Soligor 35mm f/3.5

Soligor 35mm f/3.5

The Soligor 35mm f/3.5 is an early screw-mount wide-angle that sits well outside the brand's better-known later catalog of single-lens-reflex optics. Soligor began as a trademark of the American distributor Allied Impex Corporation (AIC), which from 1956 applied the name to cameras, lenses and accessories sourced from Japanese makers [1][2]. A 35mm lens in Leica thread mount (M39 / LTM) belongs to that first generation of Soligor-branded rangefinder-era hardware rather than to the company's later SLR lines. It is a simple, lightweight optic, weighing roughly 154 g, built around a modest five-element, two-group formula and an eight-blade diaphragm.

The lens is a scale-focus design and is not coupled to the camera's rangefinder, so distance must be set by the engraved focusing scale rather than confirmed through the viewfinder; minimum focus is about one metre. It uses a small 38 mm filter thread, in keeping with its compact front element and modest f/3.5 maximum aperture. In LTM form it threads onto any Leica thread mount body and can also be adapted to Leica M and to mirrorless cameras with the appropriate adapter, though without rangefinder coupling it is best used zone-focused. Dedicated, lens-specific documentation for this particular model is scarce; most surviving references concern the Soligor brand and its distribution history rather than the optical details of this early wide-angle.

Optical qualities

Rendering There is little published, lens-specific testing for the Soligor 35mm f/3.5, so its rendering character is not well documented in reliable sources. What can be stated from the design is limited: a five-element, two-group layout with a moderate f/3.5 maximum aperture is a conservative, compact configuration typical of inexpensive screw-mount wide-angles of its era. Claims about sharpness, contrast, bokeh, flare resistance or distortion cannot be supported here without credible test data, and are therefore left out.

History

Development and Launch Soligor was not a manufacturer in this period but a brand. Allied Impex Corporation, a US trading company, used the Soligor name from 1956 on imported Japanese photographic equipment, with early products including Miranda cameras and Soligor-branded lenses [1][2]. AIC later took control of Miranda and, in 1968, founded a German subsidiary (A.I.C. Phototechnik GmbH, renamed Soligor GmbH in 1993) that became the long-running European arm of the brand [1][2]. A 35mm f/3.5 in Leica thread mount fits the early, rangefinder-oriented end of this story, before the brand's main expansion into SLR lenses from the late 1960s onward [2].

Collector Notes Because Soligor was a distributor brand, the same or similar lenses were frequently sold under other badges, and Soligor optics were made by various Japanese factories rather than a single maker [1]. For an early LTM example, buyers should verify the M39 thread and the lens's scale-focus, non-coupled nature, since it will not be confirmed by the camera's rangefinder. As with most vintage screw-mount glass, check for haze, fungus and coating wear, and confirm the 38 mm filter thread before buying filters or a hood. Detailed serial-number references for this specific lens are not well established in the public collector record.

Sources

• [1] Camera-wiki.org. Allied Impex. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Allied_Impex
• [2] Apotelyt. SOLIGOR Lens Compendium. https://apotelyt.com/camera-kit/soligor-catalog