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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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Sigma YS / System Focusing lenses
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:05 am
Post subject: Sigma YS / System Focusing lenses
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:05 am
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I am gathering a whole line of these. Collection already consist of 3.5/18mm, 2.8/28mm, 2.8/100mm, 2.8/135mm, 2.8/200mm, 4/300mm. Does anyone have a catalogue of them all?

Recently i've cleaned and repaired 4/200mm. YS lenses needs to have auto function partially disabled to work properly on DSLR. The proper way is to put spring under rear pin so press/release isn't totally fixed.

My experience with these early Sigmas is divided. Their sharpness is OK wide open. Bokeh is strange. It seems optical formulas are experimental with many. System Focusing / MACRO (close-up) is nearly useless. Even slight turning of the ring makes the picture very fuzzy. Might be fine for hazy portraits / flowers. Only some people will like it.

One could compared them with Enna plastic Ennalyt as their opposite pole. Where healthy Enna confidently reveal fine detail wide-open but suffers from terrible housing, YS Sigmas are built like Russian old-school. Really heavy and metal. Last of the Japan heavy armor.

Here some samples from 4/200mm:











Last edited by Pancolart on Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:13 am; edited 1 time in total


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:11 am
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:11 am
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English Catalog in Chinese forum.
http://forum.xitek.com/showarchives.php?threadid=366376

I am waiting for my XQ 300mm to be delivered. Smile


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:36 am
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:36 am
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Superb finding this catalogue with formulas too! I didn't know there are some many in the XQ line. I hope you will like 300mm. And that the blades are oil free.


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:06 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:06 pm
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Pancolart wrote:
Superb finding this catalogue with formulas too! I didn't know there are some many in the XQ line. I hope you will like 300mm. And that the blades are oil free.

Thanks. The lens is in very good condition.

They make a mistake on the weight of the 500mm F4 mirror in the catalog. It should be 3000g instead of 300g. This mirror is the rarest one in the XQ line. There is one in the ebay asking $695 and I think only collector will buy this as the performace is poor. Smile


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:26 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:26 pm
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I have 100mm f2.8 micro/macro and 135mm f1.8


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:47 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:47 pm
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calvin83 wrote:
English Catalog in Chinese forum.
http://forum.xitek.com/showarchives.php?threadid=366376

I am waiting for my XQ 300mm to be delivered. Smile


Great link!...Thanks for posting it. I have a "Sigmatel" (no, thats not a
spelling mistake) Multi Scalematic 135mm f1.8 which has a Y/S mount.
Its pretty obvious its made by Sigma as it has a small Greek letter Sigma stamped onto the barrel, but I have no idea why it has a Sigmatel brand name instead of Sigma unless it was made before Sigma dropped the tel bit of their brandname. The thing is its practically mint and looks quite new so I cant see it being that old.
It came with a Y/S-Minolta MD adapter fitted, which was no good to me, so I swapped it for a universal Y/S-M42 adapter instead. For the price I paid for it (less than £55) its actually a very good lens Wink :



]













Last edited by DSG on Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:52 pm; edited 1 time in total


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:04 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:04 pm
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Splendid. Is the squirrel wide-open?


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:30 pm
Post subject: Re: Sigma YS / System Focusing lenses
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:30 pm
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Pancolart wrote:

System Focusing / MACRO (close-up) is nearly useless. Even slight turning of the ring makes the picture very fuzzy. Might be fine for hazy portraits / flowers. Only some people will like it.


you need to stop down when using macro function for photo to be not fuzzy. it's color coded. magnification marks on the lens barrel corespond to aperture settings


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:34 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 2:34 pm
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Manual for interchangeable YS mounts: http://forum.mflenses.com/spiratone-ys-interchangeable-auto-mount-booklet-t32619.html

Sigma YS lenses are also sometimes branded Spiratone, Soligor, others...

Last edited by visualopsins on Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:28 am; edited 1 time in total


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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:07 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:07 pm
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Pancolart wrote:
Splendid. Is the squirrel wide-open?


Nope...I rarely use it wide open as it best between f4-f5.6.
The Grey Squirrel, the Egyptian Goose and the party at the back of York House were taken at f4 and the Pigion was taken at f5.6.


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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:17 am
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:17 am
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I think this is an interesting thread. Make sure you read the last post.
There has been discussion back and forth on who made what.
I believe like posted they were made by Sigma, for Spiratone and Accura and possibly others.
http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00Sxgh

But... The Sun YS lenses I believe were made By SUN.


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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:32 am
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:32 am
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walter g wrote:
I think this is an interesting thread. Make sure you read the last post.
There has been discussion back and forth on who made what.
I believe like posted they were made by Sigma, for Spiratone and Accura and possibly others.
http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00Sxgh

But... The Sun YS lenses I believe were made By SUN.


Embarassed Yes, I agree, Sun made their own YS lenses. edited previous post...


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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:44 pm
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:44 pm
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Here a list of Sigma lenses 1970-1980 from ksmt.com:



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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:17 pm
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:17 pm
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I've got a 4/200 and a 3.5/80-200 lying around waiting to be tested - but there is a long queue for lens testing in my house..


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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:28 pm
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:28 pm
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the pigeon shot is astonishing, the detail and sharpness is hard to beat. But I relly do like the first two tulip shots, there's a great separation on the DOF, but the bokeh isn't mad and distracting. I like these pictures a lot.

I think I had one of these lenses many many years ago, a Canon FD fit 135mm with the extra macro ring if my memory is correct ( unlikely Rolling Eyes ) and I liked it a lot until it jammed solid. I think I gave it away in the end.


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Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 1:11 am
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Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 1:11 am
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I have 135mm 1.8 Sigmatel (soft WO, but nice), 55mm 2.8 macro 2:1 (nice), 24mm 2.8 filtermatic wide (not bad) and 200mm 3.5 with double helical (stay away from that one!).


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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 11:46 am
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 11:46 am
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The Sigma "Widemax" I have is a YS mount lens.




Gives nice results, the blur is pretty good for a 28mm lens - at 2.8 it gets a little bit swirly though.


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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:55 pm
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:55 pm
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Nice result Mos!

I was thinking a bit of YS lenses and their extra MACRO function. Let's face it this is: soft - focus function. It was marketed faulty as MACRO. Sigma made really solid lenses and optics had character but they exaggerated with calling it MACRO.

Imagine it would be called soft - focus. Someone would discover it could be also used as macro when stepped down and it would add a bit of mystery. Now we have many enthusiastic users sharing their disappointment and resentment towards this lens line since what they were expecting was quality macro lens, but Sigma YS certainly isn't that.


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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:52 pm
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:52 pm
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I think I have 135mm f1.8 nice lens I like it
100mm f2.8 micro macro, nice portrait lens in macro mode makes incredible unsharp crap images
200mm f3.5 perhaps I have it too crap if I remember as well.


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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:49 am
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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:49 am
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I have the Mini-Tel 200/3.5, in M42, according to the table its from 1980
Thanks for posting this list !

I agree with the opinion here - the closeup feature is very unreliable and the results overall can be very strange.


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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:24 pm
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:24 pm
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Talking about early promotion titles: Sigma Multi Flash Auto YS 1:2,8 f=35mm Smile
Otherwise i think a bit rarer then other YS lenses: Click here to see on Ebay.de


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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 6:07 pm
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 6:07 pm
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I have one that is obviously a Sigma, but it carries the Pentacon brandname.

And it is as Atilla said before: the color codes on the barrel tell you to stop down, otherwise the IQ is rubbish.


Pentacon "mini-zoom" by TrueLoveOne, on Flickr


Pentacon "Mini-zoom" by TrueLoveOne, on Flickr

I haven't really used it, just some quick testshots.....


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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:19 am
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:19 am
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Sigma YS series one of many innovative namings: PAN-FOCUS Smile
Click here to see on Ebay.de

Few more: XQ, System Focusing, Upsilon, Macrotel, Protel, Telemax, Sigmatel

Then there are those hiding the Sigma connection like post-modern Pentacon. Please share yours Smile.


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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:48 am
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:48 am
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I have this lens in mint condition with M42 mount:-



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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:50 pm
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:50 pm
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I have an Accura Diamatic 105mm 2.5 in YS mount,a tad uglier than the one above but apart from some dust the glass is clean and it has the original ys- m42 mount


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