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on Dec 15, 2016 13:06:47 GMT
Posted: Dec 15, 2016 13:06:47 GMT
Hi Folks,
Although I'm looking for the late version Auto Yashinon-DX 50 f2, I received this beauty in the company of a Yashica J-P yesterday from MW Classic Cameras, along with another Petri Orikkor Kuribayashi 50mm f2. The DX is amazing!
It is tack sharp and produces great contrast. It also looks nice in chrome on the Olympus E-PM1; it was then popped onto an E-M1 and the E-PM1 was photographed, hand-held at f2, through the DX lens to produce the second image. It seems that the 50mm f2 DX and ML lenses are both star performers; I'll check one of the C/Y DX 50 f2s to see if it matches them. The DX 50 f2 has some rave reviews out on the web...I can now see why!
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on Dec 15, 2016 22:54:26 GMT
Posted: Dec 15, 2016 22:54:26 GMT
Cool. Nice to know, since most people will prefer 1,7 and 1,4 versions.
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on Dec 16, 2016 0:10:47 GMT
Posted: Dec 16, 2016 0:10:47 GMT
Cool. Nice to know, since most people will prefer 1,7 and 1,4 versions. Yes - and I'm afraid I was one of the 'speed snobs' always favouring 1.2s and 1.4s. In my defence, I was photographing indoor sports back in the 1970s and because one could not use flash, fast lenses and Ektachrome (or GAF500) pushed a stop and half was the only way to get results. It's been just over 35 years since my first book was published in the UK and USA and it could not have been produced without those f1.4 Zeiss wide, standard and portrait lenses along with the occasional f2 28mm, 100mm and 135mm.
Now that photography is a hobby again, you can get to try things out for pleasure more than purpose. And I will be eternally grateful to this Forum and its many Members for opening my eyes to the joys of Yashica glass and the variety of their cameras; I only had genuine experience of the FR series which was a back up for the old Contax RTS' bodies. If it was not for the informed comments of our Members and the rich content of this Forum, I would have missed a whole world of photographic pleasures; now I can shoot with cameras that take you from the Pentamatic right through to the SL400R. Great fun - and still more to learn...
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on Dec 17, 2016 17:52:18 GMT
Posted: Dec 17, 2016 17:52:18 GMT
...and i still have the feeling, when Graham here says, Lens xy is stunning! The Prices would go up after a while..because this forum might be small, but google, bing & other searchengines easily found these posts, too many are reading that, and then it'll raise...nothing bad meant.
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on Dec 18, 2016 3:35:57 GMT
Posted: Dec 18, 2016 3:35:57 GMT
...and i still have the feeling, when Graham here says, Lens xy is stunning! The Prices would go up after a while..because this forum might be small, but google, bing & other searchengines easily found these posts, too many are reading that, and then it'll raise...nothing bad meant. Me and my big mouth....
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on Dec 18, 2016 18:34:44 GMT
Posted: Dec 18, 2016 18:34:44 GMT
No sweat--just got one off the bay for 15,50 euros plus postage.
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on Dec 18, 2016 19:42:12 GMT
Posted: Dec 18, 2016 19:42:12 GMT
IS it that much better than the DX 1,7 version? ( Which I am about to buy ... attached to a camera )
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on Dec 18, 2016 23:18:10 GMT
Posted: Dec 18, 2016 23:18:10 GMT
It is slightly better in edge-to-edge definition but the DX 1.7 is a very good lens; it has a reputation for flare problems however.
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on Dec 18, 2016 23:37:46 GMT
Posted: Dec 18, 2016 23:37:46 GMT
No sweat--just got one off the bay for 15,50 euros plus postage. I hope you like it! Show us some piccies if you can find the time....
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on Dec 18, 2016 23:45:37 GMT
Posted: Dec 18, 2016 23:45:37 GMT
It is slightly better in edge-to-edge definition but the DX 1.7 is a very good lens; it has a reputation for flare problems however. I know where to buy hoods :-) In another recent post I mention 2 websites where we can compare Zeiss and ML glass. I see very little differences between the two brands. I see a LOT of difference in pricing... I know what choice I will keep making. I do have a Planar to which I can compare my Yashica 50's lenses...
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on Dec 19, 2016 1:51:14 GMT
Posted: Dec 19, 2016 1:51:14 GMT
Hi tts,
You are quite right about Yashica ML lenses being of near identical quality to Zeiss glass where like-for-like exist; the only time this may prove false is under extreme lighting where the Zeiss T* coating is recognised as being slightly better than the ML. However, as I have only recently discovered, if you go back to some of the old DS-M lenses, their coatings are as effective as the T* in providing flare resistance and high contrast. We live and learn...
Where Zeiss has the edge is largely in lenses for which Yashica can't (or has chosen not to) compete such as the super-fast 1.2 Planars, the 1.4 35mm and 85mm, and the f2 28mm, 100mm, 135mm and 200mm lenses. The only lenses where Yashica and Zeiss have a like-for-like (or very close) sibling and Zeiss is far superior is the 21mm Distagon (sharpest wide-angle of all time) and the Distagon 15mm (a true wide-angle unlike the ML) and the 16mm F-Distagon which is the fish-eye equivalent of the ML 15mm.
Those lenses that Yashica produces that ace Zeiss glass are its ML 35mm, ML 55 2.8 Macro (superior to the 60 C-Planar thought not the S-Planar), 60mm Tomioka Yashinon (sharper even than the S-Planar) and 500mm f8 ML and Reflex. In my opinion, the ML 35-70 f3.5 is even sharper than the famed Zeiss 35-70 f4 and the ML 70-210 f4 is as sharp and distortion-free as the greatest 70-210 ever made, the Zeiss VS 70-210 f3.5 Macro and superior to the VS 80-200 f4.
And Yashica produced one of the finest zooms ever produced - the ML 28-50. In fact you can make a good case for the Yashica ML zooms as offering a better choice (and much better value than Zeiss) as the following are among the best, sharpest and least expensive out there: 28-50, 28-85, 35-70 f3.5, 35-70 f4, 35-105, 75-150, 75-210 f4 and 100-300. And it seems we should add in certain production runs of the 28-210 as well.
I love my Zeiss lenses as they never let me down and the only ones I haven't owned are the 60 C-Planar, 100 f3.5, 210mm N-Mirotar and 1000mm f5.6 Mirotar. As many Members have commented, Yashica's ML lenses are excellent performers BUT some models have production inconsistencies; oddly, we should be grateful for them as it is the negative comments from one-off users that get reported most commonly and that helps to keep prices low...
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on Dec 19, 2016 12:27:29 GMT
Posted: Dec 19, 2016 12:27:29 GMT
The thing is,.... When I present an image to a customer, can he or she tell the difference?
Of course I like 1,4 glass. Ik had the 1,4 35 and 50 and 85 Nikkors, back then... And the 1,7 85 Rokkor. So I know the benefits of faster glass. And the cost. ML glass, for now, is a no-brainer.
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on Dec 24, 2016 8:35:30 GMT
Last Edit: Dec 24, 2016 8:37:34 GMT by lenslover
Even it's not a Yashica or ML Series Lens - one can seriously consider the Minolta MD III 35-70/3.5 lens...into the Dpreview Forum, one made a comparsion between this lens and the famous Contax Zeiss C/Y 35-70/3.4 - and as i do know since the late 90's, the two lenses perform virtually identical, the Minolta is at least 95% the same IQ, or perhaps sometimes even a fraction better at different apertures & focal lengths, but it costs only usually 1/10 of the Zeiss lens, and comes into way handy, because it does weight much less, and is a two-touch zoom instead of one Zoom Ring for Focus, and being a Push-Pull Design (which i dislike - also i do like my 35-70/3.5 ML, but the ML stays into the cupboard, whileas the MD goes onto the field with my camera & myself. (and i do have a spare copy mint, of course) Well, i don'twant to praise the Minolta Zoom, as others discovered this also during the past 10+ years onto the Net. It's also F3.5 constant aperture, but a mixed Metal/Plastic build. Graham...sshhhhh.....you'd push prices up, again! Merry Xmas to you all! Marc
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on Dec 30, 2016 12:34:37 GMT
Posted: Dec 30, 2016 12:34:37 GMT
I, for one, currently use a digital camera with a focal reduction. In that case 1.4 lens doesn't have an obvious advantage over an f2. At 1.4 I get a brighter middle and lots of vignetting. Less sharp too. I think those 1.8-2 lenses are a sweet spot - little aberrations and lots of light. I can see on youtube that this Yashinon breathes a lot while focusing. It's propably not for me, but I'll have my eye on this topic I wonder what the flares are like.
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on Jan 1, 2017 1:17:55 GMT
Posted: Jan 1, 2017 1:17:55 GMT
The lens renders OOF areas like a Summicron. Really, it does.
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