2026-09-16 Kitstar Multicoated 135mm f/2.8 Lens and the Origins of "Kit's Camera"

    Nine months ago I bought this Kitstar Multicoated 135mm f/2.8 lens. I initially got sidetracked into doing a page on the name “Kit's Camera” (included at end). Then, as I was reviewing the state of various files as the year comes to an end, I discovered I hadn’t really covered this lens.
    As you probably know Kitstar was not a noted lens manufacturer. Instead Kitstar was a retail name slapped on an optic from offshore. I didn’t manage to find anything on the internet under the Kitstar brand, so I tried searches including—

• 135 mm
• f/2.8
• multicoated
• 8-bladed aperture
• 55 mm filter size
• front separate ring for the MACRO range
• Nikon AI mount

I found a similar lens branded “Sears” assembled by Samyang in Korea. 
    This Kitstar lens is not identical to the Sears—it differs in the focus and MACRO ring details—but those features are easily changed.

    The Macro ring is particularly neat. When you can’t get any closer than the slightly under 1.5 m (5 feet) of the main focus ring, you can twist the Macro ring located at the very front of the lens.

    It is calibrated 1:4.5, 1:5 and 1:7. What is mentioned—and this is really a big feature—is moving the Macro ring the slightest bit makes the highlights “glow”. As soon as the front element moves away from the other elements the light starts to bounce around and that diffusion of light changes everything.

    Note too how the aperture blades have both curved and sharp corners. This could add to the glow, but I am not as sure of this effect. If you use the smaller apertures the glow does calm down. So as a beauty lens you can shoot wide open and watch wrinkles and shadows get a layer of glow added. Flower and any beauty diffusion effect—like misty looking harbours in the morning—are suddenly possible.

The Nikon AI mount is well made.

    The lens is painted and baffled to provide sharp, high contrast images when used stopped down outside. Same with flash shots. You could shoot a wedding’s couple and individual images with this lens without having to bring a diffusion filter along. 

    And if you do have to bring filters, the 55 mm filter this lens requires are cheaper than the 62 mm filters some other 135 mm lenses require. 

    This is the normal 50mm lens on a Nikon camera.

    This is the Kitstar Multicoated135mm f/2.8 mounted on the same camera.

Researching on the internet can turn up the same facts from different sources.  I suspected “Kitstar” had something to do with Kit's Camera, a chain I had heard of based in BC. So I tried to research “Kit's Camera”. Here is an example of four mentions of “Kit's Camera”. 

First mention—Blacks (a Canadian chain of camera stores) expanded into Western Canada and acquired 45 Kit's Camera stores in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan

Second mention—In 1997, Ritz Camera & Image (then Ritz Camera Centers Inc.) entered into negotiations with the head officials at Kit's Camera Inc., another specialty photography retail business. Kit's Camera Inc. was a Seattle-based retail business founded by Firoz Lalji (also known as Feroz "Phil" Lalji) in 1975 with over 140 stores at the time of acquisition. The company was seen as a competitor to Ritz Camera & Image at the time.

    During the same year, Ritz Camera & Image acquired Kit's Camera Inc. Following the acquisition, the total number of stores under Ritz Cameria & Image increased to 810 across 47 states.

Third mention—The purchase of Kit's Camera Inc. of Seattle gives Ritz 140 more stores — for a total of 810 locations in 47 states. The sale, for an undisclosed amount, was closed Monday.

    The deal is the latest in a recent series of acquisitions for the independent Ritz chain, which started as a portrait studio on the Atlantic City Boardwalk about 70 years ago and opened one of its first retail stores in Baltimore in the 1930s, said David Ritz, president and chief executive.

    “It’s a very good strategic fit for our company,” Ritz said. “We’ve been a national company for some time, but we’ve never been in the Northwest. And it’s a nice fill-in for us in the California area.”

    The Kit's stores, located in eight Western and Southwestern states, will keep their name as part of the deal. As do Ritz stores, they offer one-hour photo processing and photographic, digital and wireless products.

    Firoz Lalji, Kits president and chief executive, started the chain with four stores in Seattle in 1975. The specialty stores have faced competition over the years, first from catalog houses, then from discounters such as Wal-Mart.

    “The industry’s going through consolidation, and I’m at an age where I have other business interests,” in computers and real estate, said Lalji, 50. “For me, this was an opportune time to make the change. I was delighted to go with Ritz, the largest in the U.S.” Baltimore Sun

Forth mention—1997—Ritz Camera Centers acquires Kit's Camera, Inc. (140 stores) of Seattle, WA.