Yashica Auto Yashinon DX 50mm f1.7 – Legacy 50mm. Which one is the best? Part 1

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8 Responses

  1. Corwin says:

    C/Y Zeiss 50mm f1.7 might be nice addition too. 🙂 And usually its cheap.

    And you might compare all to 35-70mm f4 Leica R set at 50mm (I bet it will be sharpest).

    Yea and I kinda like 50mm f1.2 AiS, its not like Noct-Nikkor but still nice.

  2. … and also have this one… It’s been neglected for a while, but I will give it a second chance.

    Keep up the great Work.

  3. I got this lens a few months ago and is excellent using on the NEX7, contrast is excellent and very sharp, although don’t really like the adapter because adheres more volume, the construction is very strong, solid and is very easy to focus quickly turning the ring when I walk by street.
    Greetings friend, I really liked your article.

  4. deafburglar says:

    Great review. I use this lens on film for about a year now along with its DS and DS-M siblings, so I can only speak about the overall feel of this lens, as I am not into pixel-peeping. They all give very similar results and in my opinion they are very underrated and can be found pretty cheap on eBay. They are easily comparable to my standard Takumars (even the 1.4/50) for a fraction of the price. The DX line has the best construction (again comparable to the Takumars, incl. smoothness of focusing ring after all these years). The only problem is that the DX lenses can hit the mirror of many DSLRs (and many film SLRs as well) when focused to infinity (not a problem with DS and DSM lenses). Not owning a Leica lens of any sort, the 1.7 Yashinons have frequently fooled me into believing that many great shots on flickr were made with Leitz lenses, when in fact they were made with a Yashinon. By the way, great photos of the Prague Castle. I lived in Prague for 8 years, it was the best time of my life.

  5. Thanks for review, it was excellent and very informative.
    thank you 🙂

  6. milkiweix says:

    Thank you for the review. Very well done!

    I have a copy of this lens and have been amazed by its quality. First I found it a bit soft compared to modern lenses and somewhat of an ugly duckling but as I started using it for videos, it’s shown its worth. Amazing image quality is more than just simple sharpness.

    I think many places report that it is radio active. Whether is thorium or not, I’m not sure. From what I see, the glass elements have that yellow tint, though the images seem fine. Either way, I’d advise against holding it to sleep.

    • Hi,
      congrats on your lens. It has lanthanum in the optics, but don’t worry much about radiation. The simple paper bag or anything similar will almost entirely block the radiation, so that you can even keep it in the sleeping room 🙂 Use simple UV lamp (black light) to reduce yellowness and improve contrast and resolution.
      Cheers, Viktor

  7. Alejandro Medina says:

    Thanks for your post about this and other classic 50m, very useful. I have the DS version and I can confirm is radioactive. When I first get it, it had a thick yellow tint, very difficult to fix in post. After some days of natural light, the yellow tint dissapearead, except a little bit on the lens that does not affect the picture and may be due to the coating.

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