Honor lenses
The Honor lenses in Leica screw mount were offered by Zuihō Kōgaku Seiki for its Honor S1 and Honor SL rangefinder cameras. These lenses rarely appear in the original documents; they were never announced or advertised in Japan in conjunction with the Honor S1, and they were certainly introduced after July 1959.[1]
Contents
Rebadged products
It is extremely likely that these lenses were supplied to Zuihō by some subcontractor. Some sources say that the 50mm Honor lenses were made by Konishiroku.[2] This assumption is not supported by any original document, and looks like a guess relying on the fact that Konishiroku was Zuihō's former lens supplier, and on the common aperture of the Hexanon f/1.9 and Honor f/1.9. It seems rather illogical, because Konishiroku was a prestigious company, which is not known to have supplied OEM products, and Zuihō would have gained little by selling Hexanon lenses under its own less illustrious brand. It seems more plausible that Zuihō decided to find a cheaper lens supplier, to offer the camera at a lower price, or that Konishiroku decided to stop the production of Leica-mount lenses, forcing Zuihō to find an alternative.
Honor 50mm f/2
The first Honor lens was perhaps the Honor 50mm f/2. It was mentioned in a column of the December 1959 issue of Nihon Camera, announcing the Honor SL camera.[3] The lens has six elements in four groups.[4]
Honor 50mm f/1.9
Honor or W.Honor 35mm f/3.5
Notes
- ↑ The Honor S1 was still advertised with the Hexanon 50mm f/1.9 in July 1959. Source: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.379.
- ↑ HPR, pp.188 and 415, this page by Ian Norris, this page at Kuroneko Camera, this page and this page at Pacific Rim Camera.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.379.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.379, after Nihon Camera December 1959.
