Data sheet: Miranda EC Auto 200 mm f/3.5 (x spex)

Pekka Buttler, 06/2026

Pictured: Auto Miranda EC 200 mm f/3.5

Specifications

The table below summarises the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured sample):

Brand:MirandaLens nameEC 1:3.5 f=200mm Auto
Focal length(s)1200 mmAngle-of-view212 °
Maximum Aperturef/3.5In Production1974–76
Lens mount (this lens)MirandaMount subtypeE/EC
Auto aperture with aperture
coupling in mount
Length3118,3 mmDiameter471,8 mm
Filter ring diameter62 mmWeight593 grams
Lens element count6Lens group count5
Aperture blades (S/R/C)56 SFocus throw290 °
Minimum focusing distance
(indicated)
2,42 mMaximum magnification
(calculated)
1:9,6
Has manual aperture ringYESHas Manual focus ringYES
Aperture mechanism typeAutomaticAperture click stops 63.5•5.6•8•11•16-22

Further notes:
• The lens features an integrated, pull-out hood that offers good cover against oblique rays.
• This lens’ aperture stop-down is handled by a lever at the base of the mount and there is also a slide on the lens (near the mount) that facilitates stop-down for depth-of-field preview.
• This is by no means the only Miranda 200 mm f/3.5 lens. See more below.

Top: Miranda EC Auto 200/3.5 at infinity with hood retracted
Bottom: Miranda EC Auto 200/3.5 at infinity with hood extended

Historical notes:

• Miranda was – in its heyday – an advanced Japanese camera manufacturer. You can read more about Miranda camera in the JAPB company profile on Miranda camera.
• In 1972 Miranda introduced the Auto Sensorex EE camera that introduced a new (for Miranda) way of communicating the lens’ selected aperture to the camera, using a lever in the lens’ base. This led to the redesign of the entire lens catalogue. The new lenses that communicated aperture information on the lens’ mount were launched as the ‘E’ series of lenses.
• Two years later in 1974 Miranda launched the dx-3 camera. With this camera Miranda adopted a new approach where some of those design principles that had governed Miranda design (such as interchangeable viewfinders) were replaced by a more compact (read: smaller) overall design. As part of this push to participate on the market of compact SLRs7 also many of the key lenses were redesigned for compactness and launched as the EC series of lenses. For more information on various generations of Miranda lenses, see the Miranda lens compendium.

• Importantly, Miranda was a camera manufacturer and not a lens manufacturer. This mean that from early on, Miranda cameras came equipped with various brands of lenses, including some rather prominent manufacturers such as Kowa and Zunow.
• Lenses branded as “Miranda” or “Soligor Miranda” were not manufactured by Miranda, but were sourced from other manufacturers and branded ‘Miranda’. Most often these lenses were sourced from Miranda’s long-time partner (and later: owner) Soligor (Allied Impex Corporation). Hence, the actual manufacturer of “Miranda” lenses is most often impossible to discern with certainty.

Versions/variants

The table below summarises the development of Miranda 135 mm f/2.8 lenses.
For more information on generations of Miranda lenses, see the Miranda lens compendium.

Mainline specYearsGenerationRecipeMFDFilterLengthDiameterWeightNotes
200 mm f/3.51970–74F-G-MAT6e / 5g3 m67 mm158 mm75 mm770 g
200 mm f/3.51972–74MEX-REX6e / 5g3 m62 mm150 mm70 mm760 g
200 mm f/3.51972–74E6e / 5g3 m62 mm150 mm70 mm760 g
200 mm f/3.51974–76EC6e / 5g2,42 m62 mm119 mm72 mm593 g(this lens)
200 mm f/3.51974–76DUAL(MEX-REX)5e/ 4g3 m62 mm121 mmunknown620 g
200 mm f/3.51974–76DUAL(F-G-MAT)5e/ 4g3 m62 mm159 mmunknown770 g

Adapting

This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Miranda Camera film body. While this lens will mount on any Miranda camera that uses the Miranda mount, its automatic aperture stop-down will work only on Miranda bodies after the Miranda F (launched 1963) and its aperture can be read only by bodies launched after 1972.

Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable adapter. However, Miranda adapters are not as easily available as adapters for many other legacy era camera mounts, nor is there a wide variety of specialist adapters.

Using Miranda lenses on dSLRs is a theoretical possibility. Thanks to the relatively short flange focal distance of the Miranda mount (at 41,5 mm, clearly shorter than that of any full-frame dSLR mount), any adapter will necessitate some corrective optics to achieve infinity focus.

Footnotes

  1. Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
  2. Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
    > 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
    70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
    50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
    40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
    20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
    10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
    5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
    < 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎
  3. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at its shortest. ↩︎
  4. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
  5. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
  6. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
  7. A market prominently launched by the Olympus OM-1 a few years earlier. ↩︎

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