[Dean Bradshaw]

Hiya everybody,

I've just taken delivery of what seems to be a fairly unusual/rare/unknown/unique lens...a Yashica Reflex Yashinon-DX f/5 500mm.

The lens was not well described on the auction site, with no clear statement of what it actually is...an f/5 mirror lens?!? I've not come across such a 'fast' mirror lens before, though I now see Nikon made one similar. Not that I spend too much time looking at or for mirror lenses, but this one caught my eye. The image on the auction site was a bit indistinct, and the lens markings (as below) have some slight wear, so I really wasn't sure I was seeing it correctly...I had initially assumed this was just another f/8 500mm lens.

I looked again and more closely at the images, did a bit of Googling..."Hmmm...not finding too much about a Yashica f/5 mirror lens"...back to the listing..."Yep, that's gotta be a 5...f/5...eh, let's make an offer and see" And sure enough it is.

While waiting for the delivery I tracked down a Yashica lens manual on Welcome to Orphancameras, camera manuals (I should have looked there first really) and sure enough, there it is...

Minimum Focus Distance: 10 metres (35 feet)
Lens Composition: 6 elements in 5 groups
Angle of view: 5 degrees (on 35mm)
Mount: Yashica screw-thread mount (M42)
Weight: 2100 grams (4.6lbs...I thought mirror lenses were meant to be light weight!!!)

It has a fixed tripod foot and drop in rear filters, most of which came in the delivery (ND 4x, Yellow, Orange, UV, etc.).

The construction has a focus ring on the narrow section behind the main lens barrel, which combined with the weight really makes this tripod only

The screw mount section/bezel behind the focus ring rotates, I assume to allow orientation change when tripod mounted, but a locking screw is missing...I'll haver to track down a make shift replacement. The mount is secure, just freely rotating.

Also a GIANT screw in lens hood.

The overall condition is pretty good...a little dirty, but the glass seems clear, just dirty. I haven't had much experience with cleaning mirror lenses, so we'll see how we go with this one.

A few pictures attached...sorry for the quick nature of these, just taken this evening on the kitchen table to get the post underway. Keen eyed observers may also note the beer bottle cap used to prop the lens for the photo (may explain the rambling post).

My final point to note...serial number is 5050008. I doubt they made 50000+ of this lens, so maybe I have lens number 8 off the production line?

Anyway, thanks for looking...any comments welcome...just thought it was interesting enough to warrant a post

Cheers
Dean

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[UncleVanya]

Neat find!

[pepperberry farm]

digging it... it looks huge!

[UncleVanya]

digging it... it looks huge!

And pristine.

[Dean Bradshaw]

Neat find!

Thanks Uncle

Yeah, one that was worth the dollars for the novelty value alone.

---------- Post added 04-27-18 at 09:57 PM ----------

digging it... it looks huge!

Yeah, it's hefty alright...rough measure has the front thread at about 120mm to 123mm? About 240mm (9.5 inches) long...not sure what that is in SMUs

I'll try to take a few more pictures of and with the lens in the next few days, and I'll also try to get it into the lens database too...best of intentions...

Cheers

---------- Post added 04-27-18 at 10:01 PM ----------

And pristine.

It is in pretty decent condition, not near mint, but very nice It's clearly been used (which is good), with some wear on the front threads and some visible indentations in several spots from the locking screw on the rotating mount, when viewed down the hole for the missing screw.

I'm looking forward to having a play...if lugging this beast around can be called play

Cheers

[stevebrot]

Weight: 2100 grams (4.6lbs...I thought mirror lenses were meant to be light weight!!!)

Nah...just compact and light for their focal length. The better ones tend to be on the heavy side. With a lens like that, the question is whether one threads the camera onto the lens vs. the other way around.

Congratulations on the great find. I am looking forward to seeing pictures from this beast.


Steve

[TER-OR]

That looks like it would be fun to play with in some of the marshes here, spotting birds.

[catfishjohn]

Best to study long and use extreme caution cleaning that lens. The mirror is "silvered" with aluminum, very soft and prone to scratch. I wont say you can scratch it with a feather but if that feather drags a speck of dust it will scratch. I have a thirty something year old Celestron 750 and can say there is a little learning curve. The depth of field will likely be very shallow and the OOF highlights appear as doughnuts.

[BigMackCam]

Congratulations - what a great find!

As @catfishjohn says, exercise caution when cleaning the mirrored surfaces. There are some good videos on YouTube on safe ways to clean telescope mirrors, and the same approach applies here

[yucatanPentax]

There doesn't seem to be a review for that lens (unless I missed it).
Maybe you could add a couple photos and some stats to the Review section:

Miscellaneous Lenses for Pentax: Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

[WPRESTO]

There are other interesting lenses out there that were produced in small quantities and that are sometimes eye-poppers. Below I'm reposting images of two big fellows I found in an industrial products museum in Berlin.

1) The first is a 150mm f1.8 that came with a reflex housing for 35mm rangefinder cameras - notice the mirror-lifting lever that extends back over the camera's shutter release.

2) The second is a 1000mm f5.6(!!) reflex made by Zeiss Jena, shown in Praktina mount. Focusing by the little wheel at the back, operated by your right hand were the lens right side up on a tripod. This is an early version with the type of textured leather finish that was a hangover from the pre-WWII folding roll-film cameras, etc. A later version was made in smooth off-white metal. The latter was available at least in Exacta and Pentacon Six mounts. It looks like a BEAST!

[Dean Bradshaw]

Nah...just compact and light for their focal length. The better ones tend to be on the heavy side. With a lens like that, the question is whether one threads the camera onto the lens vs. the other way around.

Congratulations on the great find. I am looking forward to seeing pictures from this beast.


Steve

Thanks Steve,

I'm a bit time poor, so might be my usual lag to get anything done...like posting some photos from the lens.
Your'e not wrong about the heavy! I've had the lens sitting around, so I've occasionally thrown it on the camera for a play...hand holdable? Not really I've been mounting a Panasonic G85 on the lens...100% it's screwing the camera to the lens, not the other way around.

Cheers

---------- Post added 04-30-18 at 09:04 PM ----------

That looks like it would be fun to play with in some of the marshes here, spotting birds.

I think you'd have to be a better man than man to spot a bird with this...I have it on a micro four thirds body, and at 1000mm equivalent field of view I was struggling to find the moon!

Cheers

---------- Post added 04-30-18 at 09:08 PM ----------

Best to study long and use extreme caution cleaning that lens. The mirror is "silvered" with aluminum, very soft and prone to scratch. I wont say you can scratch it with a feather but if that feather drags a speck of dust it will scratch. I have a thirty something year old Celestron 750 and can say there is a little learning curve. The depth of field will likely be very shallow and the OOF highlights appear as doughnuts.

Thanks for the tips Catfishjohn...I think I'm likely to take your advice and if need be get this one done by a professional. I've given the exterior and front glass a first pass clean...can't reach the rear glass, it's buried so deep

I'm wondering if it would best taken to a telescope/astro repairer, as opposed to a camera shop. I'm guessing the astro guys would have much more day to day experience with this kind of construction?

You're not wrong about the thin depth of field...I find the donut bokeh pretty funky actually. It has character (but it may not be good character).

Cheers

---------- Post added 04-30-18 at 09:11 PM ----------

Congratulations - what a great find!

As @catfishjohn says, exercise caution when cleaning the mirrored surfaces. There are some good videos on YouTube on safe ways to clean telescope mirrors, and the same approach applies here

Cheers Mike...yeah, as a bit of a novelty, with some random rarity thrown in I was pretty happy with it. As above, if it needs a proper clean I'll pass it onto the pros...I know my limits as a camera/lens tech

Cheers

---------- Post added 04-30-18 at 09:14 PM ----------

There doesn't seem to be a review for that lens (unless I missed it).
Maybe you could add a couple photos and some stats to the Review section:

Miscellaneous Lenses for Pentax: Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

Yes, I'll try to be a good boy and get that done ASAP. I'll clean up the exterior a little further, try and take some passable product shots, try and grab a sample photo or two and get it listed. If I hadn't found that Yashica lens manual I would have had no idea, really was bugger all to find on line (or at least that my rudimentary searching could dig up).

Cheers

---------- Post added 04-30-18 at 09:25 PM ----------

There are other interesting lenses out there that were produced in small quantities and that are sometimes eye-poppers. Below I'm reposting images of two big fellows I found in an industrial products museum in Berlin.

1) The first is a 150mm f1.8 that came with a reflex housing for 35mm rangefinder cameras - notice the mirror-lifting lever that extends back over the camera's shutter release.

2) The second is a 1000mm f5.6(!!) reflex made by Zeiss Jena, shown in Praktina mount. Focusing by the little wheel at the back, operated by your right hand were the lens right side up on a tripod. This is an early version with the type of textured leather finish that was a hangover from the pre-WWII folding roll-film cameras, etc. A later version was made in smooth off-white metal. The latter was available at least in Exacta and Pentacon Six mounts. It looks like a BEAST!

Thanks for your post and sharing those images. There really are some amazing lenses out there, and a huge variety of ways people have engineered solutions to various problems.

I think we take so much for granted in the digital age, with electro-magical solutions to so many problems or digital ways of dealing with a given scenario...often all in the one device. I have a Panasonic G85 and it's combination of tricks (post focus, 4K photo modes, focus bracketing, etc, etc) are pretty remarkable. In the analogue days to try and address any one of those modes would likely have required a very specifically engineered device, which would perhaps be capable of that one thing, and no more.

I always enjoy seeing these new and interesting lens (or cameras, or whatevers)

Cheers

Dean

[UncleVanya]

I suggest looking for a telescope spotting scope or red dot finder and mounting it to a ring you can put around the lens so you can find things.