It’s a great lens when it comes to shooting in contra light; flare is very minimal. I was unable to produce any purple fringing, which is very nice; some CA are present in the corners, but those are easy to correct in the RAW processor.

Vignetting is stonger than I would like on a wide-angle lens though. I don’t mind vignetting for portraits, but not in landscape shots. Keeping the lens at 49mm filter size may had seemed a good idea at the time, but this design has its drawbacks. Nevertheless, this is a minor headache.

Below are a few pics I shot around my place just before the dusk and in the twilight (the colors are accurate).

#1: Contra Light

#2

#3

#4

#5: The Bokeh Shot

#6

#7: Geometric Distortion close to Zero

UPDATE: I discovered the reason causing vignetting in my previous shots: the aftermarket hood was slightly too narrow; without the hood, the lens still vignettes at 3.5-4, but not at 5.6 and on.

#8

#9

#10

Resolution of the Yashica is superb in the centre, declines to the edges of the frame (full-frame body), and is never great at extreme corners. Compared to 28/3.5 Takumar, it is visibly sharper in the centre (21 MP body shows this quite clearly), but falls off much faster towards the edges. This behavior is persistent at all f-stops from 2.8 to f/8. The Takumar, despite of being a much older design, demonstrates more even resolution across the frame. I would even say that extreme corners are better with the Tak at all respective f-stops!

Colors and contrast are great. The Yashica delivers the ‘punch’ in producing contrasty pictures that simply stand out. Resistance to flare is also great; I was unable to produce any in field conditions.

Low-light performance is excellent. I used the lens after dusk wide open with very usable results.

Bokeh is to my liking. The lens draws ‘swirly’ OOF highlights, a quality that I specifically looked for in Yashica 50/1.9. Overall rendering is pleasant.

Vignetting is generally not a problem stopped down to f/4-5.6.

Conclusion? A great wide-angle lens, extremely sharp in the centre, less so at the edges, with great colors and contrast and very nice rendering. Maybe it’s not a Zeiss, but a truly great one if worked within its limitations. Interestingly, it produces images that are visibly different from those captured by S-M-C Takumar 28/3.5.

#1: Wide open, bokeh

#2: Wide open, low-light performance

#3: Landscape, f/5.6

#4: Flowers, wide open

#5: Fisherman, wide open

#6: f/8

#7: f/8

#9

#10

#11

#12: f/4

#13: f/4

#14, f/2.8