Ms-Optics C.Z TESS 35mm
Compact Tessar Lens
A review and photo examples of MS-Optics C.Z TESS 35mm.
Table of contents
Gallery
The photo example was taken with a Leica M-P.
Review
1．Usage
The C.Z.TESS 35mm F3.5 lens made by Ms-Optics (Miyazaki Optical) is a lens that was transplanted from a Kyocera compact film camera to a Leica M mount.
The image quality is very good even in the digital age, with only a little noticeable vignetting, but when shooting a blue sky with the LEICA M-P TYP240, which has an older sensor design, color casts may occur at the periphery of the image.
Color casts are a function of the sensor, so you have to choose a camera that does not produce them, but vignetting is a phenomenon that cannot be avoided to a certain extent due to the small diameter of the lens, so the photographer needs to be creative, such as accepting that the lens will cause vignetting and choosing scenes where the vignetting is done.
A secondary effect of vignetting is that vignetting makes color casts less noticeable, so if used with care, it makes color photography easier.
In addition to this lens, Ms-Optics has also transplanted lenses from compact cameras to the Leica M mount. As introduced on another page, Ms-optics has made a great contribution by allowing built-in camera lenses to be used as Leica M mounts. There are some restrictions on this modification, and it is limited to lenses that can be fixed and removed, and whose focal length can be changed by installing them in a helicoid. It seems that the lenses cannot be removed separately from the RICOH GR1, GR21, KONICA BIG MINI, etc., and I have been turned down for modification requests.
Ms-optics – List of transplantable lenses
- Lens included with Retina
- Nikon Mini 28mm F3.5
- Nikon 35Ti, 28Ti
- Nikon Pikaichi lens
- Fuji Tiara 28mm F3.5
- Minolta Hi-Matic lens
- Yashica Electro 35 lens
- Kyocera T-AFD Tessar 35mm F3.5
- Contax T2
- Leica Minilux Summarit 40mm F2.8
2．Lens overview
The C.Z.TESS 35mm F3.5 is a lens that uses the 3-group, 4-element Tessar format that was installed on the film-era Kyocera compact camera, the Yashica T* (or Kyocera T* ).
The lens was removed from the camera by Ms-optics (Miyazaki Optical), and transplanted to the Ms-optics common helicoid MS-35, which is designed to work with the rangefinder of Leica M-type cameras.
This lens is very compact, and without the hood, it is 9mm thick and weighs 36g, which is an unbelievable size and weight for a lens in the 2020s.
The disadvantage in terms of operation is that the aperture cannot be changed when a filter is attached. The maximum aperture of F3.5 is a little dark, but the image is sharp enough, so it may be necessary to make the compromise of shooting only at the specified aperture value, as with the Russian lenses Russar and Orion.
The nameplate on the lens varies depending on when it was modified, with some saying “C.Z.TESS” like this lens, and others saying “FOR TESSAR”. The lens barrel is available in silver and black, the silver one is an older modification with an L39 mount, and the black one is a more recent modification with an M mount.
3．Comparison with competitors
The Kyocera Yashica T AF-D (hereafter AF-D) is a 35mm film camera with a cheap plastic body and autofocus (hereafter AF), which means there is little room for the photographer to intervene. The AF focusing accuracy seems to be poor, which is thought to be the limit of the AF focusing accuracy of compact film cameras of this era.
The AF-D body with the lens removed was included when I purchased the camera, so I have never used the AF-D as a film camera. The previous owner either broke the camera or got tired of using it with film, so he asked Ms-optics to modify it, resulting in its current form, and I purchased this camera that had been sold for some reason and ended up at a used store. Until I went to the used store to see the actual thing, I never thought that an AF-D body only would come with it.
The reason why the body without the lens is included is that when you send a camera to Ms-optics for modification, the lens is removed from the camera and modified to M mount. The camera body that is left over at that time is sent back to you along with the lens. When I requested Ms-optics to modify a Summarit attached to a Leica Minilux directly to M mount, the Minilux body was returned to me, and I still have it. For many users, the body without the lens is almost trash, so it is inevitable that it will be thrown away.
Specification
This lens was mounted on a 35mm film camera using the Tessar format with four elements in three groups.
The lens uses Ms-optics’ common helicoid MS-35 as its helicoid.
| Item | Value | note |
| focal length(mm) | 35 | |
| Maximum aperture | 3.5 | |
| Minimum aperture | 16 | |
| Lens configuration | 3groups 4elements | Tessar Type |
| Minimum distance(m) | 0.6 | Works with the camera’s rangefinder from 0.8m to infinity. |
| Lens length(mm) | 9 | |
| Lens max diameter(mm) | 48.7 | |
| Filter diameter(mm) | 34 | |
| Weight(g) | 36 |
Reference links
- Yashica T AF specifications and other information on the Yashica T AF website.
- ZEISS TESSAR description page by Wikipedia
Update history
- 2024.10.3
- 2024.02.15:Update the article
- 2022.01.18:First draft
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