Auto Yashinon 5cm, f2.0

[AstroZon]

I found this old beat up Yashica J-3 yesterday at a thrift store for $7.50. It's missing the rewind lever and the shutter sticks a little, but I thought, "hey, the lens might be good."

[AstroZon]

Well, I was right. Luckily I had my M42/NEX adapter with me and took both of these photos yesterday in Pueblo, Colorado. Taken with my Sony NEX-5N.

[Oldhand]

Nothing wrong with that.
There are lots of different Yashinons - auto, DX, DS etc in M42, and others in CY mounts.
Most are very good indeed.
Some of the early ones like yours may not have been made by Yashica and there are rumoured Tomioka/Tominon connections ........
Regardless, you have a fine lens here and it deserves to be used.
Thanks for sharing these.
OH

[AstroZon]

[Lloydy]

That is $7-50 well spent, it's a nice sharp lens.

[AstroZon]

[Mos6502]

Yashinon 2/50 is one of my favorite lenses, I've used it a lot on film and digital and you can find a thread or two about this lens on these forums if you poke around a bit.

[Layer-cake]

I have a 1.9 DS and I had a F2 auto like yours, both very nice and have similar results for the bokeh. quite a nervous looking bokeh but works well for some instances when you don't want creamy.

[Oldhand]

[Mos6502]

Untitled by berangberang, on Flickr

I actually find this to be one of the smoother rendering lenses in its class. It's is only "chunky" wide open. Any smaller stops and it is pretty smooth.

It was one of seven lens I compared recently in this thread: http://forum.mflenses.com/seven-different-lenses-compared-at-f-2-8-t68546.html and it is about the smoothest rendering of the bunch.

[Arctures]

This Yashinon shows a really excellent results both on my Nex and A7. I specially like bokeh wide open and BW results.

[radissimo77]

I found my oldest Yashinons more intereting with a great balance between sharpness/bokeh, certainly drawing differently than my usual old MF nifty fifties.

I am planning to compare my auto yashinon 5cm f1.8 and mentioned Yashinon 5cm f2. Both are fantastically build and pleasure to use.
cheers,
Rado

[AstroZon]

[radissimo77]

@Oldhand
"Some of the early ones like yours may not have been made by Yashica and there are rumoured Tomioka/Tominon connections ........ "

It is definately true as I have YASHINON 5cm f2 and also TOMINON 5cm f2 in m42 [basically same lens-(MFD, size, aperture ring,blades...etc), but Tominon looks better build and sexier in silver"

[AstroZon]

2 more with the the Yashinon 5cm/2.

First, the cans are at f5.6 - nice gentle dissolve.

Second, a cosmos flower at f2.0 under a tree and into the sun - weird bokeh.

[Oldhand]

Oh yes!
Excellent
OH

[Lightshow]

The ML 50/2 is also nice.
Congrats on getting the lens for cheap.

[BrianSVP]

Here's another variant I recently acquired, and one with some interesting features that I that I suspect may suggest it's a prototype or athe very least, a very early design that was substantially modified in later examples:


#1



#2


One of the first things to note is that it has a completely different cocking lever design than any other example of this lens I've ever come across, more angular with much sharper knurling.

#3

Here's a side view showing the overall design.


#4


The serial is also the lowest I've seen, beginning in "11." All other examples I've been able to find on the internet begin in "13" or above.
I recevied this attached to a non-working Yashica Penta J. Upon receipt, there was significant separation in the cemented rear group, cleaning whorls on the front coatings, the helical grease was gritty and dry, and the cocking mechanism didn't work.

I did a full disassembly and CLA on the lens, including recementing the rear group, which was swaged in and required cutting of the swaging to remove. I had planned to replace the front element with an example I had with a bent barrel and a serial number beginning in "34." However, putting the two front elements side-by-side, it was clear that while they were the same diameter, the one from the older lens was signficantly more curved, indicating a recomputation of the formula at some point, so I kept the element with the cleaning marks. The elements from the older lens also exhibited more yellowing, indicating possible use of radioactive thorium.

Upon reassembly, I took the lens out for testing and immediately had the impression that this lens, while having excellent center sharpness, had quite a bit more field curvature than other, later examples I'd used, to the point that I pulled it back apart to make sure everything was in in the right orientation, which it was. I have 2 more good examples in the 3xxxxx serial range, so when I get a chance, I'll do a side-by-side to compare the curvature on both.

[kiddo]

the same result i have got from my yashinon. wide open there is sharpness only in the center, closing couple of steps the sharpness extends all over

[Lloydy]

My two copies have different size rear elements.
126292 larger element
333335 smaller element.

Other than that they appear to be identical.

[Alun Thomas]

I had a quick look online on sale websites to see what is out there: (all pics from those listings)



Earlier serial numbers than yours have the rounded lever, indicating a change for some unknown reason. Like yours, this copy has some separation.



By later in that same set of 1000 lenses the different lever is seen.



Not long after your copy it reverts to the rounded lever again and probably stays that way.

[D. P.]

[paulhofseth]

Not surprising that Tomioka is mentioned , since it was bought by Yashica/Nicca and presumably continued its work. There is a substantial piece on Tomioka written by the pseudonym "simple joy"on deltalenses.com

p.

[simple.joy]

[caspert79]

Very nice pictures Simple Joy. The lens can do bokeh magic under certain conditions.

A few I took in the past:

DSC02792 by devoscasper, on Flickr

DSC01913bw by devoscasper, on Flickr

DSC01934 by devoscasper, on Flickr