Playing With Lenses: March 2019

Friday, 22 March 2019

The middle of the road: Yashica Lens ML Zoom 35-105 1: 3.5-4.5

Cost: $19.99 (average market price $34.99)

And here is my first review of a Yashica lens. Let's start softly with a standard push'n pull zoom lens. Now, this is an ML lens, so positioned as a professional lens from Yashica (DBS being the cheaper commercial lenses), but it's still a zoom lens from the 1960's - 1970's, so probably not as good as today's standards.

It's a nice looking lens, resembling a little bit the Pentax-M lenses from the same era. And as the Pentax lenses, it feels very smooth for both the focus as aperture rings. Zoom has a nice resistance to it, allowing for precise zooming, and avoiding any lens creep. Although not marketed as a Macro lens, it does have a Macro dial, limiting the focus length to 1.9 M.

Compared to the Zeiss lens available for the Contax lens mount, this lens is much smaller, and still providing a very useful range of focal lengths. It's not a fast lens, but not slow either for a zoom lens of the time.

Contrast is good, and color rendition is beautiful but not always consistent. Every now and then, the camera did a different and unexpected white balance. It's fairly sharp. especially in Macro mode, but gets a little soft in the corners. Little color aberration in the middle, but a strong yellow aberration on the left, and a purple one on the right.

Another problem, or gift if you like it, is that the lens is very prone to lens flares. I did not shoot with a hood, but it might be recommended if you want to avoid it. But if you are looking for lens flares, for special effects, this is a good lens to achieve it with.

So, not a bad lens, but not a great lens neither. I might keep it for now, as I think Yashica ML lenses are one of those interesting lens collections that are worthwhile collecting, with a small hope of one day having a complete collection.

Yashica DSB lenses are single coated, ML lenses are multi coated (ML stands for Multi-Layer) and were later renamed as MC for Multi Coated. Contrary to the quality jump from DSB to ML, there is no distinguishable quality difference between ML and MC lenses.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 35-105mm

Maximum Aperture: F3.5-4.5
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: Yashica/Contax
Optics: 15 lenses in 11 groups
Blades: 6
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 150cm, closer with Macro setting
Filter Size: 55mm
Weight: 467g
Length: 85-90mm
Production: 1960's
Serial Number: 1267529
Made in: Japan

More information on: Yashica

Samples

1/40 sec - ISO6400 - Handheld

1/60 sec - ISO6400 - Handheld

1/80 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/320 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/250 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/640 sec - ISO100 - Handheld - Cropped

1/80 sec - ISO100 - Handheld

1/60 sec - ISO250 - Handheld

1/60 sec - ISO640 - Handheld - Cropped

1/60 sec - ISO200 - Handheld

1/60 sec - ISO250 - Handheld

1/60 sec - ISO200 - Handheld

Sources:
PetaPixel
cdegroot.com
flikr.com

Monday, 4 March 2019

Third time a charm? Tokyo Kogaku UV Topcor 1:4 200mm

Cost: $22 (average market price $40)

As I still really like the looks of the Topcor UV lenses, I just had to try another one, despite of having weak reviews of the 135mm and the 53mm Topcor UV lenses. There is very little known about this lens with almost no review and not even sample pictures on flickr.com. And that's a shame, as although this lens isn't a great one, it does have some features resembling much more expensive and legendary lenses.

But let's first take a look the esthetics of the lens itself. Again a beautiful mat black body, with nicely brushed aluminium at the bottom. The lens also has nice build-in hood, that extends easily but with some screaking noises. And, as we are used with the Topcor UV lenses, the aperture is not within the lens, but in the camera body where it can be shared with other lenses, saving on the development and build costs. But is does result in a very clean look.

Handling is good with smooth focussing. Setting the aperture on the adapter is a little confusing, as there is no scale. But on a mirrorless camera, with a live viewfinder, it's easy to see when the aperture is open or closed. The lens is not to heavy for a 200mm, but with the adapter, also not a short lens.

This lens is reasonable sharp, but not a sharpness beast. Let's say it acceptable. Colors are nice and the lens provide adequate contrast. There does seem to be some vignetting in the corner, but I'm guessing I will start to see that a little more now that I'm using a full-frame camera.

But where this lens really set itself apart is the bokeh. Although not as prevalent as on some of the Helios lenses, or the expensive Petzval lenses, it does provide a little of a "swirly" bokeh. Enough to make this lens very unique in it's rendering, and therefore worthwhile to have.

So in short, not a great lens, but special enough to warrant a spot in my collection. A keeper, and a deserved spot in collection of Topcor UV lenses.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 200mm

Maximum Aperture: F4.0
Minimum Aperture: 22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: UV Topcor
Optics: unknown
Blades: 5
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 600cm
Filter Size: 65mm
Weight: 510g
Length: 115-121mm (add 40mm for lens hood)
Production: 1960's
Serial Number: 1267529
Made in: Japan

More information on: Topcon

Samples: