Nikon Showcase Asanuma 80-250mm f/4.5

[MountainMan79]

Took this lens out for the first time today, and absolutely loved the rendering, so starting a thread for it. I believe it to be a rebranded Tokina. For under $20, this lens is fantastic. I made no edits to the pictures in this first post, short of the border. It has a very pleasing natural vignette at the long end. The long end, will make you miss IBIS. Ignore the focal length EXIF info.

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[rayvonn]

It does render nice, see what you mean.

 

[The Electric Squirrel]

Yup, surprisingly nice rendering. Wouldn't expect that from an old zoom lens.

 

[MountainMan79]

Yup, surprisingly nice rendering. Wouldn't expect that from an old zoom lens.

Agree. I went out with 3 “new” vintage lenses, and this was the surprise of the bunch. I enjoyed both the old 50mm 1.4 and 13.5cm f/3.5, but kind of fell in love with this random oldie.

 

[MountainMan79]

Oh, and for what’s it’s worth, I think I’d pick this up and take it out over the 70-210 Nikkor f/4 D lens.

 

[MountainMan79]

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[mpeterson]

Nice! I remember the Asanuma lenses - when I was a kid photographer in the ‘70s you could buy them in retail photo shops, next to Soligor, Vivitar, Hoya, and Kiron lenses (among others). My recollection is that “Asanuma” was the brand name that the Tokina company used on all its lenses, prior to the time it just started calling its lenses “Tokina.” That is, they weren’t rebranded, Asanuma was just the brand name for Tokina’s lenses. Therefore today, if you see two identical products, one branded Asanuma and one branded Tokina, the Asanuma is the earlier/older one. The Tokina one might have newer glass or coatings…or it might not (;

All that said, once upon a time there was also a photo company in Japan named Asanuma. They made wooden bellows cameras from the late-1800s until about the WWII timeframe. Perhaps Tokina’s use of the Asanuma name was some sort of homage to them? Not sure, that’s just speculation on my part.

I do remember having an Asanuma 80-200 zoom for my K1000 and ME Super for a couple years during high school, and it was a pretty good performer. I later switched it for a newer Hoya 80-200 f/4 or f/4.5 that was a lot smaller and lighter. I used that for many years. Good stuff 🙂

 

[MountainMan79]

Nice! I remember the Asanuma lenses - when I was a kid photographer in the ‘70s you could buy them in retail photo shops, next to Soligor, Vivitar, Hoya, and Kiron lenses (among others). My recollection is that “Asanuma” was the brand name that the Tokina company used on all its lenses, prior to the time it just started calling its lenses “Tokina.” That is, they weren’t rebranded, Asanuma was just the brand name for Tokina’s lenses. Therefore today, if you see two identical products, one branded Asanuma and one branded Tokina, the Asanuma is the earlier/older one. The Tokina one might have newer glass or coatings…or it might not (;

All that said, once upon a time there was also a photo company in Japan named Asanuma. They made wooden bellows cameras from the late-1800s until about the WWII timeframe. Perhaps Tokina’s use of the Asanuma name was some sort of homage to them? Not sure, that’s just speculation on my part.

I do remember having an Asanuma 80-200 zoom for my K1000 and ME Super for a couple years during high school, and it was a pretty good performer. I later switched it for a newer Hoya 80-200 f/4 or f/4.5 that was a lot smaller and lighter. I used that for many years. Good stuff 🙂

That seems to confirm my suspicions it was made by Tokina! I think it’s quite a good lens, and really enjoy the output, especially given it’s a zoom of an era where zooms weren’t all that great.