Auto Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 (incl. EE)

Ricoh · M42 · 1967

our own finding

Also known as: Auto Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 · Auto Rikenon 200mm f3.5 · Ricoh Auto Rikenon 200mm · Auto Rikenon 1:3.5 200mm · Auto Rikenon 3.5/200 · Rikenon 200mm f3.5 · Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 M42 · Ricoh Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 · Ricoh Automatic Rikenon 200mm · Auto Rikenon EE 200mm f/3.5 · Auto Rikenon EE 200mm · Rikenon EE 200mm · Rikenon EE 200mm f3.5 · Rikenon 1:3.5 200mm · Rikenon 3,5/200 · Rikenon 200 mm f/3.5 · Rikenon 1:3.5 f=200mm · Rikenon 200mm 1:3.5 · Rikenon 3.5/200

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Auto Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 (non-EE)	M42	—	—	—
Auto Rikenon EE 200mm f/3.5	M42 (with Ricoh EE coupling for the Auto TLS EE)	—	—	—

Construction (4 groups, 4 elements), closest focus (3.0 m) and angle of view (12°) for both versions are from Ricoh's own accessory tables in the SLX 500 and Auto TLS EE manuals, which agree on them; Dr. Ricoh's list repeats them. The f/22 minimum aperture is Dr. Ricoh's, for the non-EE lens only; no source gives the EE lens's aperture range or the number of blades for either.
Filter: Ricoh's SLX 500 table gives the non-EE lens a 62 mm filter; Ricoh's Auto TLS EE table and Dr. Ricoh give it 67 mm. The EE lens is 62 mm in both places that list it. The 67/62 difference in the Auto TLS EE table could point to two different optics, but the SLX 500 figure makes a misprint in one table, or a change of barrel, just as likely, and nothing consulted decides it.
Dates: no source dates either version, and neither manual carries a printing date. 1967 is the year Ricoh gives for the Singlex TLS, whose instruction book lists a '200mm f 3.5 automatic' among its accessory lenses; the multi-language TLS 401 book (1970 by Ricoh) lists it too. Both books are undated printings, so 1967 is the earliest year the plain lens can be tied to, not a launch date. A shorter English TLS 401 book lists a '200mm f4.5' with a preset diaphragm instead, a lens with no page here. The EE lens cannot be older than the Auto TLS EE, which Ricoh dates to 1976 and camera-wiki to 1973 on the strength of a Popular Photography advertisement of July 1973; if camera-wiki is right, the Auto TLS EE table, which lists both versions, may be the older document.
Sears sold an Auto Sears 200mm f/3.5 in M42. One seller's listing on Photrio describes a copy as made by Tokina, and no catalogue or manual ties any Sears 200mm to Ricoh, so no Sears variant is listed and Sears titles are kept off this page.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Two versions with one optical specification in Ricoh's tables: 200mm f/3.5, 4 groups and 4 elements, 3.0 m closest focus, 12° angle of view
The EE lens has an EE position on its aperture ring; the plain Auto Rikenon does not
Ricoh's later 200mm lenses for the Pentax K bayonet are f/4 XR Rikenons (6 elements in 5 groups from 1978, then 5 in 5 by Dr. Ricoh's list); they are separate families, engraved XR, and do not screw into an M42 body

Auto Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 (non-EE):

Ordinary aperture ring with no EE position; Ricoh's tables list it as an automatic-diaphragm lens (F-stop control: Auto)
Ricoh gives 740 g for it in both manuals, 40 g heavier than the EE lens's 700 g
Dr. Ricoh gives the smallest stop as f/22

Auto Rikenon EE 200mm f/3.5:

Aperture ring with EE engraved past the f/3.5 mark, as in Ricoh's photograph of the four EE lenses in the Auto TLS EE manual
In Ricoh's photograph of the EE lenses, a long plain front barrel ahead of the ribbed focusing ring, with the name ring at its front edge
Ricoh gives 700 g and a 62 mm filter; construction, closest focus and angle of view are the same as the non-EE lens

Auto Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 (non-EE): The plain automatic-diaphragm 200mm of Ricoh's M42 line. Ricoh's accessory table in the SLX 500 manual gives 200 mm, 12°, f/3.5, Auto, 4 groups and 4 elements, 3.0 m, a 62 mm filter and 740 g. The table in the Auto TLS EE manual repeats every figure except the filter, which it gives as 67 mm; Dr. Ricoh's lens list also has 67 mm and 740 g and adds the f/22 minimum aperture. Which filter size is right, or whether the lens changed between the two manuals, is not settled by these sources; check the thread on the lens in hand. No source dates its introduction or its end, or names the maker of the optics.
Auto Rikenon EE 200mm f/3.5: One of the four EE lenses Ricoh lists for the Auto TLS EE (28/2.8, 35/2.8, 135/2.8 and 200/3.5), and the longest of them. With the ring set to EE on that body, the camera chooses the aperture for the shutter speed set, which is shutter-priority automatic exposure; set to a number, it works as a manual lens. Ricoh's table gives it the same 4 groups, 4 elements, 3.0 m and 12° as the non-EE 200mm, but 700 g against 740 g, and a 62 mm filter where the same table gives the non-EE lens 67 mm. Whether the two share the same optics is not stated anywhere. Dr. Ricoh's row repeats Ricoh's figures and leaves the aperture range blank.

Specifications

Construction: 4 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range: f/3.5
Min. focus: 3 m
Filter: 62 mm (SLX 500 manual) or 67 mm (Auto TLS EE manual, Dr. Ricoh) (Auto Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 (non-EE)) · 62 mm (Auto Rikenon EE 200mm f/3.5)

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History

The Auto Rikenon 200mm f/3.5 is the 200mm telephoto of Ricoh’s M42 screw-mount system, the step below its f/5.5 300mm and f/6.3 400mm, and like the 28mm, 35mm and 135mm it came in two forms: a plain automatic-diaphragm lens for any Praktica-thread body, and an Auto Rikenon EE version made to give automatic exposure on the Auto TLS EE. Ricoh’s accessory tables give both a simple four-element, four-group construction, focus to 3.0 m and a 12° angle of view. The EE lens is listed at 700 g, the plain one at 740 g. None of the sources says who made the optics, whether the glass inside the two versions is the same, or when either was introduced or withdrawn.

The filter size is the one real puzzle. In the Auto TLS EE manual, Ricoh gives the EE lens a 62 mm filter and the plain lens 67 mm, and Dr. Ricoh’s list follows those figures. Taken alone, that difference would suggest two different optical designs. But Ricoh’s own SLX 500 manual gives the plain 200mm a 62 mm filter at the same 740 g. So either one table has a misprint or the barrel changed at some point, and none of these sources settles which. A buyer who needs filters should check the front thread on the actual lens rather than trust a listing.

The EE lens only makes sense with the camera it was made for. Ricoh’s Auto TLS EE is an M42 body with what Ricoh calls an arranged version of the Praktica mount. With an EE lens set to EE and the lens’s maximum aperture dialled in on the body, the camera chooses the aperture for the shutter speed you set, which is shutter-priority automatic exposure. Ricoh calls the Auto TLS EE the first AE camera on the M42 mount. That is not right as history: Asahi’s aperture-priority Pentax ES, announced in 1971 by camera-wiki’s account, was a screw-mount AE camera before it. Ricoh dates the camera to 1976; camera-wiki cites a US advertisement of July 1973. On the other Ricoh M42 bodies, the Singlex TLS, Ricohflex TLS 401, SLX 500 and Singlex II, both versions are simply 200mm automatic-diaphragm screw lenses, used on their numbered stops and metered however that body meters; the EE setting does nothing there. The same goes for any other M42 body. The TLS bodies of 1967 and 1970 are older than any dated source for this lens, so on those cameras it may be a later addition rather than a period outfit. Ricoh moved to the Pentax K bayonet with the XR-1 and XR-2 in 1977; its K-mount 200mm, listed by Dr. Ricoh from 1978, is an f/4 XR Rikenon, a separate lens that does not fit an M42 body.

When buying, first work out which version is in hand. An EE position on the aperture ring marks the EE lens, which matters only to someone who wants the automation on an Auto TLS EE. Then check the automatic diaphragm: an aperture that is sticky or oily and does not snap closed on release will spoil exposures on any auto body. Sears sold an Auto Sears 200mm f/3.5 in M42, but a seller’s thread on Photrio describes one as made by Tokina, and no catalogue or manual ties a Sears 200mm to Ricoh. It is not treated as a version of this lens. No review of either M42 version, no period price and no reproducible photograph of the lens were found.

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