Tomioka? 90-190mm f5.8

Ching-Kuang Shene wrote:

I have the Yashica version. But this lens was also listed as a Ricoh and perhaps Knonica. It is not a surprising fact because Tomioka made lenses for Yashica and Ricoh. Performance wise, it is OK on an APS-C body but not so great on a FF body. I have not tried it on a m4/3 body though.

CK

CK

Has some visible haze on the front element - did not seem to worry it on a very bright day. But it might not be so cool if tested a bit with lower light. Smaller apartures were needed to avoid the shutter speed going into orbit

Not what I would call a favourite lens shape but I quite like it a sort of unusual sort of way. I was using it with a focal reduction adapter and the images seemed better than I had expected. Focus point was a little critical - but when found it seems sharp enough.

Focal reduced it is using much the same area of the lens surface as aps-c.

All the screws are obviously glued.  I think I can get the front element out from behind the front "beauty ring" though.  No hurry, I have other more pressing lens-fix chores

Tom said:

As Tomioka made all Yashica lenses for years it has their fingerprints all over it.

Tom, not all Yashica lenses were made by Tomioka.  Some lenses were made by Tokina.

Hanimar, Sears, Soligor, and Lentar all had a version of this lens and one of their major suppliers was Tokina.

So their is a good chance your lens was Tokina made. I don't know if your lens is date coded, but the lens was produced around 1971.

Being a worrier by nature I've always shied away from these cheap older long-extension zooms in case, without proper sealing, they suck dust into the mount and on to the sensor.

Is there any experience either way on this?

Mind you, these images are very impressive - the birds on the pole are good++

walter g1 wrote:

Tom said:

As Tomioka made all Yashica lenses for years it has their fingerprints all over it.

Tom, not all Yashica lenses were made by Tomioka. Some lenses were made by Tokina.

Hanimar, Sears, Soligor, and Lentar all had a version of this lens and one of their major suppliers was Tokina.

So their is a good chance your lens was Tokina made. I don't know if your lens is date coded, but the lens was produced around 1971.

Thanks Walter, "Tomioka" was only a guess on my part as I knew they made a business out of rebranding for other makes and few of their lenses were ever made branded "Tomioka". Do you know if Tokina made lenses for Ricoh as well?  My lens is branded as such.

I was surprised at the variety of branding this particular lens has achieved (as noted).

The serial number is a low one: 11025 for what it is worth.  I regard it as "unusual" but only by modern design standards as there are many oher (more entry level) older lenses about that have long barrels.  Usually avoided but this one piqued my curiosity and I am happy to have acquired it.  A very small amount of haze can be seen at some light angles in the front element group but otherwise this particular lens is in absolute as new condition.

As Ricoh has not emerged as a major lens manufacturer I have also to guess that most of their lenses were contracted out to specialist lens manufacturers as well.

Even today the Ricoh GRD/GR lenses with their incredible macro close focus capability (at least for the GRD models) has to have some connection to their photocopier lens business.

They bought Pentax for its lenses (presumably) it is a pity that the acquisition did not result in Pentax lenses made for Ricoh bodies ....

PW M43 wrote:

Being a worrier by nature I've always shied away from these cheap older long-extension zooms in case, without proper sealing, they suck dust into the mount and on to the sensor.

You are right to be worried.  The lens extension is beautifully damped and does not fly up and down - but makes a faint ooo-ah noise as the air is forced past the seals.  The seals must be good but there is no doubt that air is being pumped by that pump-like noise.

I really think that this is not a cheap construction lens - it feels and looks very well made.  I was actually quite surprised at its capability.  I was using it focal reduced and obviously the focal reduction elements were working fine.  I found the focus peaking quite dense and bright which is a good symptom of a sharp telephoto lens.  I have had some telephotos where it became very much a case of "hunt the flicker" for focus peaking.

In the past I have used a Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 trombone lens.  A good lens and I don't use it as much these days because of its sheer size.  This lens must pump a whole lot more dust than this Ricoh branded one.  Not only has it a much bigger throw, but a larger diameter and the action is moderated by an adjustable movement brake and not by obvious tight seals.  But even after extended use I could not say that I ever had any particular amount of dust on my dslr body sensors because of it.  I am sure that they "pump dust" but I think it must be well dispersed before it ever gets near a sensor.

Is there any experience either way on this?

Mind you, these images are very impressive - the birds on the pole are good++

Probably because shooting against a bright blue sky the lens was set to f16 to avoid the shutter speed bouncing off the end of its scale.  Diffraction does not seem to be a problem.  Focal reduced the lens was giving about 270mm FF Eq FOV on a M4/3 sensor.

I just see it as another interesting lens in my lens-library that I am sure to thumb through every now and then.

They came up a little darker on dpreview (as usual).

Ching-Kuang Shene wrote:

I have the Yashica version. But this lens was also listed as a Ricoh and perhaps Knonica. It is not a surprising fact because Tomioka made lenses for Yashica and Ricoh. Performance wise, it is OK on an APS-C body but not so great on a FF body. I have not tried it on a m4/3 body though.

CK

I have the Yashica version also.