mount lenses

This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Minolta SR (SR/MC/MD/X-600) film camera. Luckily these are quite easy to find. To use the lens’ full designed capabilities, a Minolta MD-compatible body (any Minolta SR body launched after 1977) is most recommended..

Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable adapter. Moreover, a simple ‘dumb adapter’ will do the job perfectly. Thanks to the popularity of the Minolta SR mount, the availability of adapters to all mirrorless mounts can be taken for granted, on the other hand, specialist adapters (speed boosters, helicoid adapters, tilt/shift adapters) are not available for all mirrorless mounts, but daisy-chaining adapters (e.g. Minolta SR -> Canon EF; Canon EF –> mirrorless) can offer a work-around.

Using Minolta SR mount lenses on dSLRs is also be an option, but it is not trouble-free due to that the Minolta SR mount’s flange focal distance is shorter than that of any dSLR mount (technically with the exception of Olympus’ four thirds mount). Hence, any attempt at adapting Minolta SR lenses must rely on an adapter that uses corrective optics to allow infinity focus. However, such adapters are readily available.

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. JAPB is here listing only those mounts that we have seen with our own eyes, but other period-typical mount versions can also have existed. ↩︎
4. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
5. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
6. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
7. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎