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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:29 pm
Post subject: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:29 pm
Post subject: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Another fine lens from Tomioka: The Auto Chinon 50mm, f1.7. Not as sharp as a Pentax, but excellent in its smoothness.



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Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:54 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:54 pm
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With 2X Close up Lens


With 2x Close Up Lens


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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 12:04 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 12:04 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 12:06 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 12:06 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:24 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:24 am
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This is a very good lens and has may admirers including myself.
Here is a link to some others pictures
http://forum.mflenses.com/a-week-with-a-nifty-fifty-auto-revuenon-55mm-f1-7-chinon-t63146,highlight,%2Bchinon.html
Thank you for sharing your images
OH



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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:43 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:43 am
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Oldhand wrote:
This is a very good lens and has may admirers including myself.
Here is a link to some others pictures
http://forum.mflenses.com/a-week-with-a-nifty-fifty-auto-revuenon-55mm-f1-7-chinon-t63146,highlight,%2Bchinon.html


Lovely pictures, thank you for sharing.

OH, wouldn't that be the lens in question?

http://forum.mflenses.com/sears-50mm-f-1-7-impressions-and-lots-of-samples-t62519,highlight,%2Bsears+%2B50mm.html

I would think Chinon 50mm f/1.7 and Chinon 55mm f/1.7 are two different lenses.


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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:47 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:47 am
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kido wrote:
Oldhand wrote:
This is a very good lens and has may admirers including myself.
Here is a link to some others pictures
http://forum.mflenses.com/a-week-with-a-nifty-fifty-auto-revuenon-55mm-f1-7-chinon-t63146,highlight,%2Bchinon.html


Lovely pictures, thank you for sharing.

OH, wouldn't that be the lens in question?

http://forum.mflenses.com/sears-50mm-f-1-7-impressions-and-lots-of-samples-t62519,highlight,%2Bsears+%2B50mm.html

I would think Chinon 50mm f/1.7 and Chinon 55mm f/1.7 are two different lenses.


Oh yes - my bad Embarassed
I should have read the fine print.
Sorry everyone for the confusion
OH


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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:10 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:10 am
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Thanks for the comments! I found a photo of the lens I took on the day I bought it - $6.95 at a local thrift store!



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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 4:16 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 4:16 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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AstroZon wrote:
Another fine lens from Tomioka: The Auto Chinon 50mm, f1.7.

It has nothing to do with Tomioka.


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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 10:36 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 10:36 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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dimitrygo wrote:
AstroZon wrote:
Another fine lens from Tomioka: The Auto Chinon 50mm, f1.7.

It has nothing to do with Tomioka.


Hmmm, you may be right, but this Japanese site says that it was made by Tomioka:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/photostreet/press/13.html

Regardless, it's a great lens and has that special something that I like - smoothness and warmth.


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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 7:55 am
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 7:55 am
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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AstroZon wrote:
dimitrygo wrote:
AstroZon wrote:
Another fine lens from Tomioka: The Auto Chinon 50mm, f1.7.

It has nothing to do with Tomioka.


Hmmm, you may be right, but this Japanese site says that it was made by Tomioka:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/photostreet/press/13.html

Regardless, it's a great lens and has that special something that I like - smoothness and warmth.

Looks like they attributed too many lenses to Tomioka. 23mm is not Tomioka but Sun. There are several versions of 28mm, 35mm and 135mm lenses. None of them is Tomioka made, many of them are Sun as well.
What we know for sure is that Tomioka made for Chinon the following lenses: 21mm f3.5, 55mm f1.2 and f1.4 and 100mm f2.8.


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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:20 am
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:20 am
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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dimitrygo wrote:
AstroZon wrote:
dimitrygo wrote:
AstroZon wrote:
Another fine lens from Tomioka: The Auto Chinon 50mm, f1.7.

It has nothing to do with Tomioka.


Hmmm, you may be right, but this Japanese site says that it was made by Tomioka:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/photostreet/press/13.html

Regardless, it's a great lens and has that special something that I like - smoothness and warmth.

Looks like they attributed too many lenses to Tomioka. 23mm is not Tomioka but Sun. There are several versions of 28mm, 35mm and 135mm lenses. None of them is Tomioka made, many of them are Sun as well.
What we know for sure is that Tomioka made for Chinon the following lenses: 21mm f3.5, 55mm f1.2 and f1.4 and 100mm f2.8.


Yes, too many sellers like to attribute lenses to Tomioka that sometimes do not belong.
@ dimitrygo
Did Tomioka make the 100mm f2.8 for Porst as well as Chinon?
Thanks
OH


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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 1:30 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 1:30 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Oldhand wrote:

@ dimitrygo
Did Tomioka make the 100mm f2.8 for Porst as well as Chinon?
Thanks
OH

The only Porst 100mm f2.8 examples I saw were made by Sun. It doesn't proof of course the Tomioka variant doesn't exist.


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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:03 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:03 pm
Post subject: Re: Chinon 50mm, f1.7
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dimitrygo wrote:

Looks like they attributed too many lenses to Tomioka.


OK, I'll concede. Not Tomioka. What's funny is that a lens that might have been an average performer on a film camera can be an excellent lens on a digital.

I have a Pentax M 50mm, f1.4, a beautiful lens with film but a bit cold with digital - too sharp really. This Chinon 1.7 is slightly softer, and I really prefer it for that.

BTW, none of the above photos are edited in any way - straight from my NEX. I did use a 2X Close Up adapter on most.


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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:45 am
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:45 am
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Chinon 50/1.7 has a lot of internal mechanical similarities with Mamiya/Sekor 55/1.4, so they both were made by same factory and designed by same engineer, I believe.


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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:16 am
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:16 am
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CuriousOne wrote:
Chinon 50/1.7 has a lot of internal mechanical similarities with Mamiya/Sekor 55/1.4, so they both were made by same factory and designed by same engineer, I believe.

Based on your previous posts on this subject you are probably talking about 55mm and not 50mm.


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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 4:52 pm
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 4:52 pm
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The Chinon 50/1.9 thread reminded me of my Chinon 50/1.7 thread. I use this lens a lot. I also often use it with macro filters. For some reason, it works well for this.


Strait


with 2X macro filter


with Zykkor 0.42X Super Wide attachment.


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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:26 pm
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:26 pm
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2 more with the Auto Chinon 50mm, f1.7



+ bounce flash


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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 1:05 am
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 1:05 am
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Nikon Super Zoom-8 - when Super-8s were built like Uzis

Photo: Sony NEX-5N with Chinon 50mm, f1.7. Flash bounced off ceiling.


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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 1:24 am
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 1:24 am
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One more, same set-up as previous photo. Push button black and white conversion via PhotoScape.


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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 7:07 pm
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 7:07 pm
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3 more with the Chinon 50mm, f1.7:







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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 11:15 pm
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 11:15 pm
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I like the Chinon 50 1.7, even though I rarely use it I still think it is a very good lens, nice colour rendition and plenty sharp.



Wide open at f1.7, ND6 filter, 1/2 sec exposure to blur the water, which was a horrible mucky brown, so I used a Silver Efex for B&W.


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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:06 am
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:06 am
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What optical scheme this lens utilized, double gauss?


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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:22 am
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:22 am
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Astro,

Nice work on the sunflower pics - and congrats on the great find - that's a nice lens.

As has been stated on this site many times, it is very hard to find a really awful 50mm normal lens from the modern era. Many modern (post 1960s) faster normals are standard 5/6 Planar (Double Gauss) designs (see here: https://en.wiki2.org/wiki/Double-Gauss#/media/File:DoubleGauss1text.svg ), and if they are Japanese in origin, they probably share at least some common glass supply or component manufacturing features. Minor differences aside, IMHO, the performance of many Japanese normals from the great SLR era of the pre-digital age is going to be quite consistent, and quite excellent. Lucky for us, there are some minor differences for us to talk about and collect examples of!

Your comment that some lenses seem to perform better on digital than on film is interesting. I agree with your observation wholeheartedly and I think it is due to at least a number of factors aside from bad memory or subjective perception:

1) Many of us shoot digitally on crop bodies (APC) as well as full frame. Since the crop bodies only use the center portion of the lens circle, we get images from what is typically the "best performing" part of the lens. 35mm film cameras used a much larger portion of the image circle and included the edges of the images which are typically less sharp, and prone to distortion and vignetting.

2) Modern digital cameras have great image noise control, allowing us to shoot at higher ISO's than we did with our film cameras. This allows us to subsequently use smaller apertures for a given shutter speed, and again use the "best performing" middle apertures from the lens. it also lets us use faster shutter speeds which reduces camera shake and results in sharper looking images.

3) We often save and review our digital images as JPEGs, and even if we don't do any post processing, our cameras have. This could include white balance, sharpness, and contrast tweaks as a minimum. I feel these little tweaks are by and large more effective in producing consistently good looking images than anything we had in the days of film for standard machine (not custom) processing of prints.

4) Our use of chimping on digital cameras which allows us to take multiple shots of a scene and pick the best image at the time of exposure is something we could not have done in the days of film. Having more good images to pick from might lead us to perceive images from a particular lens as better than the images we took with it on film.

5) Modern digital cameras have evolved better and better exposure and focus systems over the years, and with only a few exceptions (Nikon, Leica, etc.), film camera technology for the masses pretty much stopped almost 20 years ago. So, by definition any comparisons we make to film images have to be based on images made with much older technology.


Your Chinon 50mm f/1.7 is certainly a fine lens as your images bear out and I agree that digital cameras have allowed us to really use some of these "forgotten" lenses to their best advantage.

Cheers!

Paul


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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:33 pm
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:33 pm
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Well I also have Auto Yashinon DX 50/1.7,and it renders picture quite differently...
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