Meet Osawa

[480sparky43 42]

I'd like to take a moment of your time to introduce you to Osawa:

Osawa is the name on a lens I found at the local camera store yesterday. He's an Ai nikon mount 75-150m f/3.8 push-pull zoom. I have never heard of the Osawa name, but I assume it's on the same level as many un-heard-of names these days. I'm would say when new, Osawa was on the same grade as Vivitar lenses of the era. I'm not sure when Osawa was born, but I'm guessing it was in the 1970's.

I know precious little about little Osawa, other than I know he is of Japanese origin. I have done some Googling of the Osawa name to find out more about his family and possible siblings, but not much information is available. So if anyone knows more about little Osawa's ancestry & heritage, I'd love to hear it!

Osawa was far back in a Rubbermaid bin of old lenses at the camera store. He appears to be quite the orphan. Dusty. Dirty. A few battle scars and some wear marks. His aperture tab on the lens mount was bent so far a Nikon camera would not control the aperture. I managed to take a pair of needle-nose pliers and carefully straighten that tab out enough for my cameras to actuate the aperture. Osawa also suffers from from a broken AI fork... although this is of no consequence to me as I don't have any Nikon bodies old enough to use AI.

However, Osawa does not meter on any of my cameras. Although I can adjust the shutter speed on the camera with the command dial, I must use the aperture ring on the lens to adjust the f/stop. Exposure is a total guess as no in-camera metering is possible.

So what is my interest in Osawa? Simple. His adoption set me back a whole $5 plus tax. A few of his orphanage mates were marked $100. So Osawa seems quite the bargain.

In addition to the physical problems Osawa is afflicted with, he also suffers from a lot of internal dust and some pitting on his front element. I really can't inspect the rear element very well as it's recessed quite a ways in.


Besides the lunch money I'm out-of-pocket, I have specific plans for Osawa. So stay tuned.... Osawa is on his way to an epic journey!

 

[MiFleur]

Well I am here and waiting!
Patient? yeah!

 

[KenC]

It looks a lot like my old Pentax lenses, so I wonder if Osawa was a subsidiary or perhaps made some lenses for Pentax. Perhaps they stole technology from Pentax and you've found a gripping story of industrial espionage. Seriously, the focus grip, rear couplings and even the font on the front of the lens look just like what I have on several Pentax lenses, which were also 49 mm filter threads I think from about 24 mm to about 150 mm, or maybe even 200.

 

[sm4him]

Oooh, an adventure, sweet! I'm tuned...

 

[480sparky43 42]

Well, Osawa and I took a quick tour of my back yard this morning. I wanted to take him out so he can see the world again.

As I suspected, Osawa really can't compete with todays' lenses. He's soft, especially in the corners, and not a lot of contrast.

These are edited.... I did my best to correct the lack of contrast, but there's not much in the Sharpness Dept.

 

[pgriz]

OOOhhhh - you got one of those special soft-focus lenses! Yes, it takes a skilled hand to use them effectively. And Sparky, I think you have the skill. Waiting to see what you will discover with it.

 

[squirrels]

I haven't forgotten about your epic journey, osawa.