alex "Heimatland" analog ≙
Soligor f=350mm 1:5.6 1969
meine Aufnahmen mit dem Soligor f=350mm 1:5.6
my shots with this lens
www.flickr.com/photos/150811378@N08/albums/72157681368408001
Soligor 350mm f/5.6-32
"Soligor" is a trademark under which manufacturers put their products on the market without appearing themselves.
The opinion is often expressed that such products are of inferior quality. Manufacturers would get rid of their rejects without damaging their own names. With a short consideration it becomes clear that such a strategy does not work. Trademarks that have been successfully represented on the market for many years - and "Soligor" was one of them - must protect and defend their "brand value". They therefore do not take any risks. As a rule, the selection of OEM manufacturers - yesterday and today - is carried out uncompromisingly according to very strict quality criteria and "who doesn't spurt out flies out". Brand manufacturers, on the other hand, can counteract flops with suitable marketing measures and quickly bring out something "new".
The advantage for the OEM manufacturer is that he can concentrate fully on development and production because marketing and sales are carried out by the "brand". Well-known brand manufacturers use the variant of an "umbrella" brand to market production peaks and rarely to market overcapacities. For example, expensive branded goods can be offered more cheaply without the specialist trade going on the barricades and customers being angry because they have "paid too much".
Examples of this were articles from "Quelle" and "Foto-Quelle". In the Stiftung Warentest, they are always at the top. Enlightened customers knew that the article "Privileg 4711" was actually a Bauknecht stove. In order to protect his own brands (e.g. Privileg, Revue etc.), owner Gustav Schickedanz founded the Institute for Product Testing especially for this purpose at an early stage.
"Soligor" had originally been the trademark of Allied Impex Corporation, New York (AIC), a distributor of optical articles on the American East Coast, since 1938. The counterpart on the American west coast was "Vivitar".
From 1956, the brand name was used for Japanese cameras, lenses and other photographic items.
In the 1960s "Soligor" belonged to the very successful "A.I.C. Phototechnik GmbH (AIC)" in Stuttgart. A key success criterion was the company's personnel policy. Many employees from the already shrinking German photo industry found a new job at AIC. In their hand luggage, they not only had sound specialist knowledge, but also excellent contacts to industry and trade.
My "Soligor 350mm 1:5.6" was produced in 1969 by "Kino Precision Industries", recognizable by the OEM manufacturer's encryption in the serial number. The great success "Kino" had with the Vivitar Series 1 prompted the company to launch its own brand in the USA in 1980. The "Kiron" brand was born.
In a 1966 brochure, the lens costs $120 and the leather quiver $11.
A buyer from Germany would have had to pay 3,644/334 Marks in 1966. Inflation- and currency-adjusted that would be 833/76 Euro.
Today a drumm leather quiver for almost 80€? It's not that absurd, is it?
Despite 1:5.6 you can still photograph quite well "out of your hand" with the lens. I don't want to overestimate the sharpness, because there are almost always quality-reducing influences with remote shots. Flickering air, dust and humidity cannot be conjured away with the best and most expensive optics.
Strengths of the lens are in my opinion the "tele-impression" in the middle distance range and the possibility to make macros at a distance of 3-4 meters by using extension rings.
Soligor f=350mm 1:5.6 1969
meine Aufnahmen mit dem Soligor f=350mm 1:5.6
my shots with this lens
www.flickr.com/photos/150811378@N08/albums/72157681368408001
Soligor 350mm f/5.6-32
"Soligor" is a trademark under which manufacturers put their products on the market without appearing themselves.
The opinion is often expressed that such products are of inferior quality. Manufacturers would get rid of their rejects without damaging their own names. With a short consideration it becomes clear that such a strategy does not work. Trademarks that have been successfully represented on the market for many years - and "Soligor" was one of them - must protect and defend their "brand value". They therefore do not take any risks. As a rule, the selection of OEM manufacturers - yesterday and today - is carried out uncompromisingly according to very strict quality criteria and "who doesn't spurt out flies out". Brand manufacturers, on the other hand, can counteract flops with suitable marketing measures and quickly bring out something "new".
The advantage for the OEM manufacturer is that he can concentrate fully on development and production because marketing and sales are carried out by the "brand". Well-known brand manufacturers use the variant of an "umbrella" brand to market production peaks and rarely to market overcapacities. For example, expensive branded goods can be offered more cheaply without the specialist trade going on the barricades and customers being angry because they have "paid too much".
Examples of this were articles from "Quelle" and "Foto-Quelle". In the Stiftung Warentest, they are always at the top. Enlightened customers knew that the article "Privileg 4711" was actually a Bauknecht stove. In order to protect his own brands (e.g. Privileg, Revue etc.), owner Gustav Schickedanz founded the Institute for Product Testing especially for this purpose at an early stage.
"Soligor" had originally been the trademark of Allied Impex Corporation, New York (AIC), a distributor of optical articles on the American East Coast, since 1938. The counterpart on the American west coast was "Vivitar".
From 1956, the brand name was used for Japanese cameras, lenses and other photographic items.
In the 1960s "Soligor" belonged to the very successful "A.I.C. Phototechnik GmbH (AIC)" in Stuttgart. A key success criterion was the company's personnel policy. Many employees from the already shrinking German photo industry found a new job at AIC. In their hand luggage, they not only had sound specialist knowledge, but also excellent contacts to industry and trade.
My "Soligor 350mm 1:5.6" was produced in 1969 by "Kino Precision Industries", recognizable by the OEM manufacturer's encryption in the serial number. The great success "Kino" had with the Vivitar Series 1 prompted the company to launch its own brand in the USA in 1980. The "Kiron" brand was born.
In a 1966 brochure, the lens costs $120 and the leather quiver $11.
A buyer from Germany would have had to pay 3,644/334 Marks in 1966. Inflation- and currency-adjusted that would be 833/76 Euro.
Today a drumm leather quiver for almost 80€? It's not that absurd, is it?
Despite 1:5.6 you can still photograph quite well "out of your hand" with the lens. I don't want to overestimate the sharpness, because there are almost always quality-reducing influences with remote shots. Flickering air, dust and humidity cannot be conjured away with the best and most expensive optics.
Strengths of the lens are in my opinion the "tele-impression" in the middle distance range and the possibility to make macros at a distance of 3-4 meters by using extension rings.