Tomioka badging/rebadging question
Aug 6, 2021 23:56:22 GMT
on Aug 6, 2021 23:56:22 GMT
Last Edit: Aug 7, 2021 0:03:38 GMT by lumiworx
Okay... If you zoom down to the photo, you'll wonder what it has to do with the topic title. If you'll bear with some observations, it should make a little more sense. It's obvious that Tomioka put their own name on gear as a sort of co-branding on several lenses - including Yashica glass - and it's generally accepted that they produced either complete lenses, or optical assemblies/components/elements for several other brands over many decades. The photo here is more of a trigger for the questions to come, than any hint of a suggestion that anything in it could be contributed to Tomioka... but...
The lens I used to shoot the photo is the 60mm Macro Yashinon Tomioka M42 lens, which was itself rebadged and sold by Ricoh as the Rikenon 60mm, and also as a Mamiya Macro Sekor 60mm. The camera in the photo is a rebadged Ricoh 500G, (this one, in black paint) and carries the Sears 35|RF model badge. The first few Ricoh 500's had Tomioka glass in them, as did the similar "Jet". The focal length on this one isn't in the size I'd expect if it was a reworked Tomioka lens setup, but it did get me wondering about a couple of things.
Did Tomioka lenses ever show up in any rebadged rangefinders after they were acquired by Yashica -and- after that same event, was there any further SLR lenses made by Tomioka and sold under other brands? They did do lenses for rangefinders early on (for at least Mamiya and Ricoh), and obviously they made SLR lenses for private branding, ala Porst and Revuenon, but did they stop working as a contract partner with others after they merged with Yashica?
Sadly, the rangefinder has become unlinked, and there's no battery cap - but it looks very sleek and understated for a Sears...
The lens I used to shoot the photo is the 60mm Macro Yashinon Tomioka M42 lens, which was itself rebadged and sold by Ricoh as the Rikenon 60mm, and also as a Mamiya Macro Sekor 60mm. The camera in the photo is a rebadged Ricoh 500G, (this one, in black paint) and carries the Sears 35|RF model badge. The first few Ricoh 500's had Tomioka glass in them, as did the similar "Jet". The focal length on this one isn't in the size I'd expect if it was a reworked Tomioka lens setup, but it did get me wondering about a couple of things.
Did Tomioka lenses ever show up in any rebadged rangefinders after they were acquired by Yashica -and- after that same event, was there any further SLR lenses made by Tomioka and sold under other brands? They did do lenses for rangefinders early on (for at least Mamiya and Ricoh), and obviously they made SLR lenses for private branding, ala Porst and Revuenon, but did they stop working as a contract partner with others after they merged with Yashica?
Sadly, the rangefinder has become unlinked, and there's no battery cap - but it looks very sleek and understated for a Sears...