In the early 1980’s, a few camera manufacturers developed auto focus system lenses for their Single Lens Reflex models - the first being the Pentax ME-F and others such as the Olympus OM-30 and Canon with the T80 all using bulky motorized lenses.

With the 1982 release of the CE-5, Chinon offered two auto focus lens options on top of the standard issue 50mm manual lens. When you consider how many camera bodies were produced, the AF lenses are incredibly rare. It took years of searching to finally get both of them.

The cream of the two is the 50mm f1.7 prime, building on the excellent manual focus f1.7 and f1.9’s that had been standard since the change from M42 to Pentax K-mount in the 1970’s.

Powered by 3x AAA batteries it used infrared beams to obtain focus, even in complete darkness. The two eyes on the front are the light emitting diode and the receiving sensor. On the side of the plastic lens body is the button to activate focusing - and it works very well, with a audible beep to confirm focus has been obtained.

Exactly the same principle, but with a zoom lever, the 35-70mm f3.3-4.5 offers additional reach and flexibility. I is a bit fiddly though with the zoom lever on the same side as the grip, winder and shutter button - there is a lot to do with the right hand, whilst the left hand is pressing the focus button! Thankfully though in 1988 along came the CP-9AF with a much more modern setup with focusing done with a half press of the shutter, and zooming with the left hand like the first integrating AF SLR - the Minolta 7000 from 1985.

The two AF lenses used three contacts to communicate with the camera body, which were only on the CE-5 and CG-5 (the CG-5 being basically the same camera, but with slightly lower specifications than the CE-5).

I tested the zoom lens on the CG-5 with Kodak Gold, and despite it’s fiddly-ness produced some really nice images…

This is Clifton Suspension Bridge’s eastern support sitting proudly on top of the cliff above the Avon Gorge in Bristol. It is an iconic structure of the city.

Chinon CE AF 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 - Chinon CG-5 - Kodak Gold 200

I just could not miss this shot, having owned one of these Ford Puma’s years ago - they are such fun cars, and I still love the styling. I do regret selling it!

This last image of ‘that tree’ really shows what the lens is capable of - great quality, contrast and colour rendition. Chinon used all of their decades of lens building knowledge to create this gorgeous (yes, I do love the styling) lens. There is no information online about production figures, but they do not come up for sale very often - especially in working condition, making my pair even more special. As a collector of the brand these are the true Holy Grail’s.

Whilst finding images for this blog post, I was surprised to find no images taken with the 50mm! That will have to be rectified this summer!

These lenses were also sold under the Revue name for the Revueflex AC2 sold by Foto-Quelle of Germany.

The Chinon Holy Grail(s)…

Canon Sure Shot 76 in London…