Yashinon-R 75-230/4.5 preset t-mount oversize zoom

[luisalegria]

I picked this up broken -



The thing was rattling and loose, it was about to fall apart. It turned out that one of three screws holding the front half to the back had snapped, and the other two had consequently gotten loose. An easy fix. Otherwise its in excellent shape.

Its a t-mount preset zoom from about 1965 or so. The actual maker is unknown (possibly Tomioka?). It is seen in some of the early Yashica SLR catalogs (Yashica TL Electro and maybe earlier Reflex/Penta/J), but also was sold until maybe 1970, overlapping with the stylish Yashinon-DX's. Its that huge thing sitting in the back of all the lens-lineups. There was an auto version later.

The most outstanding feature of this monster is - well, that its a monster. This beast is huge. Its bigger than the imposing Tamron 80-250/3.8 Adaptamatic. Its bigger than a lot of 400mm's. Its bigger than 400mm zooms. Its twice the size and more than double the weight of the Tokina 90-230/4.5 zoom (same specs) of just a few years later. This is one of the most inefficient lenses ever made, probably. Its amazingly large and amazingly heavy and completely impractical for what it is.

I have seen this sold only as a Yashinon, but it isn't rare. If someone has seen this under another name I would like to hear about it. I have seen the auto version under other brands like Lentar and Chinon. The auto version is just as enormous apparently.

Other than its size, its a very conventional two-touch zoom. It is constant aperture, but it does not even come close to holding focus when zooming. Minimum focus is 12ft/4m, which is pretty far for this type of lens.

Performance is quite good actually. It is decently sharp wide open and is up to the capacity of my sensor stopped down, has excellent contrast and handles glare very nicely. Theres a bit of red fringe on highlights.

A windy and blustery day on the bay, this shot is actually a crop -



75mm - I think its much better at the long end than the short.















The bird -



crop -

[Prometheus]

That's look really nice!

Sigh, another thing to get for the Yashica collection, will it ever end?

[Olivier]

Thanks for this review Luis !

[Olivier]

Hello Luis.

I was on an auction for a Takumar 105mm and let it go because the price was too high for me. I went to see this seller's other items and saw a Yashica 75-230mm. The name of Yashica awaked my attention. I saw that there was no auctioner, 3 minutes to go and the price was 15 Euros...

Quickly I came here, made a search and found your topic. I saw the pics, the bird. Couldn't believe my eyes. I thought Zooms were to avoid.

So, I clicked on the button and... got it for 15 Euros. No risk at all for this price and as it is in France, where I live, the shipping costs are reasonable.

It should arrive tomorrow.

[luisalegria]

Hi Olivier,

I wish you good luck with it. Its an unusual thing for sure !

I now think this was an early product of Sigma. There is a later auto version also sold as a Yashinon, same specs, that one can find under third party brands and also the Sigma label.

Did you get the auto or preset ?

[Olivier]

[luisalegria]

Preset I think, like mine.

[Screamin Scott]

I just won one on eBay.....Auto version...

[Olivier]

Hello Scott.

Congrats.
I wait for your samples here.

[norland]

On ebay at present there's what must have been the ancestor of the zoom mentioned above.....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yashinon-R-Zoom-1-5-f-90mm-190mm-Lens-Case-118145-Screw-Adaptor-Type-/331256095646?pt=UK_Photography_VintagePhotography_VintagePhotoAccessories&hash=item4d2066e39e
Found some more pictures here:
http://whitemetal.com/yashica/yashinon_r_zoom_90_190_58/index.htm

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[Igor]

great image quality , especially for a zoom !