Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 (M42)

Ricoh · M42 · 1967

single source, unconfirmed our own finding

Also known as: Rikenon 135mm f3.5 · Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 · Rikenon 135mm 1:3.5 · Rikenon 1:3.5 f=135mm · Rikenon 1:3.5 135mm · Rikenon 3.5/135 · Rikenon 135/3.5 · Ricoh Rikenon 135mm f3.5 · Ricoh Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 · Ricoh 135mm f3.5 Rikenon · Auto Rikenon 135mm f3.5 · Auto Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 · Auto Rikenon 1:3.5 f=135mm · Auto Rikenon 135/3.5 · Rikenon 3,5/135 · Rikenon 135 mm f/3.5 · リケノン 135mm F3.5 · リコー リケノン 135mm F3.5 · Auto Rikenon 1:3.5 135mm · Auto Rikenon 135mm 1:3.5 · Rikenon 1:3.5 135mm M42 · Rikenon 1:3.5 f=135mm M42 · Rikenon 135mm 1:3.5 M42 · Rikenon 135 mm f/3.5 M42

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 (M42 screw mount) M42 — — —
  1. Every figure on this page — f/3.5 to f/22, four elements in four groups, 1.8 m closest focus, 49 mm filter, 380 g — comes from one row of Dr. Ricoh's Rikenon list. No Ricoh document gives them. The Singlex TLS book lists only a 135mm f/2.8 automatic; the SLX 500 and Auto TLS EE books add a 135mm f/3.5 bellows lens (and a 55–135mm f/3.5 zoom), and none lists a fixed 135mm f/3.5 with its own focusing.
  2. The closest focus and construction match Ricoh's figures for the Auto Rikenon 135mm f/2.8 (4/4, 1.8 m), and the 49 mm filter matches the bellows head's. That may simply be two lenses of the same layout. It could also mean the row mixes figures from the two lenses Ricoh did list. No photographed example settles it.
  3. Auto or not: Dr. Ricoh leaves the notes column blank, where most M42 Rikenons around it read 'Auto' and the long lenses 'Preset'. A blank does not prove a manual lens: his 2.0/50 M42 row and the fisheye are blank too, and a forum owner of that 50/2 called it an Auto Rikenon. The one 135/3.5 reported on a forum was also called an Auto Rikenon by its owner. The page does not say which it is.
  4. The year is a floor, not a launch date: 1967 is Ricoh's date for the Singlex TLS, its first M42 reflex. No source dates the lens or its withdrawal, and none names its maker.
  5. No list price in yen or dollars is on record, and Dr. Ricoh's 'Org. Price' column is empty for this lens. His €75 is the figure in the list's Value (EUR) column, its estimated collector value for a copy in very good condition, not a recorded sale or a period price, and it is higher than the €20 he gives the Auto Rikenon 135mm f/2.8 in the same table. The one reported sale is the 2011 eBay auction behind serial 11445, won for US$1 plus US$9 shipping, and that lens is not shown to be this one.
  6. No Sears-badged 135mm f/3.5 Rikenon is recorded. Sears sold other Rikenons as Auto Sears lenses, and an Auto Sears 135mm with a 49 mm filter and 1.8 m focusing would be worth checking against this page.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • No XR and no P in the name: Dr. Ricoh lists Ricoh's K-mount 135mm lenses only at f/2.8, and a bayonet lens does not screw into an M42 body
  • Focuses on its own, to 1.8 m by Dr. Ricoh's figure. The Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 bellows head is listed with no closest-focus distance and, per Dr. Ricoh, needs the bellows
  • Not an Auto Rikenon EE lens: neither Dr. Ricoh nor Ricoh's EE lens table lists a 135mm f/3.5 EE, so expect no EE position and no shutter-priority automation on the Auto TLS EE

Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 (M42 screw mount):

  • A complete telephoto with its own focusing mount: Dr. Ricoh gives 1.8 m closest focus and 380 g, against 195 g and no focusing distance for the Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 bellows head
  • 49 mm filter thread, where the Auto Rikenon 135mm f/2.8 takes 55 mm
  • Dr. Ricoh's list puts no 'Auto' against it, where most M42 Rikenons in the same table are marked Auto or Preset; check the back for a stop-down pin and the barrel for an A–M switch before paying for it as either

Serial-range notes

11445
The one serial number on record, from the 2011 MFlenses forum post of a lens its owner called an Auto Rikenon 135/3.5. No photograph was posted, so neither the engraving nor the mount is confirmed, and a single number says nothing about how the series ran.

Specifications

Construction
4 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Min. focus
1.8 m
Weight
380 g
Filter
49 mm

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

Two M42 Rikenons are recorded at 135mm f/3.5, and this page covers the less documented one. The Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 bellows lens is a short head with no focusing mount, and it appears in Ricoh’s own accessory tables. This lens, by its listed 1.8 m closest focus and 380 g, is a complete telephoto with its own focusing mount, and it is known almost entirely from one row of Dr. Ricoh’s Rikenon list. That row gives four elements in four groups, f/3.5 to f/22, 1.8 m closest focus, a 49 mm filter and 380 g, and marks the lens confirmed. The Ricoh instruction books for the Singlex TLS, SLX 500 and Auto TLS EE do not list it. The Singlex TLS book names only the 135mm f/2.8 automatic; the SLX 500 book adds the bellows head, and the Auto TLS EE book lists the f/2.8 in plain and EE forms as well as the bellows head.

That leaves a lot open. Dr. Ricoh does not mark the lens Auto, where most M42 Rikenons in his table are marked Auto or Preset, so it may be a manual-diaphragm lens; but his 2.0/50 row is blank as well, so the blank proves nothing. The only example reported, a lens won on eBay in 2011 for US$1 plus shipping and described on the MFlenses forum as an “Auto Rikenon 135/3.5”, serial 11445, was called Auto by its owner, but no photograph was posted in the thread. The listed construction and closest focus are the same as Ricoh’s for the 135mm f/2.8, and the filter size is the same as the bellows head’s. That can happen with lenses of the same layout, but it is also what a row mixing up two lenses would look like. No date, maker or price is recorded. Dr. Ricoh’s value of €75 is not a recorded sale, and is well above the €20 he gives the f/2.8.

Any M42 Ricoh body takes the lens: the Singlex TLS, TLS 401, SLX 500, Singlex II and Auto TLS EE. It is not listed as an EE lens, so on the Auto TLS EE it should give no shutter-priority automation. That camera’s book provides two metering methods for a non-EE Rikenon or any other screw-mount lens: full-aperture metering with the lens’s maximum aperture set on the Lens Selection Dial, or stopped-down metering. On the other bodies it meters stopped down like any M42 lens.

If you find one, photograph and record it. Look at the name on the front ring, whether there is an A–M switch and a stop-down pin, the serial number, and whether the filter thread really is 49 mm. A lens marked XR Rikenon is a later K-mount lens, and a 135mm f/3.5 Rikenon of about 195 g marked or sold as a bellows lens is the bellows head, which Dr. Ricoh lists as ‘Preset, needs Bellows’.

Expand Collapse

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

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 (M42)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.

Related: Auto Rikenon 135mm f/2.8 (incl. EE, Sears) · Rikenon 135mm f/3.5 Bellows lens (M42, preset)

Sources (6)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.