Yashica ML lenses for 35mm SLRs.....

[BradS]

I was just browsing the usual place(s) for a standard Yashica ML 50mm lens and was shocked at some of the prices I found...it used to be that ML glass was cheap as dirt...now I see "Buy-It-Now" prices that are, in many cases, four or five times what the item cost new (when it was still available new).

what gives?

PS: it used to be that the Yashica ML 50mm f1.9 was universally disliked....that has also apparently changed?

 

[mikebarger]

$20.00 and I'll send you a nice looking 50mm 1.9 ML

 

[BradS]

I am sorry...I cannot tell if you're joking or being serious. Anyway, I am NOT soliciting offers just wondering what has happened to the market for this type?

I see the prices falling drastically on almost every other type of 35mm manual focus lens. The notable exceptions seem to be the classics that can be adapted to new, unrelated purposes.

 

[Jeff L]

I noticed prices going up on some ML lenses. Any that I have I'm quite happy with. My ML 21mm produces nice images. I've always liked Yashica equipment.

 

[BradS]

yeah, the ML lenses always seemed to me to be grossly underrated. I bought a beautiful FX-3 super 2000 a few years ago thinking it would be a nice way to get into Contax-Zeiss glass...what I found out was that there was no need...the ML glass was fantastic (and cheap!).

I still have no idea why prices seem to have skyrocketed...? The f/2.0 and f/1.9 50mm ML lenses used to go unsold at $9.95...
Maybe this is just a (very) optimistic seller and a lack of other realistically priced items?

 

[patrickjames]

I would suspect "pixel peepers" are buying them. Some are approaching Zeiss levels which I find ludicrous even though they are good lenses.

 

[alexmacphee]

I no longer mind that people are discovering the light under the Yashica bushel, as I've got just about all the ML lenses I want. My most expensive buy was the 21mm at £175, and I've seen the 24mm go for more than that now, whereas I got mine at less than a third. Some of the zooms are no slouches either, and I was fortunate to get my favourites, the 28-85 and 70-210, for a song.

Obviously I've no right to a say in what people do with theirs, but it would be nice to think they were being used on film rather than adapter-mounted in front of sensors. Most of those who fancy Zeiss glass can generally now get it in their own native mounts.

 

[michaelbsc]

Having a bagful of the various Yashica Y/C mount lenses, I've often wondered if there's a comprehensive list of just what all the various configurations are. I've got 50mm in a number of aperture designations, 1.4, 1.7, 1.9, 2.0 collected over the years from the bay as afterthoughts to hunting down particular body parts.

Frankly, they're all decent lenses. And since most of my shooting is at f/8 or smaller, the low end doesn't offer me any more light.

So, how many configurations are there of these lenses, and what's the differences? Someone got a comprehensive guide?

 

[darinwc]

Forget what people are selling the lenses for.. look at what people are paying for them. Check the completed items on ebay first.

 

[darinwc]

Actually, the sale prices on ebay are getting less and less reliable as there is more "salting the mine".

 

[ContaxRTSFundus]

Some of the ML lenses are quite exceptional and can rival their more illustrious Zeiss cousins; these are commanding ever higher prices. Specifically, the 15mm, 24mm, 55 1.2 Tomioka ML, and the 55 2.8 and the 100mm Macro ML lenses - even the revered 100 f4 Medical lens with the in-built ring-flash has a price that's going north again... Simple fact is, some of the Yashica glass is great to use with either film or digital media and the earlier lenses were still metal-bodied which boosts confidence in their longevity. I've sold quite a few of these lenses (I bought a lot of duplicates) on ebay over the last 2 years and the 24mm and macro lenses have tripled their sales price over this time. It was interesting to note that the buyers for the wide-angles were mostly Canon DSLR users and the macro lenses went largely to FourThirds togs. Not so many were being used by those with C/Y bodies sadly - sign of the times I guess.