NEW IN BOX - with all original paperwork including OEM manual and warranty registration
Yashica/Contax ML 50mm f2.0 prime lens
-Zeiss Planar type lens design-
-circa 1980s
-Made in the same optics factory as the Japanese-made Zeiss T* lenses.
**New old stock lens, never used!**
Crystal clear optics, no fungus / haze or dust.
see a review of this specific lens at:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3035245
&
https://lens-db.com/yashica-ml-50mm-f2-1981/
Still has the oval gold foil JCII (Japan Camera Inspection Institute) inspection sticker.
The JCII rigorously held Japanese optics manufacturers to very high standards of design, materials, construction and performance - rivalling many of the well-known European optics manufacturers, to include respected old-line companies in Germany, Austria, France, and Great Britain.
Complete with all original packaging including warranty registration paperwork, and owner's manual.
Also includes 'YASHICA' branded front lens cap and rear lens cap - exactly as this lens would have come
when you bought it new in the 1970s / 1980s !
Carl Zeiss Optik / Yashica background /history:
Founded in 1949, Yashica began developing a new 35mm SLR camera jointly with the Carl Zeiss Optik Company of Germany
(Carl Zeiss AG) in 1973 to be sold under the Zeiss "Contax" name. This "Project 130" camera remained "Top Secret" until it debuted as the "Contax RTS" SLR a year later to overwhelmingly rave reviews at the Photokina Photography World Fair held in Cologne, Germany from the 27th of September to the 3rd of October 1974.
A new lens mount system also debuted with the Contax RTS: the Contax/Yashica (C/Y) bayonet mount.
In 1983, the Kyoto Ceramics company (Kyocera) acquired Yashica. Kyocera / Yashica continued their partnership with Carl Zeiss and jointly developed and manufactured several series of lenses for Zeiss, including the Zeiss AE series for the Zeiss Contax SLR 35mm cameras. These lenses displayed a T* symbol for Zeiss' proprietary multi-coating. They also continued making lenses under the Yashica name.
Zeiss and Yashica 35mm SLR cameras which share the same C/Y bayonet lens mount can use Zeiss and Yashica lenses interchangeably!
The Yashica range of lenses from this 1970s-1980s era included the high end premium series termed 'ML' for multi-layered,
(the Yashica / Contax term for Multi-Coated) - just like this ML 50mm f2.0 lens.
The lower specification 'DSB' series had different, more economical to manufacture lens designs with single-layer coating and targeted the lower price range entry-level amateur segment of the consumer market.
Yashica ML lenses like this 50mm f2.0 have earned a reputation for high quality. Yashica already had a reputation for fine
optics dating to the early 1960s with its optics supplier (later subsidiary), Tomioka Optical.
This also greatly benefitted their licensing and joint research/development/manufacturing relationship with Carl Zeiss Optik
resulting in lenses that reaped the benefit of this partnership in multi-coating technology, lens design and quality,
superb resolution, color saturation, chromatic aberration control, and resultant high image quality.
These Yashica/Kyocera era ML lenses were made in the same optics factory as the Japanese-made Zeiss T* lenses.
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specifications:
o all manual focus lens
o metal (aluminum) body, plastic composite focus ring and f-stop ring
o mount: Contax/Yashica (C/Y) bayonet mount
o lens: 6 elements in 4 groups - lens design diagram in last photo of this listing: a fairly complex Zeiss Planar type design of two compound curve cemented meniscus shaped doublets located inside the front and rear lens elements
o minimum focus distance: 0.5m / 19.6 inches
o aperture blades: 6
o size: 33mm x 61mm
o weight: 160g
o filter thread size: 52mm
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Please examine photos and description carefully in order to avoid unnecessary returns
Shipping cost includes all handling charges - will combine shipping on multiple items purchased.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions.
Would ask that buyer please pay within 5 days after purchasing.