Sears OM 80-200 f4, The name behind the glass

Sears Branded
Mfg by Tonkina Japan
RMC Multicoating
80-200mm
f4-22
6 Bladed aperature (decent bokeh)

Back in the 70's Sears was a name that stood for quality, and with respect to lenses, like Vivitar, simply commissioned third party manufactures to create lenses under their brand.

From a marketing standpoint, lenses such as Sears, Mongomery Ward, and others are generally considered junk or cheap by name alone. This is a clearly a mis-understood belief and a little knowledge goes a long way for those willing to bag a prize gem for pocket change.

When I saw this particular lens on ebay, I did a little comparative research by simplying searching for other 80-200 f4 at the very same site. Lo and behold I discovered an RMC Tokina 80-200 f4, with 55mm thread, that was a mirror image of the Sears. Suddenly the circumstances changed, as I was now bidding on an RMC Tokina and not a "Sears" lens.

However, it doesn't end there. The lens was $50 or best offer, and had the following notice:

"This lens is priced low because of either coating defects or early signs of fungus on the front element.  We don't know whether this will affect picture quality.  It is a good pet project for someone who knows what to do."

So I offered $10 and it was accepted.

Upon receiving the lens I noted it's pristine condition and then saw the "coating issue". It was so bad that it looked like the bottom of a coke bottle. I grabbed my tools and a beer and sat down to see what was up.

Within minutes I knew the issue: Lubricant outgassing.

The "coating issue" behind the first element. \

I removed three screws around the perifery of the lens front.

Using a spoon (or dull flat metal object), I loosen the focus grip.

Carefully rolling the grip back I expose the front element cover retaining screws.

I remove the screws...

...and the front element cover falls free (including two small brackets).

Here the front element assembly unscrews easily from the focus helicoid.
(I note an unusual amount of white lithium grease).

Here we can see the greasy side of element, either via creep or outgassing from a hot day.
The entire interior of the front assembly was covered.

I unscrewed the front element retaining ring and cleaned the front and back elements with alcohol.
Much better.

It seems that someone else had serviced this lens, using too much lubricant, or more likely, the lens had froze from years of disuse, and someone injected oil or other chemical to free it up. In which case, it broke down the lube which eventually wound up coating the inside the of the lens.

One other issue would have been a very hot day causing the lubricant to thin and creep on the lens as well. Either way, ample amounts of alcohol was needed to remove the grease from the interior of the lens.

Once cleaned the lens was like new, and as a Tokina build, a very sharp and contrasty lens.

Flare is controlled well when not pointed directly at the sun, and a hood would certainly benefit.

Colors pop from this lens, thanks to Tokina's RMC (Rainbow Multi-Coating), and require little to no post processing.

This lens performs well wide open at f4, very good for a 'consumer' lens.

Looks like I bagged another deal.

-Keep Shooting