Description |
Kowa-R SER f/3.5 100mm manual focus lens for film cameras. Inspected, free of fungus, camera mount is free of fouling and optics are clear. Lens is in excellent condition. Comes with lens hood, bottom lens cap and leather storage case.
Notable Attribution: 'KOWA-R', is a term used to identify Kowa SET-R type lenses. These accessories conforming to single lens reflex cameras produced between 1968-1970.
History: Kowa began as the Hattori Kanesaburo Wholesale store in Nagoya, Japan, in 1894 a privately owned business that produced various fabrics and cotton-related materials. Fifty-two years later, in 1946, Kowa’s parent organization, identified as Kofuku Sangyo Co., Ltd., expanded its operations, diverging into several different corporate entities, one of which being Kowa Koki Seisakusho, with the English transliteration of this particular venture being Kowa Optical Works.
Kowa Koki Seisakusho specialized in the manufacture of eyeglasses, its portfolio subsequently diversified to include the production of binoculars, rifle scopes, and opera glasses. The fledgling company garnering notoriety in the optical retail industry with the public release of a line of theater projection lenses. Patented as the ‘Prominar’, this series of lenses were designed to accommodate patrons frequenting theater destinations showcasing anamorphic CinemaScope widescreen films where images broadcast during the course of a presentation were typically condensed into a 35mm frame and screened by a projector.
In 1954 Kowa went public with the release of the Kalloflex, its first film compatible camera. Measuring 6cm x 6cm, this twin-lens reflex (TLR) device employed the use of the Prominar series of lenses for the express purpose of photography. Kofuku Sangyo Co., Ltd., Kowa’s principal holding company, was eventually rebranded, becoming the Kowa Group in 1960, a corporate amalgam of Kowa Spinning Co., Ltd., Kowa Company, Ltd., and Kowa Shinyaku Co., Ltd.
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