Fontenelle archives 49 : Stereo-Elmar f=3,5cm and brightline viewfinder prototype

[Pecole]

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Certainly two of the rarest pieces in the Fontenelle Collection were the Stereo-Elmar and the prototype viewer which came along. The Stereo-Elmar was serialled 567077 (coded OWENO) and was similar to the nº 541004 illustrated by Lager. By the way, quite surprisingly, Lager does not review the stereo lenses Stereo-Elmar and Stemar in his Volume II "Lenses", but in his Volume III "Accessories" (pages 277-292).

The Stereo-Elmar, forerunner of the Stemar, was developed from 1937 by Wilhelm Albert and is known with both 3,5 and 2,5 diaphragm apertures, under both Stereo-Elmar and Stemar names, but always with 3,5 cm focal length.

Our Stereo-Elmar was clearly designed to be used with the so-called Stereo-VIDOM viewfinder, since it displays the receptacle for the viewfinder's pinned arm. But it came with a vertical 24x18 brightline viewfinder prototype. Similar to the earliest SBOOI, without finger grips but also without any engraving, it is different of all the brightline stereo viewfinders illustrated by Lager.

Here are a few photos of the Stereo-Elmar and the viewfinder, including one of both pieces mounted on a gray Leica IIIc-K.

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[gvaliquette]

The two lenses are not quite on the same level, horizontally, and that seems to be designed-in. Is that correct? Is it part of the stereo effect?

 

Guy

[giordano]

No.

 

Unlike a bayonet mount, the screw mount doesn't have a precise locking position and different lenses end up in slightly different positions when screwed on to different bodies. With ordinary lenses this doesn't matter, of course.

 

I've never owned a stereo lens, but I guess there are set screws that can be loosened so the lens-carrier can be rotated in relation to the rest of the mount to get the lenses horizontally aligned on the body you're using. Certainly this is the case with the screw-mount Visoflex II, which has to have the focusing screen parallel with the top of the camera for things to be framed correctly.