Rare error in Paul van Hasbroeck's Leica History

[k-hawinkler]

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+1.

[wlaidlaw]

The Visoflex can be adjusted extremely accurately, using a collimator. Send yours to Will van Manen.

 

Jaap,

 

Protech in the UK did it using an Olympus Collimating Bench, set to 27.80mm from the back of the Visoflex, with a 65 Elmar and then a 135 Tele-Elmar head. Kelvin did say that although the Nikon screen is brighter and quicker to focus than original ground glass, it probably did not have the same ultimate accuracy.

 

Wilson

[jaapv]

That should be fine then. I switched out the screen for a Brightscreen, but in the end I found I prefer the original Visoflex one.

[wlaidlaw]

For anyone looking out for one, there is another series 3 280/4.8 Visoflex Lens on Fleabay here Leica Leitz Canada TELYT 280mm f4.8 Lens Great Vintage Lens | eBay

USA I am afraid so customs issues for us Europeans but it is a good start price. Given that I think they only made around 1,000 of these lenses, they are not going to come up that often.

 

Wilson

[Robert_M]

I don't think that the 280mm f/4.8 v3 is all that hard to find for sale. If one is persistent in searching and patient, one will find a lens at a reasonable price. There are currently 3 version3 lenses on offer at various ebay sites - 2 USA and 1 European seller. And, I saw 1 or two other such auctions close within the last week. This is in addition to the numerous ver2 offerings. Good luck hunting.

 

And, as a tip for the adventurous, look at the Kilfitt 300 f/5.6 lens offerings also. I picked up one of these on the cheap and my first impression is that lens is up to the same image quality. I'm doing a more thorough evaluation and will post in another thread eventually. These can be had for very low cost. Most I've seen come with a LTM mount where the register distance is only 2mm greater than the Visoflex 1 mount (ie the Kilfitt is at 93.3mm). So, a 2mm shim (which the sold as a mount part) and the usual OUBIO will bring you to the Visoflex II and III (actually you don't even need the shim if you accept focus beyond infinity).

 

RM