Group: Moderator
Post: 2,038 (562 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on Sept 12, 2022 10:34:18 GMT
Posted: Sept 12, 2022 10:34:18 GMT
Graham ,many thanks for uploading the image (something I'd failed to achieve) I'd not picked up on the odd serial number but was intrigued by the focal length being designated in cm. rather than mm. The full stop after the " S" is much smaller and not as deep compared to the one after " No". Maybe of no relevance but might fit with your idea that the beauty ring was altered at some point. The lens is very clean and mechanics are very smooth and there is very little sign of use. Adrian Hi Adrian, Many lenses from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s had their focal lengths shown in cms and there are lots of Yashica examples to be seen. I'm not sure exactly when the more familiar use of millimetres became widespread but by the time Yashica introduced the Auto Yashinon DX range, most if not all, showed mm. I think for 35mm SLRs, the Super-Yashinon R and Auto Yashinon were the last to favour cm.
|
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,038 (562 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on Sept 13, 2022 9:13:23 GMT
Posted: Sept 13, 2022 9:13:23 GMT
I have received responses from both Chris Whelan and Paul Sokk.
Paul has a partial database of Yashica lens serial numbers (he is however more focused on TLRs, Pentamatics and the YE/YF series); he has six Auto Yashinon lenses with the S prefix and they are all 5cm f2 types (and were found on J-P bodies). So, it would appear that many but not all Auto Yashinon standard lenses had a S prefix. Indeed, there are two distinctly different versions of the lens with the ones having the curious prefix appearing to be manufactured later than the others when looking at the fonts used on the dress rings.
BUT - and I think it's a BIG but - all of those 5cm f2 S lenses do not have your dot between the letter and the digits. Chris and I have speculated that your lens may be a factory serviced lens, perhaps to correct some significant damage, and that prefix may indicate just that. Until we can find further copies of the same lens, or a different lens with the same prefix as yours, it remains nothing more than a theory. I have been unable to find any documentation on Yashica's policy in the 1960s on numbering/re-numbering products that have had major repairs or upgrades. I'll keep digging.
You've set quite a large hare running!
|
|
Group: Member
Post: 29 (5 liked)
Join date: August 2021
Status:
|
|
on Sept 13, 2022 13:15:34 GMT
Posted: Sept 13, 2022 13:15:34 GMT
Thanks again for doing all this digging.
|
|
Group: Member
Post: 29 (5 liked)
Join date: August 2021
Status:
|
|
on Sept 13, 2022 17:02:24 GMT
Posted: Sept 13, 2022 17:02:24 GMT
|
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,038 (562 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on Sept 13, 2022 17:45:03 GMT
Posted: Sept 13, 2022 17:45:03 GMT
Thank you for that. So, the plot thickens...
|
|
Group: Member
Post: 29 (5 liked)
Join date: August 2021
Status:
|
|
on Sept 15, 2022 19:55:03 GMT
Last Edit: Sept 15, 2022 19:57:14 GMT by adr
linkanother S prefix - mount not stated
|
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,038 (562 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on Sept 16, 2022 10:17:21 GMT
Posted: Sept 16, 2022 10:17:21 GMT
linkanother S prefix - mount not stated Many thanks for the link; that's the highest serial number yet and is beginning to suggest that the S prefix (with or without a dot) is actually normal for this lens. It looks like, for some reason, Yashica used the prefix to indicate the progression from the pre-set Super Yashinon-R predecessor to the new auto version seen here. With the 5cm f2 version, the prefix was eventually dropped prior to the arrival of DX lenses; I suspect that with the much smaller number of 3.5cm lenses produced, the prefix remained until the change to the DX series. Of course, this being Yashica, we will now almost certainly discover an Auto Yashinon 3.5cm f2.8 lens without the S..... But at least it's looking less likely that the S indicated a factory-serviced lens.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,370 (301 liked)
Join date: February 2017
Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
|
|
on Sept 16, 2022 17:53:08 GMT
Last Edit: Sept 16, 2022 17:59:22 GMT by lumiworx
In order to get some context...Is there anything about the construction or optical design and layout of the 'S.' prefix lenses that are different than their earlier and/or later siblings that although they might appear to be the same cosmetically , they really aren't the same on the inside. Namely, the beauty ring, bezel, or whatever name may be appropriate - in terms of how that piece/assembly/section itself is put together, and how it's meant to be assembled and disassembled. My brain automatically goes to the "why" question first when it comes to the physical and mechanical design, and what reasons might be in play for them to be presented in the way they are, and how that might inform the construction in some way.
Could it be that the reason behind such an obvious deviation in sequencing the serial numbers is meant to be a visible queue to how that series is constructed, an in turn, how that difference informs a repairman that a different procedure may be needed to disassemble the particular lens series - or even how to collimate it on a bench. This might have been a transitional lens on the inside that fit into the same basic package seen on the outside, and it was visually announced on the ring with an innocuous change in the sequence.
It seems that any of the similar and standard Auto Yashinon models (no '-R' or Supers, or DS/DX/DS-M's) have a beauty ring where there is ample spacing in the serial number layout to accommodate the "S.' prefix as an afterthought, that's stamped in separately in a secondary process. That to me means there's intent, and it signifies something in a very ambiguous visual way, but it does it without giving the lens a new "Dsomething" or '-R' family subtype to add any confusion for buyers.
The only other thing that comes to mind, is the serial and family schemes of Nikon (early non Ai), and Olympus OM lenses. Something included on the ring was meant to announce the optical layout, in the same way that "MC", "ML", or "DS-M" announced multi-coatings. I don't recall specifics on either brand, but I have no doubt some members here might be able to fill in that blank.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,370 (301 liked)
Join date: February 2017
Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
|
|
on Oct 17, 2022 14:00:53 GMT
Posted: Oct 17, 2022 14:00:53 GMT
I should soon be able to add one more mystery model into the "S" prefix serial number lens anomaly. However, in this case it won't be a Yashinon-R, and definitely not a 3.5cm, but a Yashinon Auto 13.5cm f/2.8 with chrome barrel and black aperture and focus rings. This also has me wondering if there might be other similar 'S' model 28mm as a Yashinon Auto model, or even some in the standard 5cm or 5.5cm sizes in the same Auto series. I'm beginning to get the impression that there may have been a large number of transitional lenses that were all given the "S" mark for a very specific reason. I'm just not sure what that reason was, or even if there was only one reason alone to prompt the change.
|
|
Group: Member
Post: 435 (15 liked)
Join date: July 2016
Status:
|
|
on Nov 27, 2022 16:30:10 GMT
Posted: Nov 27, 2022 16:30:10 GMT
Excellent ! I have the Zebra (black & white) design of the 50/1.7 Auto DX Yashinon, not the Super Yashinon-R 35mm F2.8 (from which at least 2 different designs exist, but perhaps more...), but also the 35/2.8 Auto Yashinon DX M42, and ML 35/2.8 C/Y. I'm wondering since the mid 80's, whileas the Yashinon is called "Super Yashinon R" myself - since it's M42, no "R" Mount...and what was super especially hereby? Or was it just marketing speech back then?
|
|