Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8 (M42)
Ricoh · M42 · 1967 · Six elements in four groups
Also known as: Auto Rikenon 55mm f1.8 · Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8 · Ricoh Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8 · Ricoh Rikenon 55mm f1.8 · Rikenon 55mm f1.8 · Rikenon 55mm 1:1.8 · Auto Rikenon 1:1.8 f=55mm · Auto Sears 55mm f1.8 · Sears 55mm f1.8 Auto · Auto Sears 55 mm F1.8 · Auto Sears 55mm 1:1.8 · Rikenon 55 mm f1.8 · Rikenon 1.8/55 · Rikenon 1,8/55 · オートリケノン 55mm F1.8 · リケノン 55mm F1.8 · Rikenon 1:1.8 55mm · Rikenon 1:1.8 f=55mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8 | M42 | 1967 | — | — |
| Auto Sears 55mm f/1.8 | M42 | — | — | — |
- The lens is thinly documented. Ricoh's own camera list never names a 55mm f/1.8. It gives the TLS and TLS 401 a "Rikenon 55mm F1.4" lens and prices an "F1.8" kit beside it. Japanese Wikipedia's lens list gives the Auto Rikenon 55mm F1.8 as six elements in four groups, citing Classic Camera Senka No. 9 (35mm SLR cameras), p.105. Dr. Ricoh's M42 table, which lists 55/1.4, 55/2.8, 50/1.7, EE 50/1.7, 50/2 and 50/2.8 normals, has no 55/1.8. Camera-wiki gives the TLS 401's standard lenses as 55/1.4, 50/1.7 or 55/2.8 and leaves out the f/1.8. The lens is real: photographed copies carry the AUTO RIKENON 1:1.8 f=55mm engraving.
- The six blades, the 52 mm filter, the 60 mm diameter and the 45 mm length (52 mm focused close) come from the M42 Lens Database: the blades from its entry, the dimensions from a visitor's comment on it. The 0.5 m close focus is read from the distance scale of the copy photographed there; the database itself leaves the minimum distance blank. None of these sources gives a weight.
- The 1967 start is the Singlex TLS launch, when Ricoh first priced an f/1.8 kit. No end date is known. Camera-wiki says the TLS 401's standard lens was the 55/1.4, the 50/1.7 or the 55/2.8 depending on the camera's age, without dates; it does not say when, or whether, the 55/1.8 was dropped.
- The Auto Sears name by itself does not identify a maker. An Auto Sears 55mm f/1.8 belongs on this page only if its barrel matches the Rikenon's.
How to tell them apart
- A/M switch on the barrel, marked with a red A
- Distance scale to 0.5 m / 1.75 ft, metres in green and feet in white
- 52 mm filter thread
Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8:
- Front ring engraved with a five-digit serial, LENS MADE IN JAPAN, AUTO RIKENON and 1:1.8 f=55mm
- Aperture ring 16 to 1.8
Auto Sears 55mm f/1.8:
- Sears name in place of Rikenon; the rest of the front-ring layout is unchanged: 1:1.8 f=55mm, a five-digit serial, then LENS MADE IN JAPAN
- Same barrel as the Rikenon in the photographs: knurled blocks on the focusing grip, aperture ring 16 to 1.8, distance scale with metres in green and feet in white
- Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8: The lens sold with the cheaper of the two Singlex TLS kits of 1967 and the Ricohflex TLS 401 kits of 1970, if the "F1.8" in Ricoh's camera list is this lens: Ricoh gives the aperture but not the focal length. Japanese Wikipedia names it as the Auto Rikenon 55mm F1.8, citing Classic Camera Senka No. 9.
- Auto Sears 55mm f/1.8: The Sears-badged version for Sears, Roebuck, which sold the Singlex TLS as the Sears TLS. The Sears T.L.S. manual lists an outfit 'with f:1.8 lens' (3 7324) but gives no focal length, and no Sears or Ricoh document says Ricoh made this lens. The case rests on the lens itself: a commenter on the M42 Lens Database says the Rikenon was also sold as the Auto Sears, with identical form and specifications, and the one photograph of the copy Kamerastore sold matches the Rikenon in every detail it shows.
Specifications
- Formula
- Six elements in four groups
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/1.8–f/16
- Diaphragm blades
- 6
- Min. focus
- 0.5 m
- Dimensions
- 60 × 45 mm
- Filter
- 52 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1967
- 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 55mm f/1.8 was the cheaper standard lens for Ricoh’s M42 reflexes. Ricoh’s camera list prices the Singlex TLS of June 1967 at ¥51,000 with the f/1.4 lens and ¥42,000 with the f/1.8. The Ricohflex TLS 401 of October 1970 was ¥57,500 and ¥47,500 on the same terms. All four are Ricoh’s Japanese list prices for body and lens together, and Ricoh gives no price for the lens alone. Ricoh never prints the focal length of the f/1.8. Japanese Wikipedia, citing Classic Camera Senka, names it as the Auto Rikenon 55mm F1.8, six elements in four groups, and copies engraved AUTO RIKENON 1:1.8 f=55mm confirm the lens. It is otherwise one of the least documented Rikenons. Dr. Ricoh’s lens table leaves it out, and camera-wiki’s TLS 401 page names the 55/1.4, the 50/1.7 and the 55/2.8 as standard lenses but not this one.
It is an automatic-diaphragm lens with an A/M switch, which lets the diaphragm follow the aperture ring directly on bodies that cannot press the lens’s stop-down pin. The Singlex TLS and TLS 401 meter through the lens at the taking aperture; on the TLS 401, camera-wiki says, the control that switches the meter on also stops the lens down. The lens fits every Ricoh M42 body and any other M42 camera. The export SLX 500, Singlex II and Auto TLS EE of the mid-1970s take it as an ordinary screw-mount lens. The Auto TLS EE’s shutter-priority automation works only with Ricoh’s Auto Rikenon EE lenses, and no EE version of the 55/1.8 is known. With this lens the Auto TLS EE is a manual camera: its instruction book allows metering at full aperture, with the lens selection dial set to f/1.8 and the indicated f-number then set by hand, or metering stopped down. Ricoh’s Nikon F-mount Singlex of 1962 and the K-mount XR bodies from 1977 are different systems, and this lens is not the later XR Rikenon normal.
A Sears version exists, sold as the Auto Sears 55mm f/1.8. Sears, Roebuck sold the Singlex TLS as the Sears TLS from 1967, according to camera-wiki, and the Sears T.L.S. manual offers the camera ‘with f:1.8 lens’ (catalogue number 3 7324) beside the f:1.7 and f:1.4 outfits; Mike Eckman reproduces a December 1967 Sears advertisement for the TLS with the f/1.8 lens at $144.88 (regular $169.85). Neither gives the lens’s focal length or maker, and the Auto Sears name by itself does not identify one. The identification rests on the lens: a commenter on the M42 Lens Database says the Rikenon was also sold as the Auto Sears with identical form and specifications, and the photograph of the copy Kamerastore sold shows the same knurled grip, the same front-ring layout with 1:1.8 f=55mm followed by a five-digit serial and LENS MADE IN JAPAN, and the same 16–1.8 aperture ring and two-colour distance scale as the Rikenon. A buyer should look for those features rather than trust the name.
To tell it from the Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.4 and f/2.8, read the front ring and the last figure on the aperture ring. When buying, work the A/M switch and watch the six blades close and open again cleanly, with no oil on them. Make sure a kit described as “Ricoh 55mm” really includes this lens and not one of the f/1.4, f/2.8 or K-mount lenses sold with later bodies.
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
More sample photos elsewhere
- M42 Lens Database: six photographs of an Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8, front, rear and barrel
- Kamerastore: an Auto Sears 55mm f/1.8 in M42
These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.8 (M42)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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