Pekka Buttler, 11/2024
Specifications
The table below summarizes the lens’ key specifications (Measurements based on pictured sample):
| Brand: | Yashica | Lens name | ML 35mm 1:2.8 |
| Focal length(s)1 | 35 mm | Angle-of-view2 | 63.4 ° |
| Maximum Aperture | f/2.8 | In Production | 1974–≈1996 |
| Lens mounts | Contax/Yashica | Subfamily (if applicable) | –– |
| Length3 | 41,6 mm | Diameter4 | 61,1 mm |
| Filter ring diameter | 52 mm | Weight | 228 grams |
| Lens element count | 65 | Lens group count | 5 |
| Aperture blades (S/R/C)6 | 6 S | Focus throw | 220 ° |
| Minimum focusing distance | 30 cms | Maximum magnification | 1:6,4 |
| Has manual aperture ring | YES | Has Manual focus ring | YES |
| Aperture mechanism type | Auto | Aperture click stops 7 | 2.8-4-5.6-8-11-16 |
Further notes:
• In the Contax/Yashica era Yashica lenses were divided into three series:
• ML (abbreviation of Multi-Layer, in reference to coating technology). Yashica’s premium line of lenses. Designed and manufactured by Yashica.
• DSB (abbreviation unclear). Yashica’s budget line. Not premium coatings. Not designed or manufactured by Yashica.
• YUS (Yashica US). Yashica’s budget line for the Americas. Not premium coatings. Not designed or manufactured by Yashica.
• Throughout the life of the Contax/Yashica system, there was only on 35 mm prime offered under the Yashica brand (at the same time, three further 35 mm focal length lenses were offered under the Carl Zeiss brand for the Contax/Yashica system:
• Carl Zeiss 35 mm f/1.4 Distagon [data sheet]
• Carl Zeiss 35 mm f/2.8 PC-Distagon (Shift)
• Carl Zeiss 35 mm f/2.8 [data sheet]
• Yashica lenses of this era are both outwardly and otherwise very similar to Carl Zeiss -branded lenses for the same system. Not only are many of the lenses outwardly very similar, they were very often produced at the same Yashica plant.
• At the same time, the Yashica brand was clearly intended to be the budget alternative in the Contax(Zeiss)/Yashica partnership.
• Yashica offered a series of square-formatted clamp-on lens hoods for its primes, but as they are very rare today, it seems they did not come supplied with the lenses. If you need a lens hood for your lens, you can try a generic 52 mm thread lens hood for standard lenses.
Versions
According to some sources (brochures) there have been two versions of the Yashica ML 35 mm f/2.8 lens. One version is said to have a 7 elements in 6 groups design, whereas the later is supposedly based on a 6 elements in 5 groups design. While the first version was introduced in 1974, it is unclear when the second version was introduced.
Also, there is some confusion regarding whether the second version really uses a 6 elements in 5 groups design, because even though this data is given by several official brochures, those same brochures invariably depict a lens schematic clearly showing 7 elements in 6 groups.
However, because there are images online of an early, rare Yashica ML 35 mm f/2.8 lens that shares the focus ring patterning (diamonds) and name ring logic of the earlier Yashica DS-M (M42) lenses (in other words, the name ring of these lenses say
“YASHICA LENS ML 35mm 1:2.8 YASHICA MADE IN JAPAN”
, and because Yashica’s earlier M42 mount 35 mm f/2.8 lenses were known to use a 7 elements in 6 lenses design, I’m willing to wager that:
- the first version of the ML 35 mm f/2.8 lens was a hastily thrown together C/Y mount version of the older M42 lens, that inherited that lens’ optical design, focus ring and some other features
- That early design was modernised to the later (pictured) design relatively early (late 1970s, at the latest).
At the same time, because Yashica official brochures from as late as 1987 still contain the conflicting information regarding the element and group count of the later ML 35 mm f/2.8, I’m not entirely willing to say with any certainty whether the later version of the ML 35 mm f/2.8 uses a 7 elements in 6 groups or 6 elements in 5 groups design
Adapting
This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Contax or Yashica body with a Contax/Yashica mount. Luckily these are quite easy to find, and Yashica’s manufacture of the electronics has been relatively resilient to the teeth of time. (The same cannot be said for the leatherette’s used on Contax/Yashica bodies, and the light seals quite often need fixing, but those are minor issues…)
Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable adapter. Moreover, a simple ‘dumb adapter’ will do the job perfectly. Thanks to the popularity of the C/Y mount, the availability of adapters to all mirrorless mounts can be taken for granted, on the other hand, specialist adapters (speed boosters, helicoid adapters, tilt/shift adapters) are not available for all mirrorless mounts, but daisy-chaining adapters (e.g. C/Y->Canon EF; Canon EF –> mirrorless) can offer a work-around.
Adapting C/Y mount lenses on dSLRs can also be an option, depending on which dSLR.
• Canon EF has the shortest flange focal distance among full-frame dSLR’s and Canon’s wide range of dSLRs are able to mount C/Y lenses perfectly using a simple adapter ring.
• Sony/Minolta A, Pentax K and Nikon F dSLRs are not able to use C/Y lenses without an adapter that uses corrective optics to allow infinity focus. However, such adapters are readily available.
History of the Contax/Yashica system
The Contax/Yashica system as well as the eponymous mount were co-designed by Zeiss and Yashica under the aegis of “Top Secret Project 130”. Zeiss’ intended contribution to the co-operation was the name ‘Contax’ as well as lens designs and the manufacturing of some of the lenses whereas Yashica would take care of camera manufacturing as well as some lens manufacturing. Moreover – beside the line of premium ‘Contax’ camera bodies and Carl Zeiss lenses, Yashica could also sell Yashica-branded bodies and lenses. This co-operation gave Yashica a leg up in competing with other Japanese Camera manufacturers while also allowing Zeiss access to the kind of economies of scale8 it needed and could not reach by itself.
The Contax (Contax/Yashica) system was unveiled at the Photokina fair in 1974 and the Contax RTS body hit shelves in 1975. While many German pundits thought it an outrage to produce anything named Contax outside of Germany, overall reception was very favourable. Not only would the new system be able to use Zeiss’ optics, also the new body design (especially the ergonomic for which the F. Porsche design studio had been engaged) seemed very promising.
The system was initially centred on aperture priority auto exposure, and the body-lens interface did not allow for the camera body to control aperture. To facilitate shutter priority and program auto, Yashica/Contax in 1984/5 unveiled the 159MM body (MM=multi-mode) and an upgrade to existing lenses so that they would support the full range of auto exposure modes in MM-capable bodies.
While somewhat successful, the the Zeiss-Yashica co-operation was by no means unproblematic. Yashica often felt Zeiss was unwilling to commit to sufficient volume (which likely contributed to production over time increasingly shifting to Japan). Moreover, although Contax/Yashica were at the forefront of the autofocus revolution (as evidenced by the functional prototype unveiled at fotokina 1982) Zeiss killed that development trajectory by claiming AF lenses could not be manufactured to Zeiss’ standards – a move that later led to Yashica’s breakaway AF system (see some details here) as well as the only serially manufactured in-body AF system in the 1996, Contax AX (touched upon here).
While the Contax / Yashica system technically stayed alive until replaced by the less successful Contax N autofocus system, it’s clear that as autofocus took the world by storm in the late 80s, early 90s, the Contax / Yashica system devolved into a niche / aficionado solution in the early 90s. Even so, Contax/Yashica cameras continued to be introduced and produced all the way until the 2000s.
Footnotes
- 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’. ↩︎
- Picture angle is given in degrees (based on manufacturers’ specs) 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 ↩︎ - Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
- Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
- See discussion under heading ‘versions‘, ↩︎
- S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
- Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
- “economies of scale” is a business term signifying the phenomenon where manufacturing costs per unit fall when manufacturing numbers increase. Importantly, while almost all manufacturing industries have economies of scale, some industries have stronger economies of scale than others. Also, for economies of scale to be able to realise their effect, there needs to be a sufficient demand. ↩︎