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Tele-Elmar 135 and Visoflex


chrism

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I think a good Tele-Elmar is going to be in the range of $400 give or take. I have both, don't waste your money on the Elmar.

 

 

 

 

 

There's a bunch on eBay right now.

 

 

Here's a useful guide for lens prices matched with serial #'s so you can keep from getting ripped off: Leica M Lens Price Guide

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The 1960 f:4 135mm Elmar is actually a competent 135. It can be used on a Visoflex II or III, but due to the long-focus construction of the lens (while both the Tele-Elmar and the Elmarit are genuine tele designs and thus shorter) it must use the extension tube OTSRO or 16472 between it and the Universal Focusing Mount OTZFO or 16464. Both the letter codes and the numbers codes BTW are for the same items, the first one older, the second one later.

 

There existed also short focusing mount that adapted the lens head directly to the Visoflex, but I have never actually seen one of these.

 

The old man from the Age of 13.5cm Lenses

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I had the Tele-Elmar 135/f4.0 and sold it on Ebay for 100,- Euro, and I kept my Elmarit 135/f2.8 becaue the latter was in no way inferior to the Tele-Emar and had the advantage of being faster.

The looks of the the Tele-Elmar on the Viso is not to my liking, and the Elmarit looks nice and solid.

 

Hans

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I think a good Tele-Elmar is going to be in the range of $400 give or take. I have both, don't waste your money on the Elmar. ...

Chris,

 

I regularly use the 135 f/4 Elmar cell with OTSRO and OTZFO on my Visoflex III and personally I prefer its results to the 65 f/3.5 Elmar. I urge you not to dismiss it out of hand (especially at that price) because it is capable of excellent results. Just my two penn'orth. :)

 

Pete.

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OK, for $99 I can take the chance. Who's got an adaptor ring to attach it to my bellows? I take it the OTSRO has a threaded end for the back of the lens objective group, and a 39mm thread at the Visoflex end that needs an LTM to M adaptor?

 

Chris

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Hello all,

 

I have a 135 elmar that I would love to try on my Visoflex. An earlier post said the optical cell can be detached from the full lens. I once looked at doing this and decided that I must have a different lens or didn't want to force anything. How is the cell detached?

 

Thank you

 

Donald

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Chris,

 

The OTSRO (16472) is threaded at both ends; the lens cell screws into the front end and the rear end screws into the OTZFO (16464), which is the focus adaptor for the 135 f/4, 90 f/2.8 Elmarit or 65 f/3.5 Elmar. My OTZFO has a screw thread at one end to receive the lens and an M-mount at the other so you won't need an M to LTM mount adaptor (unless your Visoflex is a LTM model).

 

If you're interested in close focus then I recommend finding a OTRPO (16471) that screws between the OTSRO and OTZFO.

 

The adaptor ring you'll need to attach the 135 f/4 to the Bellows II is the 16558 (no code name). The only one I found was for sale with a Bellows II at KEH; you could ask them if they'd sell it separately. :o

 

Pete.

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Hello all,

 

I have a 135 elmar that I would love to try on my Visoflex. An earlier post said the optical cell can be detached from the full lens. I once looked at doing this and decided that I must have a different lens or didn't want to force anything. How is the cell detached?

 

Thank you

 

Donald

Donald,

 

AFAIK it simply screws off the body of the lens.

 

Pete.

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Chris,

 

The OTSRO (16472) is threaded at both ends; the lens cell screws into the front end and the rear end screws into the OTZFO (16464), which is the focus adaptor for the 135 f/4, 90 f/2.8 Elmarit or 65 f/3.5 Elmar. My OTZFO has a screw thread at one end to receive the lens and an M-mount at the other so you won't need an M to LTM mount adaptor (unless your Visoflex is a LTM model).

 

If you're interested in close focus then I recommend finding a OTRPO (16471) that screws between the OTSRO and OTZFO.

 

The adaptor ring you'll need to attach the 135 f/4 to the Bellows II is the 16558 (no code name). The only one I found was for sale with a Bellows II at KEH; you could ask them if they'd sell it separately. :o

 

Pete.

 

Is there anything to stop the OTZFO from connecting directly to the Bellows II, which has an M-mount? Or if the OTSRO's rear thread is 39mm it could use an LTM-M adaptor to connect to the bellows. Surely there is no need for the focussing adaptor when bellows are used - the variable bellows should allow for focus. My experiences with all sorts of close-up rings tells me that as long as a connection can be made, the only difference will be in the distance to subject available.

 

I do seem to love cobbling together unlikely combinations!

 

Chris

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Is there anything to stop the OTZFO from connecting directly to the Bellows II, which has an M-mount? Or if the OTSRO's rear thread is 39mm it could use an LTM-M adaptor to connect to the bellows. Surely there is no need for the focussing adaptor when bellows are used - the variable bellows should allow for focus. My experiences with all sorts of close-up rings tells me that as long as a connection can be made, the only difference will be in the distance to subject available.

 

I do seem to love cobbling together unlikely combinations!

 

Chris

 

If you have the Bellows II, the simplest and best way to use on it the Elmar 135 head is mounting it through the OTSRO-16472 : you can even focus to infinty, and with full extension the reproduction ratio was very good (I seem around 1:1,5 on film)

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Is there anything to stop the OTZFO from connecting directly to the Bellows II, which has an M-mount? Or if the OTSRO's rear thread is 39mm it could use an LTM-M adaptor to connect to the bellows. Surely there is no need for the focussing adaptor when bellows are used - the variable bellows should allow for focus. My experiences with all sorts of close-up rings tells me that as long as a connection can be made, the only difference will be in the distance to subject available.

 

I do seem to love cobbling together unlikely combinations!

 

Chris

Chris,

 

You're quite right; there's no need for the OTZFO with the Bellows II because the bellows will provide focussing; I mentioned it because of the Visoflex in the title of the thread.

 

I'm currently waiting for my Bellows II to be delivered so I can't confirm whether a LTM-M adaptor would work - if it did why would there be a need for a 16558, but there appears to be or the 16588 wouldn't exist; incompatible diameters perhaps?

 

Pete.

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Carsten and Pete,

 

Thanks. I have the lens head in hand now. It helps knowing where it unscrews.

 

As for attaching to a bellows II, something other than a LTM adapter is needed. The threads on the cell are bigger than 39MM. It sounds like the 16558 is the right piece. Time to spend money again.

 

Donald

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