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Mamiya/Sekor 200mm f/3.5 -- not SX -- Earlier Version?
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:18 pm    Post subject: Mamiya/Sekor 200mm f/3.5 -- not SX -- Earlier Version? Reply with quote
I was at the local camera shop yesterday, rummaging through their junk bins, when I came across this lens. It's in remarkably clean condition, cost me a whopping $10, and I figured it was a cheap way to get a medium-length telephoto into my M42 collection. I just did some googling on this lens and ran across several threads on it here. Seems like most of the threads are about the SX version, which is apparently a later version than mine. Basically the same, except the SX has a rubberized focusing collar whereas mine is metal. The rest appears to be the same.

In the following photos, the ones taken with the lens are all taken with the aperture wide open at f/3.5. This lens has no M-A switch, so I was unable to stop it down even if I wanted to because the adapter I bought for my NEX has no provisions for stopping down the lens. Is this typical for NEX adapters? Seems to me like it wouldn't be that hard to make one that would work. I don't want to permanently modify the lens to manual aperture only because I'm still going to be using it with my Spotmatic and I'd prefer to be able to use the Spotmatic's switch for this function.

A pic of the lens:


Some closest focusing distance shots:



And a shot from more of a distance:


The lens definitely appears to be adequately sharp with good contrast. It may not out-perform a SMCT 200mm f/4, but I think it'll be pretty close. CA is well controlled. There's just a touch of red and green fringing I noticed in the photos, but no purple fringing around bright spots, which I was surprised about. This sort of CA can be taken care of with a few mouse clicks in post, so I'm not concerned about it.

For ten bucks, it's a keeper for sure.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You can buy an adapter with the flange that presses the pin.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
That 200 is the same style / age as a 55 1.8 that I've got, which is very good lens indeed - possibly the best of my 50 ish lenses.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
dimitrygo wrote:
You can buy an adapter with the flange that presses the pin.


Hi Dimitry -- yes, I was hoping this would be the case. I've also been looking at M42 to PK adapters, which will depress the pin. I have a PK adapter for my NEX, so I could go that route too, stacking adapters. Not my favorite thing to do, but doable, at least.

I will first look for an adapter as per your suggestion, however.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The barrel style is similar to my 1.4/55 - a very good lens btw - except that my fifty has an a/m switch.
Samples look good to me, nice find.
Regarding adapters, the most common flanged m42 adapters in my experience are the eos-m42 ones, so if you already have a nex-eos adapter I'd go that way.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks like one of the Vivitar TX 200/3.5 (there were two variants).

The very first M42 Mamiya 200 auto lens was the same as the Tokina (Soligor/Vivitar) T4, so it stands to reason that a later version was adopted by Mamiya.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a M42-PK adapter that presses the pin and it works great.
These come up on ebay regularly.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 2:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Aanything wrote:
The barrel style is similar to my 1.4/55 - a very good lens btw - except that my fifty has an a/m switch.
Samples look good to me, nice find.
Regarding adapters, the most common flanged m42 adapters in my experience are the eos-m42 ones, so if you already have a nex-eos adapter I'd go that way.


Thanks but I found an eBay seller who had flanged M42 adapters for NEX. Actually, I found several, once I knew what to look for, but they were all from China. Oh well. It'll be here in a couple of weeks or so, and that'll be that.

I'm curious why this Mamiya doesn't have a M-A switch. I own only a small handful of M42 glass, but every one of my M42 lenses has the M-A switch . . . except for the Mamiya now. And you state that your 50 from about the same generation has the switch. Makes it even more curiouser. Oh well, I'm sure Mamiya had its reasons. Can't fault the lens otherwise. It's very ruggedly built, as was typical for lenses from that era. And very nicely built too. Excellent fit and finish. And because it is a Mamiya, and because of Mamiya's stellar reputation as a medium format builder, I have high hopes this lens will live up to the Mamiya name for its image making abilities.

Ah! I just remembered! I have a genuine Canon P adapter! That was an adapter than Canon made back in the 60s that allowed M42 lenses to be mounted to Canon cameras, and I'm sure that adapter depresses the aperture pin (Canon's FL cameras metered scenes stopped down, same as Pentax). So I can mount the P adapter to my Canon FL/FD adapter for the NEX, and I'll have it. Heh. Already ordered the M42-NEX adapter, though.

Here the P adapter's being used as a middle adapter to get an LTM lens mounted to my EOS. In the adapter chain there's the M39-M42 adapter, then the M42-Canon FL/FD, then a glassless FL/FD-EOS adapter. Because the focal plane was wrong for both the M39-M42 and FL/FD-EOS adapters, it required that I get very close to a subject, but it worked and the macros were actually impressive.



And an image I took with the Serenar and that rig. The Serenar was set to f/8 to give me some depth of field.


A close up of the center of the image. That's a bug -- a tiny beetle of some sort that you see on the acorn.


I've got some Canon FD extension tubes. I wonder just how this Mamiya lens will perform as a 200mm macro? I reckon there's one way to find out, Stay tuned.
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