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Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Jun 5, 2014 11:33:51 GMT
Posted: Jun 5, 2014 11:33:51 GMT
Since first using C/Y gear back in 1977 I have acquired hundreds of brochures, manuals and also articles from photo magazines from the period. I was re-reading a few yesterday, trying once more to find an image of the fabled ML 400mm lens when I spotted something I'd missed - a zoom for which I have no record, other than the listing in the US retailer's catalogue. They had the legendary ML 70-210 f4 (expensive even then) and then the surprise: a ML 38-90mm. Has anyone here ever heard of it/seen it/owned it? It looks like Yashica's answer to the 2nd Zeiss zoom for the RTS, the VS 40-80 f3.5, albeit with a superior focal range. I'm intrigued..
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on Jul 16, 2014 8:24:38 GMT
Posted: Jul 16, 2014 8:24:38 GMT
Is it possible that there is confusion between the ML & DSB designations?
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Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Jul 16, 2014 13:31:36 GMT
Posted: Jul 16, 2014 13:31:36 GMT
Is it possible that there is confusion between the ML & DSB designations? I have to assume it's a misprint as I can't find any reference for it.
It might be the same as for the ML 400mm - prototypes were made, they were shown in some brochures, but production was abandoned... Though why the retailer would be advertising it remains a mystery - I'm sure you are right about some kind of error.
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Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Dec 1, 2014 20:34:57 GMT
Posted: Dec 1, 2014 20:34:57 GMT
I think we may be getting closer to determining the untimely demise of this great lens.
It appears that it was made by Tomioka (great quality) like many of the early ML and Zeiss Japanese lenses. It was the cost of manufacturing (a highly complex zoom with very high levels of correction and remarkably even illumination) that was the problem and the line was given over to manufacturing the new Zeiss VS 80-200 f4. It appears that, with the exception of the Macro cams and extra collectors for the Zeiss VS 70-210, it carried a near identical optical formula to that superb Vario-Sonnar which would make it 13-10 or possibly 13-11. Can't be definitive yet but I'm hoping to get nearer to the truth.
Needless to say, if you come across a ML 70-210 f4, buy it!
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