In praise of old lenses #6 - Chinon 55mm F1.4

[peterr]

Chinon (Tomioka Tominon) 55mm F1.4

Chinon were a Japanese camera manufacturer whose products were sold exclusively in the UK by Dixons. The company disappeared into the Kodak empire some time during the 1990s, but you can still find secondhand Chinon cameras and lenses today due to the fact they were both popular and well made.

Photography magazine reviews in the mid 1970s often highlighted the fact that the better 42mm screw thread Chinon lenses, and in particular the 55mm F1.4 lens variant with the flat surfaced rear element, were made by the highly regarded Tomioka company who produced lenses for Yashica. Nevertheless, the fact that my old Chinon 55mm F1.4 is an absolute gem of a lens only really became apparent to me when I have started to couple it with my full frame Pentax K1 DSLR.

How does it perform? Well, the lens only has six aperture blades, and hence the bokeh at wide apertures, although quite pleasing, it is not up there with the very best. Very sharp results at the centre of the frame are achievable at an aperture of F1.4, with outstanding sharpness apparent when stopped down to F2.8, but the thing that I really like is the way that the lens renders the subject at wide apertures giving something quite close to a 3D effect.

Back in 1997, I dabbled with the idea of adding to my Pentax equipment by purchasing a Pentax MZ5N autofocus camera and lens (cost circa £200). The nice salesman in Jessops offered me a full £5 trade in for my old Chinon camera and 55mm F1.4 lens. I am now very pleased that I declined. The current used prices for a good condition example of a mid-1970s M42 Chinon F1.4 tend to be between £50 and £100. For an F1.2 version, the prices appear to be getting close to the £1000 mark.

In the two images below, both taken with the lens mounted via an adaptor onto a Pentax K1, the greenhouse Geranium was shot at F1.4 and the Clematis was shot at F2.8.

[BrianMet]

these days when everything is sharp and digitally correct it's nice to see a picture of this quality I love the softness and richness of colours

[billf]

Very nice Peter,

As a matter of interest was there any reason for the lens to be described as "Auto"

Cheers

Bill

[billf]

I've answered my own question to do with Auto, I'd forgotten about lenses that needed to be manually set to the f stop of choice when the shutter is pressed.

I'm looking at some old lenses I'd forgotten I had, haven't found anything too exciting.....yet!

Cheers

Bill