The samples look pretty good in my opinion. Indeed I am looking to add a ML 50/1.4 to my collection.
We are so diverse in this forum. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
By the way, here's my contribution to the thread:
Cableaddict wrote:
No offense to the posters here, but-
All the example pics in this thread pretty much prove my point, above.
Seriously, is there anything here that makes someone want to buy a Yaschica lens? I don't see it at all.
It is pretty easy to jump into someone else's thread and trash a lens you have never tried, as it is also easy to bash other people's images when you never post your own.
We get it, you don't like Yashica.
My 55/2.8 ML macro just arrived today, so I have no detailed optical report. The build quality is classic Yashica, and the size is petite (unlike my CZ SP60). With deeply recessed front element, no hood is needed. Below is a studio test, two lights, f/11, mounted on Canon 1Ds. Me like! http://www.patternassociates.com/rico/contax/misc/fruit1.jpg
Here's two from a Yashica ML 1.4/50. It is very similar to the Zeiss/Contax 1.4/50. Of all the manual 1.4 standard lenses I've tried, it is these two which stand out for open aperture performance.
full open Yashica ML 1.4/50 on K100D, all sliders neutral out-of-the cam daylight jpg
f/5.6 Yashica ML 1.4/50 on K100D
The second pic was pp'd somehow but I can tell you that I tried to soften the original pic. The Yashica is as brutal in contrast as the Zeiss if not more. You gotta pay for it in terms of 'too sharp' sometimes and 'not-so-nice bokeh' sometimes too. All in all I'd say this Yashica lens is a raw version of the Zeiss and definitely worth a try if you can get it for a reasonable price - this means the old Contax version should cost you no more than the Yashica. The Yash has 8 blades and no Ninja star so that's a little plus.
Good samples of possible use for the respective focal lengths helimat! The 21 looks good imo but I am not a wide angle freak.
Here's one from an M42 Yashinon DX (silver front ring) 1.7/50. This lens again is similar to the Zeiss brother, the predecessor to the Contax 1.7/50. Very contrasty already at wide open and it'll bite some more. Some say it is already too much contrast but, likewise to the 1.4/50, a matter of taste.
I gotta search for the other ML lens pics I've done,
keep it up, Georg
