Rikenon 600mm f/8 (M42, preset)
Ricoh · M42 · 1967 · Three elements in three groups
Also known as: Rikenon 600mm f8 · Rikenon 600mm f/8 · Rikenon 600mm 1:8 · Rikenon 1:8 f=600mm · Ricoh Rikenon 600mm f8 · Ricoh Rikenon 600mm f/8 · Ricoh Rikenon 1:8 f=600mm · Ricoh 600mm f8 M42 · Rikenon 8/600 · Rikenon 600mm · Rikenon 600 mm f/8 · リケノン 600mm F8 · Rikenon 1:8 600mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rikenon 600mm f/8 preset (M42) | M42 | — | — | — |
- Weight is the one figure Ricoh's own books disagree on. The SLX 500 table gives 1,860 g (4.09 lb); the Auto TLS EE table gives 2,600 g (5.72 lb). Each book's grams and pounds agree with each other, so neither is a simple conversion slip. Dr. Ricoh's table gives 2,600 g, matching the Auto TLS EE book. No weight is set in the specification block until a copy is weighed or a further Ricoh document settles it. The 2,600 g figure would make the 600mm heavier than the 800mm f/8 in the same tables (2,370 g in both); the 1,860 g figure would not.
- The SLX 500 table leaves the 600mm's angle of view blank; the 4° is from the Auto TLS EE table. The f/32 minimum aperture is from Dr. Ricoh's table only; neither Ricoh book gives a minimum aperture for any lens.
- The year is not a launch date. 1967 is the year Ricoh gives for the Singlex TLS, whose instruction book lists a '600mm f 8.0 preset' among its accessory lenses; the TLS 401 book (1970 by Ricoh) lists it too, and camera-wiki says the TLS 401 had "a selection of eighteen lenses from 21mm to 800mm". The books are undated printings, so 1967 is the earliest year the lens can be tied to; no source dates the 600mm's introduction or withdrawal.
- No source names who made it for Ricoh. Dr. Ricoh's table gives no release date, original price or maker for it; its Value (EUR) column gives €80, its estimated collector value for a copy in very good condition, not a recorded sale or a period price.
How to tell them apart
- Not marked as a mirror lens by Dr. Ricoh (who does so mark the 500mm f/8): three elements, a preset diaphragm and a 90 mm front filter. Ricoh's later 600mm, the XR Rikenon Reflex 600mm f/8 for the K mount, is a catadioptric of six elements and much lighter, and is not this lens
Rikenon 600mm f/8 preset (M42):
- A plain Rikenon, not an Auto Rikenon: Ricoh lists it under RIKENON LENSES with a preset diaphragm, so there is a preset ring and no automatic stop-down
- 90 mm front filter, between the 77 mm of the 500mm f/8 and the 112 mm of the 800mm f/8 in the same table
- Focuses no closer than 10 m
- f/8 maximum and f/32 minimum aperture (the f/32 from Dr. Ricoh's table only)
- Rikenon 600mm f/8 preset (M42): The only version documented. Ricoh's lens tables in the instruction books for the SLX 500 and the Auto TLS EE (both undated; Ricoh dates the cameras 1975 and 1976) both list it as a 600mm f/8 with a preset diaphragm, three elements in three groups, 10 m closest focus and a 90 mm filter; the Auto TLS EE table adds a 4° angle of view, which the SLX 500 table leaves blank. The two books disagree on weight (1,860 g against 2,600 g). No Sears-badged 600mm is recorded.
Specifications
- Formula
- Three elements in three groups
- Construction
- 3 elements / 3 groups
- Aperture range
- f/8–f/32
- Min. focus
- 10 m
- Filter
- 90 mm
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 Rikenon 600mm f/8 is the middle one of three long preset telephotos at the end of Ricoh’s screw-mount lens list, between the 500mm f/8 and the 800mm f/8. Ricoh’s tables call these plain Rikenon lenses rather than Auto Rikenons: there is no automatic diaphragm, only a preset ring. The 600mm has three elements in three groups, covers 4°, focuses no closer than 10 m and takes a 90 mm front filter. The instruction books for the SLX 500 and the Auto TLS EE, which Ricoh dates 1975 and 1976, print the same figures except weight, where they disagree: 1,860 g in the first and 2,600 g in the second. Dr. Ricoh’s table agrees with the later figure and adds f/32 as the smallest aperture. It marks the 500mm f/8 as a mirror lens but not the 600mm, which with its three elements reads as a refractive telephoto, though no source states its layout. It is also in the accessory lists of the Singlex TLS and TLS 401 instruction books, for bodies Ricoh dates to 1967 and 1970, and camera-wiki says the TLS 401 already had lenses up to 800mm available. No source dates the 600mm’s introduction or says who made it for Ricoh.
Because the diaphragm is preset, the lens works the same way on every Ricoh M42 body, the Singlex TLS, TLS 401, SLX 500, Singlex II and Auto TLS EE. You focus wide open, turn the aperture ring to the preset stop, and meter through the lens stopped down. It is not one of the EE lenses, so on the Auto TLS EE it gives no shutter-priority automation. Ricoh’s own page for that camera says automation needs the dedicated EE lenses. Ricoh also calls the Auto TLS EE the first AE camera on an M42 mount, but that is the maker’s claim and it is wrong as history: Asahi announced the Pentax ES (Electro Spotmatic), with aperture-priority AE on the M42 thread, in 1971. On Ricoh’s K-mount XR bodies the lens fits through Ricoh’s XR mount adapter for M42 lenses and is used in the same stop-down way.
Only one version is documented, and no Sears-badged twin is recorded. The lens should not be confused with the XR Rikenon Reflex 600mm f/8, the K-mount catadioptric that Dr. Ricoh dates 1982 to 1988, with six elements and a weight of 751 g. Nor should it be confused with the M42 Rikenon 500mm f/8, which Dr. Ricoh lists as a mirror lens. A buyer should check that the lens is named Rikenon, not XR Rikenon, and that the front thread is the large 90 mm one. Check too that the preset ring sets its stop and turns freely back to full aperture. At up to 2.6 kg it is a lens for a tripod, so ask what mount, case and hood come with a copy. Look through it for haze and for separation in its three large elements. Bear in mind that at 10 m closest focus it is a lens for distant subjects only.
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 Rikenon 600mm f/8 (M42, preset)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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