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Any KE-7A enthusiasts out there?

vickko

By vickko
in Leica Collectors & Historica

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Michael Geschlecht

Michael Geschlecht

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Hello Teddy,

 

Do you have time to try the series of test exposures for both 2 & 3 dimensional subjects @ the number of apertures & distances I suggested above?

 

I don't think Leitz would have poured the massive ammounts of money it did into high contrast, high resoloution lens research & not have something to show for it. Sometimes experimental devices, lenses or otherwise, produce their optimal results in areas other than those in which they might have been expected to.

 

Don't forget among other things this project produced the 180mm 3.4 which is a good lens @ longer distances even when judged by today's standareds.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

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philipus

philipus

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I realise the actual value of a collectors' item is whatever people pay for it. But seeing the below eBay link, I became a bit confused (even though I understand that the requested price hasn't been accepted yet by anyone). For instance, at a Swedish auction last summer, the below KE-7A was sold for 67,000SEK which is approximately 10,400$/7300€.

 

Leica KE-7A No.1294826

 

 

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Theodor Heinrichsohn

Theodor Heinrichsohn

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Hello Teddy,

 

Do you have time to try the series of test exposures for both 2 & 3 dimensional subjects @ the number of apertures & distances I suggested above?

 

I don't think Leitz would have poured the massive ammounts of money it did into high contrast, high resoloution lens research & not have something to show for it. Sometimes experimental devices, lenses or otherwise, produce their optimal results in areas other than those in which they might have been expected to.

 

Don't forget among other things this project produced the 180mm 3.4 which is a good lens @ longer distances even when judged by today's standareds.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

 

Michael,

Thanks for the suggestion. I am having several busy weeks ahead (organizing family gathering !!) etc. and can only get down to this about mid August.

It would greatly help me if you would PM me and suggest an exact set up as well as subjects, so that I know that I have the right procedure. I have never done anything like this up to now.

I have the 180/3.4 and used it extensively on the R8/R9 with slide film but have not tried it on the Canon I DS III.

Teddy

 

 

Teddy

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  • 3 years later...
jaapv

jaapv

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HI Doug,

Thanks for this very positive information, which I just came upon this morning. I will now get down to trying out the 66mm Elcan on my M9. I still have not managed to post pictures. Very annoying.

Teddy

 

If you are able to process your images in Lightroom:

 

Process.

 

Go to export

Set your destination as desktop, size to max. 1024 pixels, size to max 400 Kb and hit export.

 

Go to your forum post reply, hit advanced (if you are not already there)

click on the paperclip and an upload window will open.

look for your file on the desktop, click it once and click upload.

Your image will be embedded in your post.

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zlatkob

zlatkob

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A quick test of the f2 66mm Elcan on the Leica M9 against the f 1.4 Summilux asph. showed that the latter's performance at 1.4 is superior to f 2 with the 66mm.

This was not a carefully set up test, however, a relatively simple test showed that the newer lens performs substantially better as far as sharpness is concerned.

Teddy

 

It would be interesting to see some photos made with the 66/2. Looking forward to your examples. :)

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derleicaman

derleicaman

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The KE-7A and the 50 and 66 Elcan lenses were some very interesting items to come out of Midland. I once had a military version KE-7A with 50 Elcan in my collection. The camera was supposed to have additional weather proofing, but to my eye, I could not see anything different from a standard M4 black chrome aside from the engraving. Of course, all of the black chrome M4's were sourced in Midland after Leitz, Wetzlar had given up on them. I have a regular black chrome M4 still in my collection, marked Wetzlar on the top plate, but it has a "C" seal for Leitz Canada. All the black chome M4's were done this way except for a very few engraved Midland. The 50th Anniversary black chrome M4 was also a Canadian production. The KE-7A had the usual M4 rapid load system. The KE-7A came out about the time the war in Viet Nam was winding down and there was not much demand for "combat" Leicas. I had surmised that a number of unissued models had to have existed, and sure enough some years ago some of these came on the market. They were in the Army materials depot near Philadelphia and sold at auction for some impressive prices. One can only guess what the worth is today for an unissued KE-7A with 50 Elcan in the brown paper wrapping they were shipped in.

 

The 66 Elcan was designed by Walter Mandler and is from the same school of thought as the 180/3.4 Apo-Telyt. According to Rolf Fricke, the US Army wanted a lens that would look like any standard lens on a Leica, but have the highest resolving power possible to photograph Russian military material in their annual May Day parade as well as photographing vessels in port, etc. The photographer would be someone in the US military posing as a "tourist" or just an average spectator. Rolf acquired a 66 Elcan in a rather interesting fashion from a Navy veteran who had been ordered by his ship's captain to dispose of the rest of special outfit (Halliburton case, 66 Elcan, etc.) after the camera from it had been stolen while on shore leave. The 66 Elcan was removed from the Halliburton, something weighty was put into its place and it was then thrown overboard to comply with the capitan's order! True story.

 

Tom Abrahammson played a nasty practical joke on me once, when he had a mutual friend contact me to say he had acquired a 66 Elcan at a yard sale and asked what I might want to pay for it. Tom knew how badly I wanted this to go with my KE-7A, and let me torment myself for a few days before he let me know it was his idea of an April Fool's joke! Gotta love Tom!

 

Another interesting military Leica is the KS-15(4) camera, which is basically a chrome M2 with M4 style rapid load system. They are not engraved KS-15(4), just M2. I have this in my collection along with the Halliburton case and special Hold-All leather case made for this kit. A small over run was made for the civilian market and these are engraved M2-R. Both of these cameras are highly desirable collector's items. I'll see if I can post up some photos of these.

Edited by derleicaman
speeling error
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Orient XI

Orient XI

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Many years ago I saw an Elcan engraved with a focal length of 2" (i.e.two inches or 50.8mm) in a London dealer's show case. Unfortunately, I had no spare cash at the time and was unable to buy it. I also read somewhere that Mandler rated the Elcans performance as somewhere between a Summicron and a Summitar.

Has anybody else seen an Elcan with a similar Imperial engraving?

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