USHER99@xxxxxxx wrote:
>Any easy way to tell which variant of lens you have? Mine has "112101" on the
>front and "made in Japan" on the back ring where the depth of field preview
>button is located. I was hoping it is the "made in the Japan" version, but
>judging by the performance in low light, I don't think so. Any help
>appreciated.
>Thanks.
>
Yours is a VERY early one, as serial numbers seem to have started at 100
000. As you have already discovered, they are not very sharp above maybe
f5.6. There was a later SC version with better performance. Then there
were then many MC ones, marked "MC", that are optically quite good.
Unfortunately, a great many of them suffer from a problem with breakdown
of the helicoid grease, with the lighter, oily component migrating to
the aperture mechanism, resulting in slowing, and sometimes stopping, of
aperture return. Not all that hard to clean up, but can come back unless
a full CLA is done to get all the old grease out and replace it.
All of the above have the serial number on the front ring and say "LENS
MADE IN JAPAN" on the mount. The next, final and best design is the so
called "miJ". With these, the serial number moved to the mount and the
words "made in Japan" moved to the front ring. Note that the preceeding
capitalizations are as they actually appear on the lenses. I have had
one miJ with a sticky aperture, but they seem to mostly be free of the
affliction.
The miJs are really excellent lenses, about as good at f1.8 as the
earliest f1.8s at f4 and just outstanding at f4-16.
I believe serial numbers finally went to about 6 million.
Moose
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