Chiyoko Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f/4 (Leica screw mount)

Minolta · LTM · 1949

Also known as: Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f/4 · Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f4 · Tele Rokkor 13.5cm 1:4 · Tele Rokkor 1:4 f=13.5cm · Tele Rokkor f=13.5cm 1:4 · Tele Rokkor 135mm f/4 · Tele Rokkor 135mm f4 · Tele-Rokkor 13.5cm f4 · Tele-Rokkor 135mm f4 · TeleRokkor 13.5cm f4 · Rokkor 13.5cm f4 · Chiyoko Tele Rokkor 13.5cm · Chiyoko Tele Rokkor 135mm · Chiyoko 13.5cm f4 · Chiyoko 135mm f4 · Chiyoko 135mm 1:4 · Chiyoko Rokkor 13.5cm · Minolta Chiyoko 13.5cm · Minolta Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f4 · Tele Rokkor 13.5cm L39 · Tele Rokkor 135mm L39 · Tele Rokkor 135mm LTM · テレロッコール 13.5cm F4 · テレロッコール 135mm F4 · テレロッコール 13.5cm F4 · 千代田光学テレロッコール 13.5cm

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Early version: four-digit serial, blue and red ©	LTM	1949	315x–491x (Leica Copies Japan) 2,941–5,502 (miyou55mane)	No figure published; miyou55mane guesses 'several thousand' for the whole lens
Late version: seven-digit 1,200,xxx serial, no ©	LTM	1953	120020x–120053x (Leica Copies Japan) 1,200,122–1,200,193 (miyou55mane) From 1,200,001 (Collection Appareils)	About 1,000 (Collection Appareils, hedged: 'n'aurait été fabriqué qu'à environ 1000 exemplaires')

Serial notation. Leica Copies Japan writes ranges with a trailing x for one more digit (315x = 3150–3159).
A first version? Lens QA Works describes a 'very rare' earliest version from 1949 with a dull chrome ring near the mount, a four-digit serial and a 2.0 m / 6.5 ft close focus. Leica Copies Japan repeats the claim but has never seen one. One of the review's readers reports a lens with a non-chrome ring and serial 27xx that still focuses only to 8 ft. Until an example is shown, this page lists it here and not as a variant.
Dates. 1949 according to JA Wikipedia (citing Classic Camera Senka No. 12), miyou55mane ('1949〜') and Lens QA Works. Lens QA Works' review table gives '1949-1953', which reads as the span of the early versions, since the same review starts the late version in 1953; its later comparison says the lens is 'coming from 1947'. Collection Appareils ends the late version about 1958. miyou55mane notes that the Minolta SR-2 SLR arrived in October 1958, five months after the Model IIB, and that the rangefinder line then declined. The family's last year is left empty.
Weight and size. Lens QA Works gives 435 g and 50 × 97–105 mm for its early lens; Collection Appareils gives 472 g and 48 × 98–106 mm for a late lens. Both brochures, the Rokkor Lenses (about 1949) and the Minolta Cameras (about 1955–56), give 520 g and round the length to 10 cm; Leica Copies Japan has doubts about the earlier brochure's dimensions and weights, which the later one appears simply to repeat. The fields are left empty.
Close focus. 2.5 m / 8 ft on the scales of both versions in Leica Copies Japan's photographs and in Collection Appareils' data. Lens QA Works' table reads 2.4 m / 8 ft for its lens and the review tests it at 2.5 m.
Optical type. JA Wikipedia calls it a telephoto type (テレ型). A reader of the Lens QA Works review notes that lens-db classes it as an Orthoscope type. No maker diagram has been seen beyond the brochure schematic reproduced by Leica Copies Japan.
Not this lens. The Minolta Super A of 1957 had its own bayonet and a Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f/4.5, which does not fit a Leica-thread body. Minolta's later SR-mount 135mm lenses (Auto Tele Rokkor, MC and MD) are SLR lenses.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Engraved 'Chiyoko TELE ROKKOR 1:4 f=13.5cm'; focal length in centimetres
Chrome barrel with a 40 mm filter thread, aperture f/4 to f/32, 10 blades
Leica 39 mm screw mount, coupled to the rangefinder

Early version: four-digit serial, blue and red ©:

Four-digit serial; engraved 'Chiyoko TELE ROKKOR 1:4 f=13.5cm'
Blue © on the barrel above the aperture ring (it can look black in photographs) and a red © on the beauty ring
Shiny chrome ring at the base of the mount; distance scale ends at 2.5 m / 8 ft
Focusing ring with a plain, unribbed section and a bevelled front edge; plain, unstepped front bezel

Late version: seven-digit 1,200,xxx serial, no ©:

Seven-digit serial beginning 1200
No © coating mark anywhere
Slight step in the front bezel; redesigned, larger aperture ring; focusing ring ribbed all the way, without the plain section or the bevelled edge

Early version: four-digit serial, blue and red ©: This is the lens most often found. Leica Copies Japan has seen serials from 315x to 491x, miyou55mane from 2,941 to 5,502. Lens QA Works reviewed No. 3157 and took it to be the earliest known lens of this type, but miyou55mane's 2,941 and a 2,928 reported by one of the review's readers are lower. Lens QA Works, which calls this its second generation, says it is not rare. Its spec table gives 435 g. Leica Copies Japan's 'circa 1949' lens is of this type, and the Rokkor Lenses brochure with a Model D on its cover shows the same barrel.
Late version: seven-digit 1,200,xxx serial, no ©: Lens QA Works dates the new shape to 1953 and ranks it between the other two versions in rarity. Collection Appareils gives 1953 to about 1958, a production of about 1,000 and a weight of 472 g, and says the lens was meant for the Minolta-35 Model II and IIB. It fits the earlier bodies just the same. Leica Copies Japan's photograph of this version comes from the Minolta Cameras brochure of about 1955–56.

Serial-range notes

Four-digit (about 2,9xx–5,5xx): Early lenses. miyou55mane's first count ran from 2,941 to 3,720 and was later extended to 5,502. Leica Copies Japan's 315x–491x falls inside that. These are lenses the authors have seen, not factory allocations.
1,200,001–1,200,5xx: Late lenses without the ©. Leica Copies Japan has seen 120020x–120053x (1,200,200–1,200,539), miyou55mane 1,200,122–1,200,193. Collection Appareils starts the block at 1,200,001. Chiyoda Kogaku used the 1,200,xxx block for other lenses too: the Super Rokkor 5cm f/2 (second version) and 5cm f/1.8, the late Rokkor 3.5cm f/3.5, and the Super A's bayonet 3.5cm f/3.5 and 5cm f/1.8 (miyou55mane). A 1,200,xxx number identifies this lens only with its engraving.

Specifications

Formula: 4 elements in 3 groups (Leica Copies Japan; Lens QA Works; JA Wikipedia; Collection Appareils); telephoto type (テレ型) per JA Wikipedia
Construction: 4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range: f/4–f/32
Diaphragm blades: 10
Min. focus: 2.5 m
Filter: 40 mm
Years manufactured: 1949
Country: Japan
Coating: Coated. Early lenses carry a blue © on the barrel and a red © on the beauty ring; the late 1,200,xxx lenses have no © (Leica Copies Japan)

What reviewers say

Lens QA Works (minolta.su) (blog) — Tested early lens No. 3157 on a Sony A7II: quite average results, short of sharpness at every distance, with visible pincushion distortion but lower than usual coma and chromatic aberration and attractive bokeh. Good for vintage-style portraits within the limits of its sharpness and 2.5 m close focus; a lens for touching history more than for image quality.
Lens QA Works (minolta.su), comparison with the Minolta MD 135mm f/2.8 (blog) — The same No. 3157 against a 1980s MD 135mm f/2.8 at long distance: the Chiyoko cannot match it, and the reviewer presents the test as a demonstration of how far Japanese optics moved between the 1940s and the 1980s rather than a fair contest.

History

The Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f/4 was the longest of the first accessory lenses for the Minolta-35, the Leica-thread rangefinder that Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko (Chiyoko, renamed Minolta in 1962) brought out in 1947 by Camera-wiki’s account. JA Wikipedia, citing Classic Camera Senka, miyou55mane and Lens QA Works all date it to 1949. It joined the Super Rokkor 45mm f/2.8 and 8.5cm f/2.8 and the Tele Rokkor 11cm f/5.6. It has four elements in three groups, a telephoto type according to JA Wikipedia, and stops down to f/32 with ten blades and taking 40 mm filters. The barrel is engraved in centimetres, ‘Chiyoko TELE ROKKOR 1:4 f=13.5cm’. miyou55mane links the slow aperture to the camera: the first bodies had an effective rangefinder base of only 13 mm, so the standard lens and both telephotos were kept slow. The same writer judges that even then the 135mm’s focusing accuracy falls short on a Minolta-35. Leica Copies Japan gives 13.2 mm for the Models A and B, 28 mm from the Model C to the Model II, and 32 mm for the IIB (miyou55mane, Hayata Camera Lab and the Ei Mook 735 table instead keep the 0.33x finder on the Models C and D and put the larger finder at the Model E).

Two versions are documented by physical examples. The early lens has a four-digit serial (Leica Copies Japan has seen 315x–491x, miyou55mane 2,941–5,502). It carries a blue © on the barrel and a red © on the beauty ring, Chiyoda’s marks for a coated lens, and focuses to 2.5 m / 8 ft. This is the version usually offered. The late lens, from 1953 according to Lens QA Works, has a seven-digit serial in the 1,200,xxx block and no © at all. Its front bezel is slightly stepped and its aperture and focusing rings are new, with the focusing ring ribbed all the way round. Collection Appareils puts its production at about 1,000, hedged, and its end at about 1958. Lens QA Works also describes a very rare first version with a dull chrome ring at the mount and a 2.0 m close focus. Leica Copies Japan has never seen one, and this page does not list it as a variant until one is shown. Published weights differ by version: 435 g for an early lens (Lens QA Works) and 472 g for a late one (Collection Appareils), against the brochures’ 520 g.

The lens fits any Leica-thread body and couples to its rangefinder. No Minolta-35 has frame lines, so Chiyoda supplied the lens with its own 135mm finder, marked in millimetres; a clamp-on hood was made for it as an extra. Leica Copies Japan gives the Leica III an effective base of 58.5 mm, about twice that of a Model C to Model II, so the lens is easier to focus accurately on a Leica. Lens QA Works tested an early lens, No. 3157, on a Sony A7II. It found the lens quite average, short of sharpness at every distance and with visible pincushion distortion, but with lower than usual coma and colour fringing and pleasant bokeh. The reviewer sees it as a lens for vintage-style portraits and for its history rather than for image quality. In a later comparison the same lens was clearly beaten by a 1980s Minolta MD 135mm f/2.8.

When buying, check that the serial and the markings agree: a four-digit serial with the blue and red ©, or a 1,200,xxx serial with none. A lens claimed as the rare first version should show the dull mount ring and a 2 m mark on its scale. Do not confuse it with the Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f/4.5 for the Minolta Super A, which has a bayonet and will not fit a Leica-thread body. Check the helicoid for smooth travel and the glass for haze and cleaning marks. The matching finder, case and hood add to a set. No period list price has been found. As one recent result, a lot titled ‘Chiyoko TELE ROKKOR 1:4 f＝13.5cm’ closed on Yahoo! Auctions in August 2026 at ¥4,200 after three bids, with light marks noted.

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

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Chiyoko Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f/4 (Leica screw mount)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Tele Rokkor 13.5cm 1:4 Chiyoko For Early Minolta Rangefinder - #3639 - Vintage — $286.00 · eBay
Tele Rokkor 13.5cm f/4 Lens LTM/M39 Minolta Chiyoko w/Viewfinder + Case — $375.00 · eBay

Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.