Cristar 10cm f/4

Fuji Photo Film · LTM · 1949

single source, unconfirmed our own finding

Also known as: Fuji Cristar 10cm f/4 · Fuji Cristar 10cm F4 · Fuji Cristar 100mm f/4 · Fuji Cristar 4/10cm · Cristar 4/10cm · Cristar 10cm 1:4 · Cristar 1:4 f=10cm · Fuji Photo Film Cristar 10cm f4 Leica · Cristar 100mm f4 LTM · フジクリスター 10cm F4 · クリスター 10cm F4

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Leica thread, chrome, focusing scale in feet	Leica thread (M39), rangefinder-coupled	1949	440042 (Leitz Photographica Auction 49, lot 312) 440049 (Leitz Photographica Auction 40, lot 279)	—

Date. 1949 is Leitz's 'c.1949' for both lenses. No source found gives a launch year for this lens, and no catalogue, price list or advertisement for it has been found. The Cristar 5cm f/2 is said by a Tokyo dealer to have been sold from 1949 (Fotoborse), and Japanese Wikipedia gives a 1948 patent application for it. Leitz itself dates Cristar 5cm lenses anywhere from c.1950 to c.1954.
Close focus. 1.07 m is the 3.5 ft at the near end of the engraved feet scale, converted; no source gives a figure in metres.
Not known: the optical construction, the number of aperture blades, the filter size, the weight and dimensions, the launch price and the number made. The Leitz lot texts give none of these, and no other description of this lens has been found.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Named Cristar, not Fujinon: Fuji's Leica-thread lenses carried the Cristar name before the Fujinon name, and Leitz calls this one a 'pre Fujinon' lens
The later Fuji 10cm for Leica thread is a different lens, the Fujinon 10cm f/2 (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia gives it a 1954 launch)
The other Cristars seen at Leitz are a 5cm f/2 (a collapsible lens Leitz calls a Summitar copy) and an 8.5cm f/2; a 35mm f/3.5 is also recorded (camera-wiki)

Leica thread, chrome, focusing scale in feet:

Black front name ring lettered 'Cristar 1:4 f=10cm' and 'Fuji Photo Film Co. No.' with the serial number (Leitz lot photographs of 440042)
Chrome barrel: aperture ring near the front engraved 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22 with a red index dot; broad fluted grip in the middle; a narrower knurled ring with a screw towards the rear (Leitz lot photographs)
Distance scale engraved 'Feet', 3.5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 ... 30, 50, 100 and infinity, with a depth-of-field scale for 4 to 22 on each side of a red index (lot photographs of both numbered examples)
Rangefinder coupling cam visible inside the rear of the mount (lot photograph of 440042); Leitz describes both lenses as rangefinder coupled
Internal thread inside the front rim (lot photographs); its size is not recorded

Leica thread, chrome, focusing scale in feet: Both numbered examples are this version and look identical in the lot photographs: chrome, feet scale, the same engraving. No example with a metre scale, a black finish or another mount has been found. 440049 came with a chrome front cap lettered 'Cristar' and a brown leather case with a shoulder strap, the Fuji logo embossed on its side below the lid (Leitz lot photographs, Auction 40). 440042 is offered with a rear cap only.

Serial-range notes

440042: Leitz Photographica Auction 49, lot 312, sale 28 November 2026. Leitz dates it c.1949 and grades it A/B: 'Extremely rare pre-Fujinon rangefinder coupled lens for Leica M39, in near mint condition, optics showing some cleaning marks and a small scratch on the front element, with rear lens cap.' Estimate €1,400–1,600, starting price €700, recorded on 9 November 2026 with no bids. This is a pre-sale record, not a price paid.
440049: Leitz Photographica Auction 40, lot 279, 11 June 2022. Leitz dated it c.1949 and graded it A/B: 'extremely rare pre Fujinon rangefinder coupled lens for Leica M39, in near mint condition, with original front lens cap and with leather case'. Estimate €2,000–2,400, starting price €1,000; hammer price €2,880 including buyer's premium.

Specifications

Aperture range: f/4–f/22
Min. focus: 1.07 m
Country: Japan

What reviewers say

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History

The Cristar 10cm f/4 is a Fuji Photo Film telephoto for the Leica thread from the years before Fuji called its camera lenses Fujinon. A Tokyo dealer describes the Cristar 5cm f/2 as Fuji’s first lens for a 35mm camera, made by a film company that had designed aerial-camera lenses during the war, and says the Cristar went on sale in 1949. Camera-wiki and Japanese Wikipedia list Fuji’s Leica-thread lenses without this one: the only Fuji 10cm they record is the Fujinon 10cm f/2, a later and faster lens.

Two numbered examples have been found, both through Leitz Photographica Auction, which dates each to about 1949: no. 440049, sold in June 2022, and no. 440042, offered in November 2026. They look identical in the lot photographs. Each has a chrome barrel, a black front ring lettered ‘Cristar 1:4 f=10cm’ and ‘Fuji Photo Film Co.’, an aperture ring at the front running from 4 to 22, and a distance scale in feet down to 3.5 ft. The lens is coupled to the rangefinder, and the coupling cam can be seen inside the rear of the mount. No example with a metre scale has been found. A Cristar 5cm in the same Leitz records came with a rear cap engraved ‘MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN’, but no source says who either lens was made for.

No source found describes the optics: no element count, no blade count, no filter size, no weight. The lens fits and couples on any rangefinder Leica-thread body. At 10cm it needs a separate viewfinder on every screw-mount Leica, whose finders go no longer than 50mm (90mm on the later IIIg); the Canon IIB of 1949 has a finder position meant for 100mm lenses. Leitz describes no. 440042 as near mint, with cleaning marks and a small scratch on the front element. Its estimate is lower than that of the 2022 lens, which sold with its cap and Fuji leather case for €2,880 including premium.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

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