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Yashica ML50/2.0
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 2:20 am    Post subject: Yashica ML50/2.0 Reply with quote

Here is a test shot from the 50/2. This was a few weeks ago - man, how the weather changes
quickly! There is probably a foot of snow there now. Shocked

Image is cropped from the bottom, as I felt there was too much expanse of water. I guess I
shouldn't even have worried about that, seeing as these are just tests of the lens.

This was scanned from a color negative of Kodak Gold. Shocked I don't usually have much luck
on scanning negatives, but this one came out acceptable enough.

The sharpness out of the camera was good; the scanner reduced the sharpness overall.

Only post-processing was the crop. The accuracy of the colors amazed me. Shocked However, there
are some magenta artifacts here and there. If I wanted to make this a truly good image, I would scan
it at high resolution and use post-processing to sharpen and color correction, and cut down the pixelation.

I have the Yashica ML 50/1.9 as well. It is much lighter than this lens, because of the plastic parts. I will
try to compare these two similar lenses. Like most 50s, they are quite sharp on a slide.

Yashica ML 50/2
Contax AX
Kodak Gold



PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 2:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Laurence tried to improve it a little ,hope you don't mind.Have the following if interested.

ML 55mm f2.8 macro.
DSB 28mm f2.8.
ML 45-75mm f3.5/4.5 zoom.
ML 80-200mm f4.
Vivitar 2x-24 tele-converter.
Contax infrared transmitter& receiver.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Frankly Laurence I am amazed at the quality after so much processing. Film - scanner - PP is a long way around and so much can be lost at each stage. That 50/2 is much better than its price would suggest - like several other lenses with faster siblings, it tends to get lost in the headlong rush to "speed". I have recently been able to play with rokkor and hexanons, and I must say I generally prefer them to my Yashicas.



patrickh


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kryss, you did pretty good on the reconstruction! I would probably prefer something about halfway between
the saturation levels between our two image renditions. Thank you for taking a turn at the image - this is what
enables me to learn things and to see alternative views. Love it!


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

patrickh wrote:
Frankly Laurence I am amazed at the quality after so much processing. Film - scanner - PP is a long way around and so much can be lost at each stage. That 50/2 is much better than its price would suggest - like several other lenses with faster siblings, it tends to get lost in the headlong rush to "speed". I have recently been able to play with rokkor and hexanons, and I must say I generally prefer them to my Yashicas.

patrickh


patrick, you are right - I usually lose a ton of 'good stuff' from all the processing and scanning of a negative.

I agree wholeheartedly on the quality of the 50/2. I have some Provia being developed that had several images
taken with the 50/2. I would almost bet the whole farm that the images are extremely sharp and contrasty. I wonder
why it doesn't gain much respect? Do you think just because it is not as 'fast' as other 50s? If so, that doesn't seem a valid
concept because we know that the speed of a lens doesn't even become an issue in landscape shooting. And even in
digital imaging with a 50/2 attached, could provide nice hand-held low light pix at higher ISOs, I think.

I am hearing good things about Rokkors here and there. It seems that is another 'forgotten' lens brand.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello Larry...IMO the 50mm f2 from any make was considered to be the poor man's lens and inferior when the flagship was f1.6, f1.7 or f1.8 etc. For some makes this was true but others not so. IIRC the Pentax 55mm f2 was the same as the f1.8, and Pentax put a ring or whatever to stop it opening to f1.8.
Also I think Minoltas are not forgotten as I too want their lenses but they are more scarce and expensive, so I have three Minolta cameras and only three Minolta lenses and two of those are nifty fifty's Sad


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Minolta (rokkor) lenses are really good, as almost all know.

I have now MC 28/3,5, 45/2, MC 50/1,7, MC PG 50/1,4, MC 100/2,5, MD 135/2,8 and MD 300/4,5 IF.

All good, but the PG and the MD 135 are very good ones.

In the segment of 2/50 lenses, not all of them are forgotten. The old nikkor, summicrons M and R, MD rokkor, planar, among others, are recognized lenses. Yet the yashica ML is known as a good one.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It gets no respect because it really is a cheaply made lens, that happens to have nice glass in it.
I have to get another copy because mine is infested and there is no way to open it up to clean. Sad


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Laurence wrote:

I am hearing good things about Rokkors here and there. It seems that is another 'forgotten' lens brand.


They were forgotten.
Since the NEX came out they have been resurrected. Wink


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excalibur: Thank you for the great info!

sonyrokkor: are the PG and MD designations meant to show a higher quality lens within the Rokkor lineup?

Lightshow: I am surprised about being cheaply made. It seems so robust to me, and seems to be of all metal construction. The 1.9 is a whole lot lighter and seems flimsy to me, and of course is mostly plastic. You could certainly be correct though, I'm just giving a layman's opinion based on looking at the exterior of the lens. That said, the anti-glare coating on the lens looks like it was smoothly applied, and shows differing colors within the lens groups.

LucisPictor: I see. The Nex series has really brought up the desire for older lenses even more than ever.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll chip in what little I know. The minolta MD series came out after the MC series.
I dont know whats different from MC>MD, possibly the coatings or couplings.
I think the PG is some sort of nomenclature for the number of elements in the lens
but Im not sure about that. One thing I know for sure, is that Minolta manual focus
lenses dont fit their AF bodies. Shocked


PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 3:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hifisapi wrote:
I'll chip in what little I know. The minolta MD series came out after the MC series.
I dont know whats different from MC>MD, possibly the coatings or couplings.
I think the PG is some sort of nomenclature for the number of elements in the lens
but Im not sure about that. One thing I know for sure, is that Minolta manual focus
lenses dont fit their AF bodies. Shocked


Well, that's a shame that they won't fit. Sad Thanks for the information you were able to provide. Smile


PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 3:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Marking the lens with the number of elements/groups was used by some manufactures prior to multicoating,
and letters was a simple method to display that information.

See here for more info:
http://minolta.rokkor.de/lensdesignations.htm

This link is also useful for seeing the differences.
http://minolta.eazypix.de/lenses/index.html
I personally love the design of the 2nd gen MC's(MCII) more than any other lens.

My comment about the lens being cheap is aimed at the cost cutting measures used in making the mechanical lens body, not the optical glass or the coatings used, gluing the elements in can be more accurate, but servicing is a "Female dog".