Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 Macro (M42, preset)
Ricoh · M42 · 1967 · Five elements in four groups
Also known as: Rikenon 60mm f2.8 Macro · Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 Macro · Rikenon Macro 60mm f2.8 · Rikenon Macro 60mm f/2.8 · Ricoh Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 Macro · Ricoh Rikenon 60mm f2.8 · Ricoh 60mm f2.8 Rikenon Macro · Rikenon 60mm f2.8 · Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 · Rikenon 60mm 1:2.8 · Rikenon 1:2.8 60mm · Rikenon 1:2.8 f=60mm · Rikenon 60 mm f/2.8 · Rikenon 60 mm f2,8 · Rikenon 2,8/60 · Rikenon 2.8/60 · Rikenon 60/2.8 · Rikenon 60mm Macro · Rikenon Macro 60mm · リケノン 60mm F2.8 · リケノン マクロ 60mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 Macro (M42, preset diaphragm) | M42 | — | — | — |
- Groups, elements, angle of view, closest focus and filter thread are from Ricoh's own lens tables in the SLX 500 and Auto TLS EE instruction books, which agree. Weight is where they part: 400 g (0.88 lb) in the SLX 500 book, 390 g (0.86 lb) in the Auto TLS EE book. The page carries 390 g, which Dr. Ricoh's table also gives, and keeps the 400 g figure here.
- Smallest aperture f/22 is from Dr. Ricoh's table only. Ricoh's books give the maximum aperture and nothing else about the diaphragm beyond 'Preset'.
- The year is not a launch date. 1967 is the year Ricoh gives for the Singlex TLS, whose instruction book lists a '60mm macro lens f 2.8 preset' among its accessory lenses; the multi-language TLS 401 book (Ricoh dates the camera to October 1970) lists it too, though a shorter English TLS 401 book leaves it out along with other lenses Ricoh sold. The books are undated printings, so 1967 is the earliest year the lens can be tied to. The SLX 500 book (1975) and Auto TLS EE book (1976) list it again. No introduction or withdrawal date, and no list price in yen or dollars, has been found.
- The maximum magnification is not stated in any Ricoh document. Kamerastore describes the Mamiya 60mm f/2.8 Macro Sekor, another preset M42 lens, as reaching 1:1 without extension tubes; no source says the same of the Rikenon.
- Who made the lens for Ricoh is not documented by Ricoh or by Dr. Ricoh. Sellers sometimes put Tomioka in the title (an eBay.de listing reads 'Seltenes "TOMIOKA" … Ricoh Rikenon 60mm F/2.8 Macro Objektiv M42'; an Etsy listing's address reads 'rare-rikenon-tomioka-60mm-f28-macro-lens'). Kamerastore lists a Yashica 60mm f/2.8 Yashinon Tomioka Macro (M42, preset, 0.235 m, 6 blades, 72 × 66 mm, 398 g), which it says was subcontracted to Tomioka, and a Mamiya 60mm f/2.8 Macro Sekor (M42, preset, 0.235 m, 6 blades, 71 × 66 mm, 394 g). Those figures sit close to Ricoh's 390–400 g, but Ricoh's 0.2 m closest focus differs from Kamerastore's 0.235 m and no source compares the three lenses directly, so the page does not treat them as one design.
- Dr. Ricoh's list gives €75 in its Value (EUR) column, its estimated collector value for a copy in very good condition, not a recorded sale or a period price.
How to tell them apart
- Reads RIKENON, not AUTO RIKENON, in Ricoh's lens tables: the macro is one of the non-automatic lenses at the end of the M42 list, with the 500 mm f/8, the 600 and 800 mm telephotos, the 135mm f/3.5 bellows lens and the fisheye
- 58 mm filter, 60 mm focal length and f/2.8 on a screw-mount barrel; the Rikenon P macros of the 1980s and 1990s are 105 mm and 100 mm K-mount lenses
- Not the Yashinon or the Mamiya-Sekor 60mm f/2.8 macros, which are also preset M42 lenses of about the same weight: the name on the front ring is the only sure way to tell them apart in a photo
Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 Macro (M42, preset diaphragm):
- Preset diaphragm: Ricoh's tables list it under plain RIKENON LENSES, not AUTO RIKENON, with Preset in the F-stop control column, so there is no automatic diaphragm to look for
- 58 mm filter thread, 40° angle of view, closest focus 0.2 m (Ricoh's SLX 500 and Auto TLS EE instruction books)
- 42 mm screw thread. Ricoh's later macros, the Rikenon P Macro 105mm f/2.8 and 100mm f/3.5, are K-mount bayonet lenses with other focal lengths
- Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 Macro (M42, preset diaphragm): The only version documented. Ricoh's English instruction books for the Singlex TLS, the SLX 500 and the Auto TLS EE all list a 60mm f/2.8 macro with a preset diaphragm, and the two books with spec tables give the same optics (5 elements in 4 groups), angle, closest focus and filter. They disagree only on weight (400 g in the SLX 500 book, 390 g in the Auto TLS EE book). No Sears-badged 60mm macro, no chrome version and no automatic-diaphragm version is on record in any Ricoh or Sears document.
Specifications
- Formula
- Five elements in four groups
- Construction
- 5 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.2 m
- Weight
- 390 g
- Filter
- 58 mm
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
Optical formula — Five elements in four groups
No cross-section found. Ricoh's instruction-book tables and Dr. Ricoh's list give only the count of 5 elements in 4 groups, and no Ricoh lens catalogue or patent for the M42 macro is on record.
History
The Rikenon 60mm f/2.8 Macro is the only close-focusing standard-length lens in Ricoh’s screw-mount list, and one of the few M42 Rikenons that is not an Auto Rikenon. Ricoh’s own tables put it among the non-automatic RIKENON lenses at the end of the list, with the 500 mm f/8, the 600 and 800 mm telephotos, the 135mm f/3.5 bellows lens and the fisheye: there is no automatic diaphragm, only a preset ring. The optics are five elements in four groups, covering 40°, with a 58 mm filter thread and a closest focus of 0.2 m. The instruction books for the SLX 500 and the Auto TLS EE, cameras Ricoh dates to 1975 and 1976, print the same figures except weight, 400 g in the first and 390 g in the second.
It appears in the instruction books of the Singlex TLS, the TLS 401, the SLX 500 and the Auto TLS EE, though not in the short accessory list of one English TLS 401 book. Nothing found gives a launch date, a list price or an end date, and no Ricoh document says how far it focuses in terms of magnification. Nor does any Ricoh source say who made it. Some sellers title it as a Tomioka lens. Yashica and Mamiya both sold preset 60mm f/2.8 macros in M42 of about the same weight, the Yashinon described by Kamerastore as subcontracted to Tomioka, but no source compares them with the Rikenon, and Ricoh’s 0.2 m closest focus is shorter than the 0.235 m Kamerastore gives for the other two.
Because the diaphragm is preset, the lens is a fully manual lens on every Ricoh M42 body: the Singlex TLS, the TLS 401, the SLX 500, the Singlex II and the Auto TLS EE. You focus at full aperture, then turn the aperture ring to the stop set on the preset ring; metering is at the working aperture, as the SLX 500 book describes for that camera (press the preview lever and turn the f-stop ring until the needle centres). It is not one of the Auto Rikenon EE lenses, so on the Auto TLS EE it gives no shutter-priority automation. Ricoh’s page for that camera says automation needs the dedicated EE lenses and that ordinary M42 lenses work with manual coupling. Ricoh also calls the Auto TLS EE the first AE camera on an M42 mount. That is the maker’s claim and it is wrong as history: Asahi’s Pentax ES had screw-mount aperture-priority AE in 1971. On Ricoh’s later K-mount XR bodies it fits only through an M42-to-K adapter, which Ricoh listed among its XR accessories, and the macros made for that mount, the Rikenon P Macro 105mm f/2.8 and 100mm f/3.5, are different lenses.
When buying, check the name on the front ring, since the Yashinon and Mamiya-Sekor 60mm macros look much alike in listings. Then work both diaphragm rings: the preset ring should click through its stops, and the aperture ring should close the blades only as far as the preset allows. Macro helicoids are long and see a lot of use at the close end, so turn the focusing ring through its full travel to check it is smooth and the lens is free of wobble. At close distances the light reaching the film falls well below the marked f-number. With stop-down metering through the lens, the meter allows for this on its own.
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 60mm f/2.8 Macro (M42, preset)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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