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Late Build Dual Range 50mm question (1969)


Sloanfiske

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So, i happen to have a 1969 (per the serial number dating system) Dual Range 50mm.

 

I'm wondering if this lens had the same element structure and make up of the v3 or if it still sticks to the tried and true late 50's-60's model as launched.

 

I cant seem to get any definite answers from anything i've read.

 

It takes fantastic photos though.

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Welcome to the forum !!!

Afaik , all the Summicron DR have the 7 elements design, which had at least 3 different implementations in terms of glasses and geometry of elements("Thorium", "Lanthanum 1, "Lanthanum 2"), plus variants in coating (with the famous "radioactive" version...:cool: which started as Summitar*) ; this suggests that there was a sort of coexistence of the two designs, having the 6 elements version been introduced in 1969 : Lager says that the DR was listed until 1973 in the US catalog and I trust him: but this, imho, does not necessarly mean that the two versions were also "co-produced"... in those healthy times Leitz could afford to produce large stocks (expecially for famous-mass lenses like the Summicron) and keep them on pricelist for years after production; also, they took much care on maintenance, surely keeping the capability to make (and stock) spares of glass elements and mounts.

 

Our Wiki area suggests that the 6 elements/ 5 group design (69-78/9) was made also in DR version... but I think it isn't correct (note that this version focused to 28" on M2/M4... not so more than the 19/20" of the DR), even if I am far for pretending to be an authority about...the noble story of the Summicron 50 is long, complex and still in course.

 

(BTW : Mods... this is a typical thread for the Historical area)

Edited by luigi bertolotti
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AFAIK the last batch of DR was the one built for the M2-R. All 7-lenses, chrome, last serial n. of this batch was 2235800.

 

To illustrate it visually :) (James Lager)

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Accordingly to Erwin Puts and his production records :

 

2233801 - 2235800 Summicron f= 5 cm 1:2 (M-rigid+DR-chrom) 1967 2000

2278751 - 2279750 Summicron f= 5 cm 1:2 (SKF-chrom+DR) 1968 1000

2356301 - 2358300 Summicron f= 5 cm 1:2 (SFK-DR-chrom) 1969 2000

The "questionable" DRs are the ones within the last two batches, which, apparently, do belong to the 6 elements version : the above picture demonstrates that indeed there are DRs with those numbers... but the same picture suggests also that it is a "normal" 7 elements version (though the unscrewable lens unit of the first series of 6 elements was quite similar to the previous... and Puts' record details that the above batches included "SFK" items = Scalloped Focusing Knurl as in the 7 elements)

Edited by luigi bertolotti
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AFAIK the last batch of DR was the one built for the M2-R. All 7-lenses, chrome, last serial n. of this batch was 2235800.

 

Are you sure about the 2235......? I heard ( in Tokyo ) long ago that the series started with 235....

I also heard that all 235..... series were the 7 element type, no 6 elements.

Teddy

Edited by Theodor Heinrichsohn
Wanted to add the information on 7 and 6 elements
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So it is...

 

I beg to differ. Luigi, the dual range Summicron to the best of my knowledge never employed radioactive glass. That is only true for the collapsible Summicron, which despite having 7 lens elements, too, has a different optical computation than the later 7 element rigid Summicron, of which the dual range is a variant.

 

The rigid Summicron 50 was marketed about three years after the first, collapsible Summicron, but production numbers of the collapsible version were rather high at that time, and by 1957 (which is when the rigid was introduced) radioactive glass was long gone even in the collapsible version.

 

The rigid and dual range Summicrons all had the same 7-element optical cell, up to the very end of production. There may have been, however, some variations in coating.

 

Best,

 

Andy

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I beg to differ. Luigi, the dual range Summicron to the best of my knowledge never employed radioactive glass....

 

Best,

 

Andy

 

Right, I know... :o ... my phrase was not too clear:

 

"all the Summicron DR have the 7 elements design, which had at least 3 different implementations..."

 

"which" intended to refer in general to the 7 elements design in itself, not to the DR... :o

 

(truth is that I like a lot, expecially with a Forum newbie, to show that here one can find really deep knowledge... and so tend to amplify my answers... :o;))

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