Osaka Commercial 360mm f/6.8 info

[Alan Gales]

I contacted Ted at Bromwell Marketing yesterday and he got back to me a few hours later. He said that the Congo and Osaka Commercial are indeed identical. He couldn't provide any more information though due to that he is no longer keeping his files on lenses.

[Jim Galli]

The early Copal 3's were designed to replace Compound 3 which had a 56mm thread, thus many old Copal 3 have that thread. Later they standardized on 58mm and identified the smaller thread with an 's' Copal 3s, but older Copal's don't differentiate. I think what happened was that when Compur discontinued the Compound, the new rimset shutter was 58mm and Copal followed the German lead.

[andrewch59]

I bought one of the new old stock 360mm congos in barrel a while back, and after gathering info on the forum waited for an appropriate copal 3s shutter to appear on fee-bay. I purchased the shutter and on arrival tried to fit the front element, it didn't fit? Now after talking to an authority who sold these for some years, it seems Yamasaki would turn out the thread size depending on what shutter they had available at the time.
Luckily I have found a copal 3 shutter going at discount price still in its box, so I will await its arrival and try once more.

[AtlantaTerry]

I bought one of the new old stock 360mm Congos in barrel a while back, and after gathering info on the forum waited for an appropriate Copal 3s shutter to appear on fee-bay. I purchased the shutter and on arrival tried to fit the front element, it didn't fit? Now after talking to an authority who sold these for some years, it seems Yamasaki would turn out the thread size depending on what shutter they had available at the time.
Luckily I have found a Copal 3 shutter going at discount price still in its box, so I will await its arrival and try once more.

If you ever want to sell a Copal 3 shutter, please get in touch with me. I have a Schneider 360mm lens that I would like to move from a Compound shutter to one with a wider range of shutter speeds available to use. I do not know the thread specs.

Or if my 360mm Schneider won't fit, I would like to make a soft focus lens using a single element from a magnifying glass.

[andrewch59]

Thanks for the offer, after a preliminary search I see the Schneider 360mm tele-xenar fits into a copal 3 shutter (58mm thread), the one I wont be keeping is a 3s (marked as copal 3), but has a 56mm thread. I paid a bit for it (sold item number: 192209516612) may be cheaper for you to buy a cheap lens with a copal3 shutter wrapped around it.
Regards Andrew

[Thom Bennett]

An interim report on the 360mm Commercial Congo used on the 7x17 format: The lens covers beautifully wide open without the "stretching" at the edges I have experienced with other lenses that I hoped would cover (i.e. Fuji 250mm f 6.7; Fuji 420mm L). I observed the scene while stopping down a bit and figured everything was a go so I closed the lens and exposed at f64. Big mistake; significant vignetting in the corners. Today I set the camera up and carefully watched the corners as I stopped down and noticed that it starts to vignette at about f22. I'll do a formal test on film as soon as I can but, for now, was wondering if anyone else has experienced vignetting beyond f22 with this lens mounted on a 7x17. Other than the vignetting the negs looked nice and sharp.

[neil poulsen]

I wouldn't trust any information in the Congo web pages. Both my 90mm f/6.3 and my 150mm f/4 soft focus take 40.5mm filters, contrary to what's claimed in the tables. There's no telling what other discrepancies may exist. The lenses themselves seem fine, but accurate documentation doesn't seem to have been their strong point.

Interesting, because the website claims that the 360mm f6.8 lens takes a 67mm filter. Maybe; but, I kind of doubt it.

My G-Claron 355mm f9 has a 77mm filter, and a Symmar-S f6.8 lens that I had was HUGE, with a 120mm filter thread. Of course, part of that depends on design. But, 67mm???

[Thom Bennett]

Interesting, because the website claims that the 360mm f6.8 lens takes a 67mm filter. Maybe; but, I kind of doubt it.

My G-Claron 355mm f9 has a 77mm filter, and a Symmar-S f6.8 lens that I had was HUGE, with a 120mm filter thread. Of course, part of that depends on design. But, 67mm???

Neil, I can confirm that the 360mm takes 67mm filters. That's one reason I got it for the 8x10. Most of my other lenses use 67mm filters.

[Alan Gales]

I had to repair the filter ring on mine due to a ding. I can now screw on a 67mm filter with ease.

If anyone is interested, I purchased one of those el cheapo Chinese filter ring tools. It works like a charm and I've made back the money I was out on it repairing filter rings. I used to sell a lot of lenses on Ebay though and you would have to decide yourself if the $35 or so is worth it.

[andrewch59]

An interim report on the 360mm Commercial Congo used on the 7x17 format: The lens covers beautifully wide open without the "stretching" at the edges I have experienced with other lenses that I hoped would cover (i.e. Fuji 250mm f 6.7; Fuji 420mm L). I observed the scene while stopping down a bit and figured everything was a go so I closed the lens and exposed at f64. Big mistake; significant vignetting in the corners. Today I set the camera up and carefully watched the corners as I stopped down and noticed that it starts to vignette at about f22. I'll do a formal test on film as soon as I can but, for now, was wondering if anyone else has experienced vignetting beyond f22 with this lens mounted on a 7x17. Other than the vignetting the negs looked nice and sharp.

Thom, I was wondering what shutter you use with the congo? Seems the large copal 3 shutter I purchased for this lens does not fit (too small), I have no other options