Fontenelle archives 50 : "Belgian" fakes : Elmar 9 cm and Hektor 13,5 cm

[George Furst]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Just read your report, DannyBell, and am happy my "old" contribution was useful. One point intrigues me : you say "my Korean repairer HERE" : are you living in Korea, or your "Korean" is "imported"? And finally, I hope you will publish the results of your tests.

Leically yours.

 

I live in South Korea and have been here for over 10 years. I am active in the leica club here (and a member of LHSA) and there are over 1000 members, we meet tomorrow in Seoul in ChumErRo, the photo industry center of Korea. There are amazing repair people here and an example of a CLA of a screw mount Leica costs around $125 and that includes replacing the shutter curtain! This country is Leica Heaven! If any of the Leica Forum come here I could show them around (If I am not teaching) as it is a wonderful country for photography. My speciality is bird photography and night photography with the Noctilux-M. I love living here.

[George Furst]

An excellent source of information to check for fakes is the listing of all lens manufactured by leitz from 1930 to 2008. This list is located in the back of Erwin Puts wonderful volume "Leica Chronicle" published in 2012. When I looked up the above lens on the list, I found that this Elmar 90 was not listed for that serial number. The Weitwinkel f3.5 35 was listed (what ever that lens is). I also have used it for a faked Heer lens where the serial number was modified to be wartime. When I looked up the number I found that the serial number was not listed for a 50 mm Elmar. Looking closely at the modified number under a microscope I was able to determine the original number by checking the Puts Lens numbers and finding the correct date as being 1948 not 1939. This was easy because only the first digit was modified (this is usual). Of course a giveaway was the international f stop scale that was a post war feature.

Edited May 23, 2014 by George Furst
word change

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Orient XI]

The Weitwinkel f3.5 35 was listed (what ever that lens is).

 

Presumably this is a 35mm f/3.5 Elmar. Weitwinkel = wide angle.

[George Furst]

Just read your report, DannyBell, and am happy my "old" contribution was useful. One point intrigues me : you say "my Korean repairer HERE" : are you living in Korea, or your "Korean" is "imported"? And finally, I hope you will publish the results of your tests.

Leically yours.

 

In at I did compare my "fake" 90mm f4 Elmar number 653542 against my prewar uncoated Elmar numer 453833. Actually the fake one did well for itself and in the center two thirds off the test was no different than the other Leitz sample at 5 meters. But the outer one third resolution indicated  that the fake had a stronger curvature of focus and the prewar Leitz sample proved it heritage with better focus across the field. This proved to me that the complaints of post war photographers who purchased the fake lens were well founded.

 

To answer your question, I have lived in South Korea for the last 14 years and am planning to stay until our friend to the north plans otherwise!

[alan mcfall]

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

Many thanks to Zeitz for help in identifying my PLOOT clone, to be from KENKO in Japan and called the Refbox. Does anyone know what the initials E.K.S. stand for?

I also include in one of the attached photos, another clone from K. Muller of Germany(in chrome) and it is marked as Reproflex. This company later became part of Novoflex, I have more details on the Reproflex if anyone is interested.