Tanaka Kogaku Tanar 50mm f/3.5 H.C. Close Focus

Tanaka Kogaku Tanar 50mm f/3.5 H.C. Close Focus

Among the standard lenses Tanaka Kogaku built in Leica screw mount for its Tanack rangefinders, the 50mm f/3.5 was the slow, economical option, and the close-focusing variant marks the moment that modest Tessar-type lens gained the ability to work nearer than the usual rangefinder limit. Tanaka Kogaku produced a family of Tanar lenses in Leica screw mount for cameras such as the Tanack 35, IIIS, IV-S, SD, V3 and VP, and several were also offered in Nikon S and Contax mounts [1]. The close-focusing 50mm f/3.5 was introduced after the Tanack IV-S appeared in early 1955, and at that time the lens could also be bought separately for ¥6,000 [1].

Optically the lens uses a Tessar formula of four elements in three groups, a design Tanaka shared with its f/2.8 standard lens [1]. Tanaka's own testing reported a resolution of about 80 lines per millimetre at the centre and 40 lines at the corners, at an unspecified aperture [1]. Like the other Tanar lenses it focuses with a straight helical, so the front of the barrel does not rotate during focusing [1]. The close-focusing version reaches 1.5 feet, with the distances closer than 3.5 feet engraved in red and not coupled to the rangefinder; the barrel was reworked with a slightly higher base and a double row of milling on the focus ring, and the aperture ring moves in the reverse direction compared with the earlier rigid lens [1]. As an LTM lens it mounts on Leica screw bodies and adapts to other systems, but the close-range scale is uncoupled, so accurate near focusing depends on the scale rather than the rangefinder.

The 50mm f/3.5 passed through several barrel forms before reaching this configuration. The earliest examples had an all-chrome collapsible barrel with a feet scale and a relatively rough finish, and were the first lenses offered for the Tanack 35 in 1953; a rigid-barrel version focusing to 3.5 feet followed by March 1954 [1]. The close-focusing lens then evolved cosmetically into the Tanar H.C. 5cm f/3.5, which kept the same barrel but carried a black front bezel reading Tanaka Kogaku Japan TANAR H.C. 1:3.5 F=5cm, with H.C. in red for hard coating; whether this signified a genuinely new coating or only a cosmetic change is not documented [1]. The H.C. lens appears to have existed only in chrome finish, and it was still advertised in mid-1958 before being dropped from the catalogue soon after [1].

Optical qualities

Rendering Independent published reviews of this specific lens are scarce, so its rendering is best described from its design and the limited contemporary data. As a four-element, three-group Tessar at a moderate f/3.5 maximum aperture, it belongs to a lens type known for good central definition stopped down. The maker's own figures of roughly 80 lines/mm at the centre falling to 40 lines/mm at the corners are consistent with a competent but unexceptional standard lens of the mid-1950s rather than a high-speed performer [1]. Beyond that, detailed modern accounts of sharpness, contrast, bokeh, flare or digital behaviour are not available, and claims in those areas should be treated with caution.

History

Development and Launch The Tanar standard lenses were mostly sold mounted on a Tanack camera body rather than as separate purchases [1]. The close-focusing 50mm f/3.5 was created when Tanaka added near-focus capability across its standard lineup for the Tanack IV-S, introduced in early 1955; period documentation confirms that close focusing was a feature of all the standard lenses at that point [1]. The close-focus capability appears to have been devised first for the faster 5cm f/2, which was strongly influenced by the close-focusing Nikkor-H 5cm f/2 for the Nikon S, and then applied to the slower lenses sharing the same barrel [1].

Production Evolution The f/3.5 line moved from a collapsible chrome barrel, to a rigid 3.5-foot barrel, to the close-focusing 1.5-foot barrel, and finally to the cosmetically updated Tanar H.C. 5cm f/3.5 with its black bezel and red H.C. marking [1]. Tanaka used serial-number prefixes that often related to the lens, and the close-focusing and H.C. f/3.5 examples that have been recorded fall in a 31xxx sequence; only a small number of individual serials are confirmed, reflecting how few survive [1]. The f/3.5 was the least popular of the standard options, since most buyers chose the f/2 or f/2.8 versions, the latter for only a modest premium, so production was very low [1].

Special editions No major factory special variants of this lens are widely documented. Unlike some other Tanar lenses, the H.C. 5cm f/3.5 appears never to have been made in a black finish, and the slow standard lens was not exported in mount variants the way the wide-angle and telephoto Tanars were offered in Nikon and Contax mounts [1].

Collector Notes Because the H.C. lenses across the f/3.5, f/2.8 and f/2 ranges share similar black front bezels with red H.C. lettering, buyers should read the full bezel engraving and the maximum-aperture marking carefully to confirm which lens is in hand [1]. The close-focusing version can be distinguished by its 1.5-foot minimum distance, the red near-distance numbers, the higher barrel base and the double row of milling on the focus ring [1]. Surviving examples are uncommon given the low original sales, so condition, originality of the finish and the state of the coating are worth checking. As with all Tanar lenses, the front caps for the Leica-mount versions are embossed Tanack and are chrome or black to match the lens finish, a useful detail when assessing completeness [1].

Sources

• [1] Camerapedia. Tanar lenses. https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Tanar_lenses