Other/Uncategorized CHIYODA KOGAKU (MINOLTA) 5cm f1.8 Super Rokkor LTM fitting

Other Screw mount bodies/lenses
Bar8barian said:
Does anyone on RFF own and use the LTM version of this lens and have any photo’s taken with it?
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As I have written in quite a few posts here on RFF, the Super Rokkor 5cm f1.8 is simply outstanding. I have used basically all fast 50's (f1.8 - f2) from the era, from all makers, and none are better than Super Rokkor (and the Super Rokkor is better than most). It is even better than the Super Rokkor 5cm f2, which itself is a stellar lens. Get a lens hood.

Bar8barian said:
Does anyone on RFF have any further information on this LTM lens , which I believe is of a 6 element/ 5 group design ?(Construction is in Black and Chrome finish and filter thread takes 46mm filters and apertures available( f1.8 to f22) Huffman states f1.8 to f16 but mine ,a late example goes f1.8 to f22.
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Huffman is incorrect. I have 3 versions of this lens (2 LTM, 1 Super A), and they all stop down to f22. Even the picture on the Huffman website shows the aperture goes to f22.

Bar8barian said:
(a) Is it a Sonnar, Planar, or a Hybrid type.
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It's a Planar-type, like most fast 50's were (and are).

Bar8barian said:
(b) What is the range of serial nos. produced in LTM fitting ? ( Bellamy’s -JAPANCAMERAHUNTER on Flickr website is 1201929, Mine is 1203063 and any further known serial numbers of RFF members lens would be very interesting).
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LTM: 1300816, distance in m
LTM: 1201826, distance in ft
Super A: 1200174

Don't read too much into the serial number range; I have other rokkor LTM and Super A lenses within the range.


cheers,

David
 
Do you have many links to pictures taken with the lens you could share? I have another less know lens - the Yashinon 5cm 1.8. I adore it and really prefer it to the similar Canon and Nikkor lenses. There are some hidden gems in that time period but it seems mostly because there arent many copies of the lenses out there!
 
I've seen 50/1.8 Rokkor # 1206872

The Minolta LTM rangefinders were never officially imported into the US, and so some models are very hard to find here -- particularly the very first version and the last IIB version.

At one point in their history in the late 1940's, the Minolta LTM RF's were apparently were much outselling the Nikon Rangefinders - when they were both only sold in the Japan home market.

Stephen
Stephen
 
Bar8barian said:
Minolta in particular produced their own glass "in house" so they could experiment with their own optical design technology.I think this is one of the reasons that Leitz co-operated with Minolta on Leicaflex zoom lenses and the lenses in Leica "M" mount that they produced for the Leitz CL and the Minolta CLE.They, Minolta, didn't have to buy in optical glass from other optical glass manufacturers which was a great advantage when lens designs were being formulated.
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yes, and no.

By the 1970's they were producing their own glass. However when did they start producing glass? Probably not in the 1940's and 50's - they were just too small a company then.

Stephen
 
Well, something about this doesn't make perfect sense. If Chiyoda Kogaku did not officially import the lens into USA (as all have said above), why is there a version of the lens marked in feet, as David (dberger) owns? They must have been importing it, or preparing to import it, into somewhere that spoke FPS at the time (UK? AU & NZ? SA?). Or could it have been that other usual distribution channel to a ready audience of FPS users: selling it to US military stationed in Japan?

--Dave
 
Bar8barian said:
Hello Stephen.
They were producing their own glass in the later years of World War II (1944).
Please see the following information regarding the Japanese Imperial Navy requesting Chiyoda (MINOLTA) in 1942 to melt their own glass as part of the war effort.The plant was built in Itami and became fully operative in 1944.

See :- WORLD WAR II write-up
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Minolta

Stephen,
Was the lens you have seen Serial No. 1206872 an LTM version or the same lens in Minolta Super "A" fitting?. If it was in LTM fitting it is the highest number that I have recorded in the 120xxxx series so far.
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LTM.

I am not so sure about continuous glass production. It was all Japanese camera / optical companies could do after the war simply to survive. That WWII capability, if the link is accurate information, was not necessarily true in postwar Japan.

Stephen
 
BTW what is the fair price to pay for a Super Rokkor 50mm f/1.8 LTM? Assume lens in excellent condition, no fungus/mold, few minor scracthes on elements, few wear mark on body.

Is this lens coated? AFAIK it has no "C" marking.
 
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