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on Mar 30, 2019 10:15:57 GMT
Posted: Mar 30, 2019 10:15:57 GMT
Very nice set you have there In my opinion, the camera was designed to be used by aliens from another galaxy, the location of the buttons makes no sense and the type either, very difficult to press, even the power switch is in a strange place. It feels plastiky but with a solid construction at the same time. It is ugly as hell (what with that gray-blue color??? xD ) but it works great, the lenses are very good and I was surprised for the sharp results of the 70-210 zoom. I am not much into AF and, like you, I bought it out of curiosity But I was not disappointed after using it for the first time. Enjoy your new toy!
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Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Apr 6, 2019 15:33:02 GMT
Posted: Apr 6, 2019 15:33:02 GMT
Your combination is a good one: the best of the cameras, and a very good zoom.
The 50mm is a pleasant performer - it's rather like the ML 50 1.9 in its rendition but that zoom is a gem. The camera takes a bit of getting used to and I hate the small, dedicated flash that sits atop the pentaprism: practical - well possibly, but aesthetically awful. I really think it's worth persevering with the primes:
Primes
The 24mm is a great performer and the 28mm is no slouch. The 60mm is simply stunning...it produces images almost on a par with my Tomioka Yashinon 60mm which is saying a lot!
As for the zooms, your 28-85 is very good; I also love the 35-105, 80-200 and 75-300. To be fair, Kyocera did not make a bad lens in the Yashica AF range but some are definitely superior to others. I've not used the 28-70 and 70-210 Power-Zooms yet as I've yet to pop a film into the Yashica 300 so I can't comment on them. There are a few non-Yashica lenses for this AF range too but the only one I use is the Sigma 400mm f5.6 which is pretty good from f8-f11; it offers good central definition at f5.6 but is a bit soft around the edges.
And don't forget that you can use all C/Y lenses and the Auto Bellows with the dedicated Adapter:
230 AF and ML 100 f4 Bellows
The Yashica AF 200, 270 and 300 cameras do what is asked of them but are not as sophisticated as the 230 although the 300 does offer a Panoramic capability. The AF system has gradually won me over. And don't forget that the best of the lenses can be used on a variety of digital cameras as quite a few adapters are out there.
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on Apr 6, 2019 18:33:47 GMT
Posted: Apr 6, 2019 18:33:47 GMT
Your combination is a good one: the best of the cameras, and a very good zoom.
...
And don't forget that the best of the lenses can be used on a variety of digital cameras as quite a few adapters are out there.
If the combination turned out to be a good one, I assure you it was entirely accidental. With the most basic curiosity fueling these purchases, I wasn't about to sink a lot into answering the questions I had. The 50mm was listed as a buy-it-now for less than the price of a burger and had dirt-cheap shipping, so I bought it - even though it was listed as untested, but cosmetically it looked good. After that I did a quick search on ebay, and I put the absolute cheapest Yashica AF camera/lens combo I could find in my watch list and eventually I was the only bidder. The total with shipping was less than a restaurant dinner for one and I still had no idea about its working condition, as it too was sold as 'untested'. As for the zoom... It had no description details on the lens and the only markings visible was the '28' on the lens barrel since the glass was capped, so I assumed it was the 28-70mm. I was pleasantly surprised when I was wrong, and equally surprised that a fresh battery brought it all to life. After your post, you've managed to trigger another round of questions, so I'm off to look for a Sony adapter. I've got a new (to me) A7R that's hungry for new glass. :)
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on Apr 6, 2019 19:24:07 GMT
Posted: Apr 6, 2019 19:24:07 GMT
One can use C/Y Lenses via Adapter, but there are huge limitations, which are: 1) the Adapter Cropfactor 2) the Adapter itself is very rare, quite often way expensive. 3) As i've written before, the cropfactor doesn't make sense at all to use ordinary C/Y Lenses onto the Yashica AF System.
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on Apr 7, 2019 9:23:54 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 7, 2019 11:32:20 GMT by lenslover
Alright, i do make a 3rd attempt with the orphaned Yashica AF System. I do like the Lenses from their quality, but not from their design. Anyway, i've just came along a Yashica 270 AF for a price, i couldn't resist. As i've had 2 230 AF since 87, (wrote by mistake i bought two AF 230 bodies before - but one was a FX3, the other the 230 AF) one into the release year, and one bought some time ago, i never went warm with the System, especially the 230 AF SLR quirks.
Let's see, if the 270 AF is really being better - at least, it does look more like a traditional SLR, and not like a plastic coal briquet, and the 300 AF looks like some Colani-designed or being inspired by SLR, which i do find aesthetically a lot awful. Still being requested, but into the End (have had 2 before) i may end up with 4 Lenses (two are Zooms) with the Yashica AF System.
I might get a 28-70 AF Zoom, which i've forgotten to mention here, but i do have really no use for this one, because it's a by-catch.
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on Apr 9, 2019 1:39:15 GMT
Posted: Apr 9, 2019 1:39:15 GMT
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on Apr 9, 2019 4:22:35 GMT
Posted: Apr 9, 2019 4:22:35 GMT
May I ask what film stock you used? I also checked the Flickr pages that were linked to the earlier photos posted by @gentlegiant , and noted that he used Agfa Precisa CT100 (= Fuji Provia 100) for his shots. From both your and Michael's samples, I don't see anything glaringly negative about the results. They all seem sharp enough and pretty contrasty for film, and I'll assume were auto-focused when taken. Astonishingly I don't see much in the way of chromatic aberrations, unless that was corrected in post. The only minor thing I noticed - on my monitor at least - is there's some slight color shifts (sky's are a pinch more turquoise-y) and I'm wondering if it's the film stock used, the glass formula of the lenses, or maybe it's just my monitor needing calibration. Sadly it might even be my tired eyes, but I doubt they'll accept screw-in filters to correct them.
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on Apr 9, 2019 23:14:17 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 9, 2019 23:15:44 GMT by Deleted
I can't speak for PF, of course, but to my mind neither chromatic aberrations nor color shifts are an issue with these lenses. If you should nevertheless detect funny colors in my samples, I guess it was me who produced them when scanning or in post.
Edit: possibly flickr may have something to answer for, too...
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on Apr 11, 2019 20:36:20 GMT
Posted: Apr 11, 2019 20:36:20 GMT
I can't speak for PF, of course, but to my mind neither chromatic aberrations nor color shifts are an issue with these lenses. If you should nevertheless detect funny colors in my samples, I guess it was me who produced them when scanning or in post.
Edit: possibly flickr may have something to answer for, too... ;)
To my eye, yours look fine in terms of color, and I should have clarified that better in the post. It was more a reference to the color stock you used, and wondering if PF used something different that would account for the slight difference between each of your sky colors. I suppose it could have a lot to do with the shooting location and time of year too, and yes I think flickr and others often muck about with images to the detriment of the original. I continued to dig up a few other posts on the web about Yashica AF cameras and samples, and found a guest article on Steve Huff's site. It had a few anecdotes in the comments section about one wrinkle in the film-to-digital process for introducing color issues with a 230 AF and lenses, and Kodak Elitechrome... specifically, the scanner and it's software. Something I should have been mindful of, and it's particularly relevant in my case, as I have 2 Epson scanners of my own that do it. I think there's always one link in whatever chain we use that can present a challenge, and I guess I can be thankful I don't stress out too badly when that link is usually me and what I do (or, don't do)!
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on Apr 12, 2019 17:43:02 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 12, 2019 17:52:01 GMT by lenslover
Yashica AF System, that i do own currently: Lenses: 70-210mm/F4.5 AF, 28-85mm/3.5-4.5 AF, 28mm/2.8 AF, 50mm/1.8 AF, 60mm macro/2.8 AF and 28-70, which i do consider a so-so lens, it can't compete with the 35-70, or 28-85 Zoom.Bodies: 230 & 270 AF. I dislike a) the Powerzooms, and b) the Sigma-made Lenses, which do have the "macro" inside the Name, but that doesn't go for the 60/2.8 AF, which is a 1:1 macro lens by design.Lumiworx, the AF 28-85/3.5-4.5 is being considered a fine Zoom Lens, but i can't speak (yet) if it would beat from image quality the 28-85/3.5-4.5 ML. There is only one Adapter, made by Fotox, which is for Fuji X-System. Sony E-Mount and mFT, whereas only E-Mount is a good Option, because of the FF usage possibility, but the Adapter does have a ring, to (very un-precisely) turning the aperture, and reviewers wrote, there are no sharp pictures possible with that adapter, at least on amazon.
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on Apr 13, 2019 2:30:17 GMT
Posted: Apr 13, 2019 2:30:17 GMT
Just before making that earlier post this morning, I put one of the FotoDiox Pro adapters on order. I think that's the same one you mention that comes in several mounts. I use Sony mirrorless bodies - an A7R and NEX-F3 - so I'll have a choice of using either full frame or cropped. I have several E-Mount adapters from multiple manufacturers, and a few of them are made by them as well. I can't say they're the best maker, but the only other one I've found to work with Yashica AF lenses is somewhat custom and far more pricey. It's made by Adriano Lolli in italy, at roughly 3 times the price - at €90. Here's a brief video of a mounting done with his adapter using a 50mm f/1.8 AF prime to a Sony NEX-3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSIHueAaj5kYou'll notice it's not exactly a slip-on, with a 1/8 twist and done kinda' setup, and it doesn't seem like it's meant to be used easily on more than one lens like any other adapters I've seen. If it ever comes time to seriously commit to something other than the FotoDiox, I'll need to think long and hard about having multiples at €90 each to have a permanent adapter latched to each lens, almost like a Leitax mount would be. I've seen no other adapters anywhere that accept Yashica AF lenses at all, so the choices are slim, at best. At least there's one plus... Since I had a wee bit coming back in ebay bucks, I got a fairly good discount on the FotoDiox adapter and won't have a lot of money tied up in it - or anything else, camera or lens-wise - if I don't want to dig myself a deeper AF hole. I haven't had any major issues so far with their other adapters for 35mm lenses I have, other than the usual past-infinity focusing stuff, but that's an issue with most of the lower cost adapters to some degree and I've learned to work around it. Their Bronica to Nikon F adapter is another story. It wasn't designed to accept any of the auxiliary lens gear, like tele-converters or macro tubes, but at least it's spot on for the focal flange distance with any of the ETR lenses. I can even double up adapters to go from Bronica to Nikon F to E-Mount, and be perfectly fine all the way to infinity. As I do have several 28-85 ML's I'll be able to do a side by side, which will give me a fair idea of the AF lenses capabilities in comparison too. Now that the weather is getting reasonable again, I'll post some images once everything's in place and I'm able to do some tests.
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on Apr 13, 2019 4:21:24 GMT
Posted: Apr 13, 2019 4:21:24 GMT
Hi Lumiworx,
i've just found the Lolli Adapter via Google Search, yesterday evening after work, but didn't mentioned it here, and yes, that's the video, because it's rather expensive, and not a usual adapter. I do use the A7, NEX5/6. I've not so good experience with Fotodiox Adapters, here it's either way K&F, or Novoflex.
I'd love to see a 1:1 image samples comparsion with the AF 28-85 vs the ML 28-85, if you can do this within the next couple days, or weeks, would be very appreciated, thanks much.
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on Apr 13, 2019 13:39:04 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 13, 2019 13:50:22 GMT by alex
I agree about the flash unit being a tad awkward on the AF230, but as head-on flash is almost invariably a waste of time, I leave it off and just use the CS250 anyway. At least there's always an option to get hold of another 110AF flash clip-on if it breaks, which isn't a possibility with the 270AF and its built-in flash, which is prone to failure.
It did take me a while to get used to the controls, but like anything else, once you have the familiarity, it just becomes second nature. It's a clunky looking camera, and no mistake, but I've found it solid and reliable in use, and the AF lenses surprised me with their quality, even though I'm used to the generally superb ML range in my manual Yashica cameras. There are all sorts of reasons why the YAF series didn't take off, but photographic quality is not among them.
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on Apr 14, 2019 20:38:37 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 14, 2019 20:40:10 GMT by lenslover
I got my Yashica 270 AF with the 28-70 AF Kitlens (not PowerZoom) for 15 EUR...mint, and with Leathercase.
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on Apr 15, 2019 2:20:45 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 15, 2019 2:23:12 GMT by ridgeblue99
May I ask what film stock you used? I also checked the Flickr pages that were linked to the earlier photos posted by @gentlegiant , and noted that he used Agfa Precisa CT100 (= Fuji Provia 100) for his shots. From both your and Michael's samples, I don't see anything glaringly negative about the results. They all seem sharp enough and pretty contrasty for film, and I'll assume were auto-focused when taken. Astonishingly I don't see much in the way of chromatic aberrations, unless that was corrected in post. The only minor thing I noticed - on my monitor at least - is there's some slight color shifts (sky's are a pinch more turquoise-y) and I'm wondering if it's the film stock used, the glass formula of the lenses, or maybe it's just my monitor needing calibration. Sadly it might even be my tired eyes, but I doubt they'll accept screw-in filters to correct them. I was using Kodak Gold 100 that had expired eight years earlier, though it was cold stored for most of that time (not frozen). Could account for the color shift. I quit using Fujifilm because it's expired color shift is much worse.
BTW, I do have at least one 270, and I could have swore I shot a test roll with it, but don't see anything in my Flickr for it. Might have to rectify that situation once I find the darn thing.
PF
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