Auto Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 (M42)
Ricoh · M42 · 1967 · Ten elements in eight groups
Also known as: Auto Rikenon 24mm f2.8 · Auto Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 · Auto Rikenon 24mm 1:2.8 · Auto Rikenon 1:2.8 f=24mm · Ricoh Auto Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 · Ricoh Rikenon 24mm f2.8 · Rikenon 24mm f2.8 · Rikenon 24mm 1:2.8 · Rikenon 24mm 2.8 · Rikenon 2.8/24 · Ricoh 24mm f2.8 M42 · Rikenon 2,8/24 · Rikenon 24 mm f/2.8 · オートリケノン 24mm F2.8 · リケノン 24mm F2.8 · Rikenon 1:2.8 24mm · Rikenon 1:2.8 f=24mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 | M42 | — | — | — |
- The specifications are Ricoh's, from the lens table on p.14 of the Auto TLS EE instruction book: eight groups, ten elements, 0.2 m closest focus, 85° angle of view, 62 mm filter, 255 g (0.56 lb), automatic diaphragm. Dr. Ricoh's M42 table gives the same figures and adds f/22 as the smallest aperture, which the Ricoh table does not print. Neither gives a blade count, diameter or length.
- No launch or end date is known. The 1967 in the header is the launch year of the Singlex TLS, the first body whose instruction book lists the lens. That printing of the book is undated, and it already lists lenses such as the 70-230mm zoom, so it may be later than 1967 and the lens may be too. Dr. Ricoh gives no dates for the M42 lenses.
- Who made it is unsettled. On the mflenses forum in 2014, two members who own the lens said it is made by Sigma, one adding that he had seen a similar lens sold as a Sigma XQ; a third member said it looked like a fixed-mount version of an early Sigma, "or maybe Sun". None of them cited a marking or a document, and Ricoh's own books name no maker. Ricoh's later XR Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 of 1982 is a different lens, and the claim that it too is a Sigma design belongs on that lens's page.
- No Sears-badged 24mm is on record. Sears sold other Rikenons as Auto Sears lenses, so a 24mm f/2.8 Auto Sears with a 62 mm filter and 0.2 m focusing would belong here if one turns up.
How to tell them apart
- 62 mm filter and 0.2 m closest focus: the two figures that separate it from the K-mount XR Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 (52 mm filter, 0.18 m per Japanese Wikipedia)
- Screw mount: the XR Rikenon 24mm has a Pentax K bayonet and a different seven-element formula
Auto Rikenon 24mm f/2.8:
- 62 mm filter thread, larger than the 58 mm of the Auto Rikenon 28mm f/2.8 (in Ricoh's table the same size as the Auto 300mm f/5.5 and the EE 200mm; the non-EE Auto 200mm takes 67 mm)
- Focuses to 0.2 m, closer than any other wide-angle in Ricoh's table (the 17, 21 and 28mm stop at 0.3 m, the 35mm at 0.4 m)
- Automatic diaphragm; expect no EE setting on the aperture ring, since neither Ricoh's EE lens table nor Dr. Ricoh lists an EE 24mm
- Auto Rikenon 24mm f/2.8: The only 24mm in Ricoh's M42 lens lists. It appears as "24mm f2.8 automatic" in the accessory-lens lists of the Singlex TLS and Ricoh TLS 401 instruction books, and in the Auto TLS EE book's lens table among the ordinary Auto Rikenons, not among the four EE lenses. Dr. Ricoh marks it confirmed, and several members of the mflenses forum said in 2014 that they owned one.
Specifications
- Formula
- Ten elements in eight groups
- Construction
- 10 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.2 m
- Weight
- 255 g
- Filter
- 62 mm
- Country
- Japan
What reviewers say
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History
The Auto Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 was the widest f/2.8 lens Ricoh offered for its M42 screw-mount reflexes; only the slower 17mm f/4, the 21mm f/3.8 and the fisheye went wider. Ricoh’s lens table in the Auto TLS EE instruction book gives it ten elements in eight groups, an 85° angle of view, a 62 mm filter and a weight of 255 g. It focuses to 0.2 m, closer than any of Ricoh’s other wide-angles, which stop at 0.3 m (17, 21 and 28mm) or 0.4 m (35mm). It appears in the accessory-lens lists of the Singlex TLS and TLS 401 instruction books, so it was sold alongside the bodies Ricoh built itself. No launch date has been found: the 1967 on this page is the year the Singlex TLS came out, the first Ricoh body that takes it, and the undated TLS book that lists it may be a later printing.
It is an ordinary automatic-diaphragm M42 lens and fits every Ricoh screw-mount body, as well as any other M42 camera. On the Singlex TLS and TLS 401, which meter through the lens at the taking aperture, it is used stopped down. The Auto TLS EE gives shutter-priority automation only with Ricoh’s EE lenses, and no EE 24mm is recorded: the EE table in the camera’s book lists only a 28, 35, 135 and 200mm, and Dr. Ricoh adds the EE 50mm f/1.7. Ricoh says ordinary M42 lenses work on that camera with manual coupling; camera-wiki explains that the photographer then sets the aperture the needle indicates on the lens by hand, or meters stopped down. The export SLX 500 and Singlex II of 1975–76 take it as well. Ricoh’s camera list credits both with open-aperture metering, but their own instruction books have the user meter stopped down, with the preview lever or button pressed. Ricoh’s Nikon F-mount Singlex of 1962 is a different mount, and so are the K-mount XR bodies of 1977 onward.
Members of the mflenses forum called the lens rare in 2014, and two owners said it was made by Sigma, but none of them cited a marking or a document. Owners found the edges soft on full frame until about f/8 to f/11. Do not confuse it with the XR Rikenon 24mm f/2.8 of the K-mount era. Japanese Wikipedia and Dr. Ricoh give that lens seven elements in seven groups, a 52 mm filter and 0.18 m focusing. Check for the screw mount, the 62 mm filter ring and the 0.2 m mark on the distance scale. As with any wide-angle of this age, look for haze and separation among the ten elements, and check that the diaphragm springs closed smartly when the auto pin is pressed. No Sears-badged version has been found.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
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