Working on a catalogue of 3rd party lenses for the Pentax K-mount obviously I also came across Rexatar lenses. From the very few bits and pieces that can be found on the internet regarding this brand, I derive that Rexatar was a brand used by a large Chicago based photo store called "Prinz". Some 30 years ago it was usual for larger photo chains or stores to sell Japanese OEM lenses under a private brand name. Better known examples are:
- Centon (Jessops)
- Focal (Kmart)
- Miranda (Dixons)
- Prinzflex (Dixons)
- Revue (Foto Quelle, Germany)
- Sears (Sears)
- Quantaray (Ritz)
- Weltblick (Neckermann, Germany)
Some of these brands exist even to this day, most of them have disappeared for good reasons. One thing is common for all of them: They neither designed nor produced any lens themselves. They only rebadged what came from the factories of the likes of Cosina, Tomioka, Chinon, Kino Precision, Ricoh, Samyang,... Cheaper brands were the first to adopt Hongkong and China mainland crap, Quelle sold a bunch of stuff from Russia. Most of the rebadge-brands frequently changed the supplier, purchased excess stock from OEMs and used all possible sources they could get. This explains why e.g. there are more than 5 different Sears 135/2.8 and even more 28/2.8 around.
In short: It is very likely that your friendīs Rexatar lens is mediocre to average or below...
Similar Threads 
