yamasaki lenses?

[olleorama]

Anybody used yamasaki lenses? I have the opportunity to buy a wideangle lens (90/6.3 MC) at what seems to be a good price. It's quite modern, at most 10 years old or so, so I guess it should be compared to lenses of the same vintage, but any opinions at all are most welcome. Even if you haven't tried one but want to say something anyway, that's okay too.

What I've found so far is that the lens is a 4 lens tessar construction, and that yamasaki optical have been producing large format photo optics since 1924, so they would probably have some routine, right?

If anybody has some spare time they could also enlighten me in how lenses can affect contrast.

 

[archphoto]

Tessar and wide-angle..... somehow that can not be true.
Where is it on sale ? Any pic's ?

Peter

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I believe the Yamasaki are more commonly referred to as Congo, and also Osaka. They have always been rather inexpensive lenses for their focal lengths. The 90mm wide-angle you speak of would be similar to the old Wollensak 90mm Optar of the 1950's. Just barely covers 4x5. Useful on press cameras with no movements.

http://www.cosmonet.org/congo/index_e.html

http://www.bromwellmarketing.com/lenses.htm

 

[Oren Grad]

The 90/6.3 Wide Angle Congo is a wide field Gauss design, not a Tessar. It's different from the 90/3.5 Commercial Congo, which is a Tessar. See Kerry Thalmann's writeup:

http://www.thalmann.com/largeformat/wide.htm

 

[peri24]

i have one!
it came with my 4x5 camera, i only tried with some e6 film, colors and contrast are quite pale against other modern lenses, to me it has the look of an older lens not a 10 years old one, i'm not an expert and i have just tried another 90mm lens, so take my advice as a pinch of salt.
in hand it looks cheap and small but if you travel with it that should be good thing, and it takes 40.5mm filters.
jp

pd. it let me enough movements without vignetting, i haven't tried any extreme movements, but for normal stuff there´s plenty of room

 

[ricksplace]

For a minute there I thought I thought this thread was about a head on collision between a Yamaha and a Kawasaki.

 

[ReallyBigCameras]

i have one!
it came with my 4x5 camera, i only tried with some e6 film, colors and contrast are quite pale against other modern lenses, to me it has the look of an older lens not a 10 years old one, i'm not an expert and i have just tried another 90mm lens, so take my advice as a pinch of salt.
in hand it looks cheap and small but if you travel with it that should be good thing, and it takes 40.5mm filters.
jp

pd. it let me enough movements without vignetting, i haven't tried any extreme movements, but for normal stuff there´s plenty of room

Peri,

Is your 90mm WA Congo multicoated, or the older, more common single coated version? I have the multicoated version and find the colors and contrast excellent. It's not a very good scan, but here's a shot made with this lens:

My multicoated version has a 43mm front filter thread (but I use it with 52mm filters with a 43mm-52mm step-up ring).

The rated image circle of 175mm seems pretty accurate in my experience. Beyond that, coverage is limited by mechanical vignetting.

Of course, the best thing about this lens is the absolutely tiny size and ultralight weight. This makes it a great lens for backpacking - which is what I use it for.

Kerry Thalmann
Really Big Cameras

 

[peri24]

hi Kerry,

yes you are right, mine doesnt look like a MC version at all, i just realized that olleorama referred to multicoated version.
here's a picture of mine lens, it takes 40,5mm filter. It's not that bad and it certainly has a distinct look, but far from a modern lens.
jp

 

[olleorama]

Thanks for the replies. I think Thalmanns reply closed the deal for me. 175 mm would allow some movements, right?

 

[ReallyBigCameras]

hi Kerry,

yes you are right, mine doesnt look like a MC version at all, i just realized that olleorama referred to multicoated version.
here's a picture of mine lens, it takes 40,5mm filter. It's not that bad and it certainly has a distinct look, but far from a modern lens.
jp

Yes, that's definitely the older single coated version.

The one I have was purchased new in May, 1998. It's in a black Copal 0 shutter, and definitely multicoated (bright green reflections).

In addition to the improved coatings, perhaps Yamasaki has improved their quality control in recent years. I have no hard evidence of this, but one would hope quality would improve over time as technology evolves. The sample I have definitely performs quite well (sharpness, contrast, color) within it's limited image circle.

Kerry Thalmann
Really Big Cameras

 

[ReallyBigCameras]

Thanks for the replies. I think Thalmanns reply closed the deal for me. 175 mm would allow some movements, right?

A little bit, but not much. I'd prefer an image circle of at least 200mm for landscape use, but I"m willing to trade off coverage for the tiny size and ultralight weight when backpacking.

Just be careful and check your corners when using front rise. You'll start to get mechanical vignetting after just a tiny bit of front rise - but this is easy to check by looking through the corners of your ground glass.

Kerry Thalmann
Really Big Cameras