Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8 (M42, incl. EE)

Ricoh · M42 · 1967 · Six elements in five groups

our own finding

Also known as: Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8 · Auto Rikenon 35mm f2.8 · Auto Rikenon 35mm 1:2.8 · Auto Rikenon 1:2.8 35mm · Ricoh Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8 · Ricoh 35mm f2.8 Auto Rikenon · Rikenon 35mm f2.8 M42 · Ricoh Rikenon 35mm f/2.8 M42 · Auto Rikenon EE 35mm f/2.8 · Rikenon EE 35mm f2.8 · Rikenon 2.8/35 M42 · Rikenon 2,8/35 · Rikenon 35 mm f/2.8 · オートリケノン 35mm F2.8 · リケノン 35mm F2.8 M42 · Auto Rikenon 1:2.8 f=35mm · Rikenon 1:2.8 35mm M42 · Rikenon 1:2.8 f=35mm M42 · Rikenon 35mm 1:2.8 M42 · Rikenon 35 mm f/2.8 M42

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8	M42	—	—	—
Auto Rikenon EE 35mm f/2.8	M42 with Ricoh EE coupling	—	—	—

Construction, closest focus, angle of view, filter and weight for both versions are from the lens tables in Ricoh's own Auto TLS EE manual (p.14) and SLX 500 manual (p.10), as scanned by Mike Butkus. Dr. Ricoh's list repeats the Auto TLS EE figures and is the only source for the f/16 smallest stop, which it gives for the plain Auto lens and leaves blank for the EE.
The filter is the one figure in dispute. The Auto TLS EE manual gives 49 mm for the plain lens and 52 mm for the EE, which could mean the EE is a new optic. The SLX 500 manual gives 52 mm for the plain Auto Rikenon, and likewise gives the plain 200mm f/3.5 the 62 mm filter that the Auto TLS EE table reserves for the EE 200mm. Ricoh's tables give the two versions the same construction, focus and weight, and an angle of 62° against 63°. Either the 49 mm is a misprint, or the plain lens was made in two barrels; no photographed example settling it was found.
Dates: no source gives a launch year for either version. 1967 is the year Ricoh gives for the Singlex TLS, whose instruction book lists a '35mm f 2.8 automatic' among its accessory lenses; the 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. The EE version is tied to the Auto TLS EE, which Ricoh dates to 1976 and camera-wiki to a 1973 advertisement. No end date is known; Ricoh moved to the K mount with the XR-1 and XR-2 in 1977.
No Sears-badged 35mm f/2.8 is on record. An MFLenses thread cataloguing the Auto Sears M42 lenses lists a 35/2.8 as uncertain ('If it exists…'), and no reply in the thread settles it.
No price in yen or dollars is on record for either version: the bodies that listed it were export models, and none of the sources prints a lens price.
Dr. Ricoh also lists a separate Rikenon 35mm f/2.8 of the late 1960s in a screw mount for a Canon-type T-mount adapter, preset, neither M39 nor M42 nor M29, sold in the USA at the end of the 1960s, which Dr. Ricoh says may be a copy sold only under the Rikenon name; and the Ricoh 126C Flex TLS had its own 35mm f/2.8 in Ricoh's M29 mount (1969). Neither is this lens.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Two lenses with one published specification: 6 elements in 5 groups, 0.4 m closest focus, 220 g. The EE version carries EE in its name and an EE position on the aperture ring; the plain Auto Rikenon does not
Ricoh's M42 lenses say AUTO RIKENON on the front ring. A 35mm f/2.8 engraved XR RIKENON or RIKENON P is the later Pentax K-mount lens and will not screw onto these bodies

Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8:

Named Auto Rikenon without EE; aperture ring with f-numbers only and no EE setting
Sold as AUTO RIKENON, the heading under which Ricoh's manual tables list its M42 automatic-diaphragm lenses
Ricoh's Auto TLS EE lens table: 5 groups / 6 elements, 0.4 m, 63°, 49 mm filter, 220 g (0.48 lb). The SLX 500 table gives the same lens 52 mm

Auto Rikenon EE 35mm f/2.8:

EE in the lens name and an EE position on the aperture ring, which the Auto TLS EE manual calls the EE/Manual Ring. On the EE 50mm f/1.7 pictured in that manual (Fig. 6) the EE mark sits beyond the widest aperture, next to f/1.7, not past f/16
Ricoh's Auto TLS EE lens table: 5 groups / 6 elements, 0.4 m, 62°, 52 mm filter, 220 g (0.49 lb)

Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8: The plain automatic-diaphragm M42 lens. It appears as item 5 under AUTO RIKENON LENSES in the accessory table of the Ricoh SLX 500 manual and as item 9 in the Auto TLS EE manual, both undated export manuals from the mid-1970s. The two tables agree on everything except the filter: 52 mm in the SLX 500 book, 49 mm in the Auto TLS EE book. Dr. Ricoh's lens list follows the Auto TLS EE table (49 mm, 220 g, 5/6, 40 cm) and adds a smallest stop of f/16. As an automatic-diaphragm lens it suits the stop-down metering that Ricoh describes for the Singlex TLS and TLS 401.
Auto Rikenon EE 35mm f/2.8: One of four EE lenses in Ricoh's Auto TLS EE manual, which lists only the 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 135/2.8 and 200/3.5 under AUTO RIKENON EE LENSES; the body's own standard lens, the EE 50mm f/1.7, sits outside that table. With the ring at EE and the lens's maximum aperture set on the body's Lens Selection Dial, the Auto TLS EE sets the aperture itself from the shutter speed chosen: shutter-priority automation. In manual mode the Auto TLS EE takes EE, non-EE and other screw-mount lenses alike, with the ring set to an f-number. The lens keeps the 42 mm thread and an ordinary f-number scale, so on other M42 bodies it should work as a plain stop-down lens; no source describes that use directly. Ricoh dates the Auto TLS EE to 1976; camera-wiki cites a Popular Photography advertisement of July 1973, so the EE lenses may be older than Ricoh's date for the body.

Specifications

Formula: Six elements in five groups
Construction: 6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range: f/2.8–f/16
Min. focus: 0.4 m
Weight: 220 g
Filter: 49 or 52 mm (Ricoh's two lens tables disagree) (Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8) · 52 mm (Auto Rikenon EE 35mm f/2.8)
Country: Japan

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8 is the moderate wide-angle of Ricoh’s M42 lens range, which served its screw-mount reflexes: the Singlex TLS of 1967, the TLS 401 of 1970, and the three export bodies of the mid-1970s, the SLX 500, Singlex II and Auto TLS EE. Ricoh’s own lens tables give it six elements in five groups, a closest focus of 0.4 m and a weight of 220 g. It came in two forms. The plain Auto Rikenon is an ordinary automatic-diaphragm screw-mount lens. The Auto Rikenon EE was made for the Auto TLS EE, and the lens table in Ricoh’s manual for that body lists it as one of four accessory EE lenses, with the 28mm f/2.8, 135mm f/2.8 and 200mm f/3.5, besides the EE 50mm f/1.7 the body was sold with.

The EE version is the one with a story. Ricoh describes the Auto TLS EE as the first AE camera on an M42 mount. As history that is wrong: Asahi’s Electro-Spotmatic of 1971 was an aperture-priority automatic on the same screw mount, followed by the export ES in 1972. What the Ricoh did offer was shutter priority. With the lens ring turned to its EE position and the lens’s maximum aperture dialled into the body, the camera sets the aperture itself from the shutter speed chosen. In manual mode the ring is set to a normal f-number, and the Sears version of the body’s manual tells the owner to “mount either AUTO EE or NON-EE or any other screw-mount lens”, so on the Auto TLS EE the plain lens loses only the automation. The EE lens keeps the standard thread and f-number scale, so on a Singlex TLS or another M42 body it should serve as an ordinary automatic-diaphragm lens on its marked stops, its EE setting doing nothing; no source describes that use directly.

How far the two versions differ is not settled. The Auto TLS EE manual gives them identical construction, focus and weight, an angle of view of 62° for the EE and 63° for the plain lens, and filters of 52 mm and 49 mm. That filter difference could mean the EE is a new optic. But the SLX 500 manual, another undated export book, gives the plain Auto Rikenon a 52 mm filter as well, and gives the plain 200mm f/3.5 the EE version’s filter too. Either one table misprints the filter, or the plain lens was made in two barrels. No photographed example settles it, and Dr. Ricoh’s lens list agrees with the Auto TLS EE table, so it adds no independent evidence. Neither version has a launch date. The plain lens is in the accessory lists of the Singlex TLS and TLS 401 instruction books, undated printings for bodies Ricoh dates to 1967 and 1970, the EE version belongs to a body Ricoh dates to 1976 and camera-wiki to a 1973 advertisement, and Ricoh moved to the Pentax K bayonet with the XR-1 and XR-2 in 1977; no end date for the M42 lens is recorded. No source names the maker of the optics. No Sears-badged 35mm f/2.8 has turned up: a collector cataloguing the all-metal Auto Sears M42 lenses on MFLenses lists a 28mm, 55mm, 135mm, 200mm and others, says they were the lenses Ricoh and Mamiya also sold and probably came from more than one maker, and marks a 35mm f/2.8 as uncertain.

When buying, the front ring is the first check. The M42 lenses read AUTO RIKENON, with EE in the name on the EE version. A 35mm f/2.8 engraved XR RIKENON or RIKENON P is the later K-mount lens and will not screw onto these bodies, and the 126C Flex TLS had a 35mm of its own in Ricoh’s M29 mount. To get the shutter-priority automation the EE lens was built for, look for the EE mark on the aperture ring (on the EE 50mm f/1.7 in Ricoh’s manual it sits beyond the widest aperture) and pair the lens with an Auto TLS EE. For any other use the plain lens does the same job. Beyond that, check the usual points for an M42 auto lens of the 1970s: the aperture pin should close the blades fully and spring back, the blades should be dry, and the glass should be free of haze. Check the filter size on the lens itself before buying filters or a hood.

Expand Collapse

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

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Auto Rikenon 35mm f/2.8 (M42, incl. EE)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.