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Tomioka
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:15 am    Post subject: Tomioka Reply with quote
Is there a definitive list of manufacturers for whom Tomioka made lenses?

I ask only because there is an ever-increasing tendency for sellers to brand their 1.2-1.4/55 lenses as Tomioka built. I know that lenses were built for Chinon, Cosinon, Revuenon, Tominon and Yashinon, but there are other brands (Sears, Mamiya Sekor, Porst) which I've seen described as the genuine article.

Does a lens have to have the Tomioka name on it to have been built by Tomioka, or may we assume that it can be attached to any lens falling within the aperture/focal-length? Wink


PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
"Does a lens have to have the Tomioka name on it to have been built by Tomioka, ..."

No - because, simply put, you have to remember Tomioka became part of Yashica.

So for example any DS-M 50/1.4 "has been built by Tomioka" ...


PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I also had a Carenar and an Auto Reflex (both 55/1.4) that had the Tomioka formula


PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Porst and Sears as well.

Regards.

Jes.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:01 pm    Post subject: Re: Tomioka Reply with quote
Mal1905 wrote:
Is there a definitive list of manufacturers for whom Tomioka made lenses?


Unlikely. They were one of the major lens suppliers for Cosina and Chinon - which in their turn accounted for camera bodies marketed under hundreds of (often local, unknown or forgotten) brands. As these are a nearly uncharted territory, the accompanying lenses can hardly have been all identified...


PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for all the replies folks, one further question springs to mind: Why does the Tomioka name command such ludicrous prices out there?

I've had a member offer me a (what I would call ridiculously high) sum for my Yashinon 1.2/55, and also some dude on Flickr messaged me offering to buy it! Neither model is for sale - I was just curious as to why two enquiries within the same timeframe.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mal1905 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies folks, one further question springs to mind: Why does the Tomioka name command such ludicrous prices out there?


Well, they became a Yashica subsidiary, and Yashica eventually became a Zeiss licensee (both for trade marks and lens designs), which many sellers use to give them pedigree - and the buyers seem to swallow that after-the-fact promotion. Among the big Japanese OEMs, Kiron and Tokina were at least on a par with Tomioka, in tests and by reputation. And few of them ever managed to get a test winner past all the contestants from the brand name camera makers, which makes it rather odd that they are now often valued and priced above higher spec'ced and originally much higher priced Minolta, Konica, Canon FD or Fuji glass.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Interesting information again, thanks for taking the time to put it together Wink

I haven't exactly been blown away with the performance of the Yashinon - my Canon S.S.C. 1.2/55 knocks the socks off it, and there are several lenses in my arsenal that outperform the Chinon 1.4/55 by a wide margin.

Sevo wrote:
Well, they became a Yashica subsidiary, and Yashica eventually became a Zeiss licensee (both for trade marks and lens designs), which many sellers use to give them pedigree - and the buyers seem to swallow that after-the-fact promotion. Among the big Japanese OEMs, Kiron and Tokina were at least on a par with Tomioka, in tests and by reputation. And few of them ever managed to get a test winner past all the contestants from the brand name camera makers, which makes it rather odd that they are now often valued and priced above higher spec'ced and originally much higher priced Minolta, Konica, Canon FD or Fuji glass.
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