# exotic lense for Nikon



## Kawaracer (Oct 23, 2014)

I have a old osawa AI lens, it's a 70-150mm f3.8 on the frontring is marked MC in green and No.5816886. It came with the Nikkormat FT3 from my dad. Does anyone know this brand and the reputation of this lense? It seems quite sharp. I Intent to use it for portraits. The funny thing is My D700 indicates F2 when the Diaphragm is open altough it is a f3.8, what may be the reason for this?
A shot of the lens






A test shot with the lense in combination with a D700


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## 480sparky (Oct 23, 2014)

I Googled Osawa a while back when I obtained one and didn't find much on the innernets about 'em.


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## Derrel (Oct 23, 2014)

Osawa lenses were a low-cost, small-label, usually sold in plain cardboard boxes in the 1970's and 1980's. One of the BIG mail-order houses from Pop Photo and Modern Photography used to sell a lot of them. I'm not sure what company or companies actually made Osawa lenses; they might have been made by one of the the 15 or so japan-based lens-making companies that made lenses for multiple "labels".

Two thoughts on the incorrect EXIF and metering with this lens: first off, Have you manually set the "NON-CPU Lens" values to an f/number and a focal length value and maximum f/stop in the D700's Custom Function menu? That might be helpful. Looking at the photo, I am wondering a bit about the Ai-indexing ridge on the lens...the marring on the metal,down to the bare aluminum, makes me think that lens was AI-converted by somebody. I cannot recall the exact "offset" of where the Ai ridge needs to be for an f/3.8 lens, but the exact placement of the ridge HAS TO BE precisely right in terms of how far over it is, based on the actual maximum f/stop. That might have been a home-done AI-conversion, or by an unskilled "repair person".


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## Derrel (Oct 23, 2014)

I searched < who made the Osawa 70-150mm f/3.8 MC lens?  >

First search response was this: 70-150_3.8

THIS one was even better!!!!

MaxG | Osawa Lenses

Osawa Lenses. SUMMARY:

J. Osawa Co. Ltd. was the world-wide distributor of Mamiya products and one of the leading trading houses for consumer products. They manufacturered their own range of fixed, zoom and macro lenses. Unfortunately, in 1984 the Osawa Co. went bankrupt.

J. Osawa & Co. Ltd. going bankrupt was one of the greatest economic failures in the Japanese history. Apparently this occasion was also the main reason for 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


Mamiya to drop their Mamiya 35 mm SLR line.

Osawa did all their own lens design, engineering, and production on the lenses that carried their name. They had quite an extensive range of superp lenses. Some of the fixed focal length lenses were:


28 mm f/2.8
28 mm f/3.5
35 mm f/2.8
50 mm f/1.4
50 mm f/2 S
50 mm f/3.5 Macro
135 mm f/2.8
135 mm f/3.5
200 mm f/4
300 mm f/4
Some of the lenses in the Osawa zoom and macro lens range were:


28–50 mm f/3.5–4.5
35–70 mm f/3.5–4.5
35–105 mm f/3.5–4.3
70–150 mm f/3.8
80–200 mm f/3.8
75–260 mm f/4.5


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## 480sparky (Oct 23, 2014)

Derrel said:


> ...........
> 
> 70–150 mm f/3.8
> ..........



70, or 75?


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## Derrel (Oct 23, 2014)

The OP's lens is clearly inscribed f=70-150mm. His is a two-ring, with one ring for focus, and another ring for zooming, whereas your lens Sparky is a 75-150mm, one-ring design. The first guy's web page shows the "Mamiya-era" two-ring zoom, like the OP has. Yours, with the one-ring design is probably a newer designed lens.

I remember Osawa lenses were sold very affordably, compared to the Nikon or Canon or even Vivitar Series 1 zooms. It's possible that the "75"mm designation was a way for people to know they were getting the NEW, one-ring model, since as you know, a LOT of lenses were sold from mail-order catalogs with hundreds of lenses listed in 7-point type with nothing but a brand sub-head in 10-point type, and then a list of models and the price. It might actually BE a 70-150mm lens, but just labeled as 75-150mm f/3.8 MC as a way to differentiate it from older stock, for both retailers and customers.

I LOVE that $5 price sticker, Sparky!!!


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## compur (Oct 24, 2014)

Vivitar marketed a 70-150/3.8 zoom that looks very similar to the Osawa above. It is regarded as quite good. They also had a dedicated 2X teleconverter that went with it. I think it was made by Kiron though. There was also a Soligor branded lens that looks almost identical and probably others too.


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## Kawaracer (Oct 24, 2014)

Derrel said:


> Two thoughts on the incorrect EXIF and metering with this lens: first off, Have you manually set the "NON-CPU Lens" values to an f/number and a focal length value and maximum f/stop in the D700's Custom Function menu? That might be helpful. Looking at the photo, I am wondering a bit about the Ai-indexing ridge on the lens...the marring on the metal,down to the bare aluminum, makes me think that lens was AI-converted by somebody. I cannot recall the exact "offset" of where the Ai ridge needs to be for an f/3.8 lens, but the exact placement of the ridge HAS TO BE precisely right in terms of how far over it is, based on the actual maximum f/stop. That might have been a home-done AI-conversion, or by an unskilled "repair person".



I ve set one NON-CPU lens in the D700 (a F2.0 50mm AI lens) so this will be the problem end will easely be solved by adding this lens. thanx
The lens is a AI lens the dammage is due to my father, he had it tried it on a older (broken) body and he couldn't get it off. He said he had to use pliers to get it off. There is no other dammage to the mount.


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