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Auto Sears 55mm F1.4 | | Latest Review Posted | Auto Sears 55mm F1.4
This is the Sears version of the Rikenon 55mm f1.4. I got lucky when I found this little-used gem at the Goodwill for $25 (with Sears/Ricoh TLS body). It is not a small lens, especially compared to my 55mm Takumar, but it is solidly built and enjoyable to use, with smooth focus and click stops on the aperture.
One strength of this lens is in shooting wide or nearly wide open. At 1.4 the DOF is razor thin, and I would caution you to make sure your viewfinder diopter is correctly set, as you are talking about some very narrow tolerance here.
When this lens is shot wide open there is a bit of a milky quality to the image, with a subtle glow as objects begin to lose focus – it’s very painterly. If you’re looking for a dreamy quality then you will get it. The bokeh of specular reflections while wide open manifests itself as a series of oblate forms, much like leaves of a silver dollar plant.
When you stop this lens down, you will find it to be very sharp across the entire image, and with APSC cameras it makes a nice portrait lens.
The only negative I’ve had with this lens thus far is that the auto-manual switch is plastic and mine broke off with use, leaving a flat metal shaft that, while still easily used to switch modes, is a bit pointy at each end. I have not experience any light leaks from losing the plastic part of the switch.
Read more about this lens at Matt’s Classic Cameras
http://www.mattdentonphoto.com/cameras/rikenon_14_m42.html | |
