Soligor Soligor 35mm f2.8 Heritage

Overview

The Soligor 35mm f/2.8 is a wide-angle prime from the golden era of third-party '35mm SLR' optics, sold under the Soligor brand name that was applied to lenses built by numerous Japanese contract manufacturers rather than a single factory. As documented by collectors, Soligor lenses were made by a rotating cast of makers identified by a coding system (Tokina, Sun, Komine, Kino, Komura, Tamron, Kawanon, and others), so the exact origin of any given 35mm f/2.8 depends on its serial/code prefix. Community discussion strongly ties several versions of this lens to Tamron manufacture: the T-mount variant with a manual aperture preset ring is repeatedly cited on mflenses as an 'old Tamron made' T-mount lens, dated to roughly the 1960s. Other rebadged siblings of the Tokina-built optical design were sold as Bushnell, Vivitar, Super Lentar, Anasuma and more, all sharing a distinctive odd-shaped aperture blade set. No established nickname or jargon (no 'swirl', 'Bokeh King', etc.) exists for this lens in the reviewed sources. Its modest cult following today rests on being a cheap, compact, surprisingly sharp vintage wide that can be adapted easily and picked up for very little money.

Verdict: The Soligor 35mm f/2.8 is a budget-friendly, contrasty and impressively sharp vintage wide-angle for adapters and film shooters who want a compact 35mm without spending much. It rewards stopping down and delivers clean color with minimal fringing, making it a sensible pickup for experimenters — just accept that 'Soligor' spans multiple manufacturers, so your exact copy's character depends on which factory built it.

Optical Character

Color

Good, faithful color with no radical color shifts in highlights.

Sharpness wide open

Impressively sharp on 16MP digital; related Tokina-built version very good beyond f4, softer wide open.

Contrast

High contrast overall.

Community Insights

What people love

Impressive sharpness for such an inexpensive vintage wide, holding up well even on 16MP digital sensors
High contrast paired with faithful color — highlights avoid radical color shifts
Very low chromatic aberration, with only minor blue fringing appearing in blown-out highlights
Cheap and readily available on the used market, making it an easy, low-risk entry into vintage wide primes

What people dislike

On the related Tokina-built sibling, sharpness is only 'very good beyond f4', suggesting weaker performance wide open
An 'odd aperture blade shape' on some versions, noted as the main drawback of the sibling lens
Brand ambiguity — 'Soligor' could be built by any of several makers (Tamron, Tokina, Sun, Komine, etc.), so quality/character varies by version

Pro Tips

Stop down past f4 for best sharpness, especially if yours is the Tokina-built optical family
Because contrast is high, watch your exposure on highlights — the lens handles them cleanly but slight blue fringing can appear when blown out
Identify your specific version by the Soligor code prefix and aperture blade shape to know which maker built it
On T-mount examples, use the correct T-mount-to-Exakta adapter and remember the manual preset aperture workflow

Sources (1)

Web-grounded synthesissecondary

The Soligor 35mm f/2.8 is a wide-angle prime from the golden era of third-party '35mm SLR' optics, sold under the Soligor brand name that was applied to lenses built by numerous Japanese contract manufacturers rather than a single factory. As documented by collectors, Soligor lenses were made by a rotating cast of makers identified by a coding system (Tokina, Sun, Komine, Kino, Komura, Tamron, Kawanon, and others), so the exact origin of any given 35mm f/2.8 depends on its serial/code prefix. Community discussion strongly ties several versions of this lens to Tamron manufacture: the T-mount variant with a manual aperture preset ring is repeatedly cited on mflenses as an 'old Tamron made' T-mount lens, dated to roughly the 1960s. Other rebadged siblings of the Tokina-built optical design were sold as Bushnell, Vivitar, Super Lentar, Anasuma and more, all sharing a distinctive odd-shaped aperture blade set. No established nickname or jargon (no 'swirl', 'Bokeh King', etc.) exists for this lens in the reviewed sources. Its modest cult following today rests on being a cheap, compact, surprisingly sharp vintage wide that can be adapted easily and picked up for very little money.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/211408-soligor-35mm-f2-8-m42.htmlhttps://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/any-info-experience-with-this-soligor-35mm-f-2-8-t-mount-lens.172987/https://www.robertallenkautzphoto.com/soligor35mmwideautohttps://forum.mflenses.com/soligor-35mm-f2-8-t29784.htmlhttps://blog.bkspicture.com/review_Soligor_35mm_f2.8_M42.htmlhttps://allphotolenses.com/lenses/item/c_3860.htmlhttps://www.reddit.com/r/VintageLenses/comments/16ql0s5/opinions_on_the_soligor_35mm_f28/