Commercial Congo

[Emrehan Zeybekoglu]

Greetings everyone:

Any comments and suggestions you might have on the following item will be welcome :
Commercial Congo 180mm/4.5 mounted on a Copal 3 shutter. Clean glass, no fungi, working shutter. Serial no: 102071.

Thanks in advance..

[Ernest Purdum]

The Commercial Congo is a product of Yamasaki Optical, a well-established Japanese firm. They are not well-known outrside of Japan but have been a primary lens source for portrait and tourist photographers in Japan for many years.



The lens is a Tessar type, two individual elements in front of the diaphragm, a cemented pair behind. The large aperture makes the big shuttter necessary and the whole package is rather large and heavy but gives a nice bright groundglass and ability to use selective focus if desired..Tessars don't have a very wide view, but the 180mm focal length should provide enough excess coverage for most use of movements othew than architectural work.

[Ted Harris]

Their homepage is here http://www.cosmonet.org/congo/index_e.html





They are (or have been) distributed in the US by Bromwell. At least in the past they have had rather spotty quality control so make sure you get a chance to test the lens before purchase. However, at anything under $300 the shutter is worth the price.

[Emrehan Zeybekoglu]

Ernest & Ted,
Thanks for your opinion. Maybe I should have been more specific with my question:
When I look at Congo's website I don't see any lens whose largest aperture is 4.5. That I found curious.
Secondly, I provided the serial number because I was wondering about the date of production and that I thought someone might have an idea about when they may have been manufactured. With respecto cost, I have the impression that the seller will be willing to sell it for something waaaay below $300 . These days people are rushing to "digiland," and there is hardly anybody around here who is interested in LF.
Cheers...

[Ernest Purdum]

;Without being able to read Mr. Yamasaki's mind, I am guessing that the reason the 180mm is no longer made in the f4.5 aperture is that being able to use a #1 shutter rather than a #3 enables them to offer a much better price. Their main customers are a pretty conservative bunch, probably happy to trade off some groundglass brightness for cost reduction.



Regarding age, youi might ask at congo@cosmonet.org. To me, it wouldn't really matter very much. It isn't verfy old or it wouldn't be in a Copal shutter, so we know that it is recent enough to be (single) coated, probably the main age-related factor involving Tessars. (Condition, of course, is a more important factor.)



If the seller will accept "waaay" below $300, I'd echo Ted's suggestion to buy that shutter even if it looks like the lens has been cleaned with steel wool.

[Emrehan Zeybekoglu]

You're right. I should have thought about the shutter business. I think the lens is in good condition except relatively minor cosmetic signs of wear and tear, which are not all that important as long as the lens itself is clean.

[Carsten Wolff]

you can also try to front mount an Alphax/Betax/Ilex #3, but you loose a little bit of IC. Or sell it and get a nice Wollensak Raptar 190mm f4.5 in a shutter for about the same price with a bit of searching.