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Elmar red scale


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I have just bought an Elmar f3.5 red scale, minimum f16, well I think that it is a red scale, serial number: 132412 apparently dating it from 1931......

is this possible? It is also coated!

 

I'll post a few pics when I get a chance.

 

Tony

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x

Red scale Elmars were only made from some time in the 1950's. The engravings around the flange will be red rather than black, and it was optically slightly different.

 

Sounds like you have an early lens which was coated later on in life, as many were.

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Is there a rhombus or a triangle for referring the focusing scale.

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Is there a rhombus or a triangle for referring the focusing scale.

 

yes, it came attached to a 1939 lllb

 

Tony

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Well, looks like a fine Red Scale, indeed... but the s/n definitely doesn't match.... and the Red Scale, afaik, ought to close to f22, with proper DOF scale : I wonder if it can be the transplant of an old optical cell into a new mount when lens was sent for coating... even if the mount ought to have been "customized" with the f 16 scale, which looks an oddity... but with an Elmar one can never be sure of its history.

I find difficult to think of a Russian fake.... it looks too nice.

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....or factory upgrade. Leitz was doing it in the past

 

what a cool upgrade I have :) I tried a few pics on my Lumix (I know a sin:eek:) it is as sharp as a razor and reproduces good colour. The glass is very clear and without scratches but does have a few specs of fungus, but I'm not complaining

 

Tony

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Yes... such an old s/n could belong even to an uncoupled lens, maybe... and a complete upgrade to a new coupled mount with repolishing and coating was probably possible.

 

Quite amazing that Leitz offered such services, I suppose even now they will do most things for a price.

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Guest ksmart

I once had such an Elmar, 'red-scaled', coated, barrel like new---- and even without any number, so very early glass. Yes, they mounted old optical elements, now coated, into brand-new barrels on customer's choice, that were easily available in factory, when the 'real-red-scales' were built in the mid-1950s. It was definitely not as good as the 'original red-scale' (with a number from 1956), that I still have in use. Wonderful lens on the M6. L.

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I once had such an Elmar, 'red-scaled', coated, barrel like new---- and even without any number, so very early glass.

 

Could be possibly subject for separate thread - unnumbered, red Elmars. I have one, on beautiful, postwar upgrade from I to II sync with unnumbered, coated red Elmar. What is strange on this one is that the barell is shorter by cca 3mm than on other, original red scale. Both are red scale with triangle. I was not able to find out what was the reason behind. Does anyone know?

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Are you able to make a pict of the serial number may be you miss one digit ?

 

more of your thoughts please...

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I once had such an Elmar, 'red-scaled', coated, barrel like new---- and even without any number, so very early glass. Yes, they mounted old optical elements, now coated, into brand-new barrels on customer's choice, that were easily available in factory, when the 'real-red-scales' were built in the mid-1950s. It was definitely not as good as the 'original red-scale' (with a number from 1956), that I still have in use. Wonderful lens on the M6. L.

 

thanks could be a reason for getting a 1950s red scale and making a comparison!

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Could be possibly subject for separate thread - unnumbered, red Elmars. I have one, on beautiful, postwar upgrade from I to II sync with unnumbered, coated red Elmar. What is strange on this one is that the barell is shorter by cca 3mm than on other, original red scale. Both are red scale with triangle. I was not able to find out what was the reason behind. Does anyone know?

 

Jerzy... can you tell me if your item has f16 or f22 in the stop scale (and in the DOF scale) ?

 

btw, the small difference in total length doesn't sound new to me.... I must check my Elmars (prewar - postwar - postwar RS...) .... I think it is related to small differences in the glass elements (a certain difference in curvature is noticeable) which probably affected the dimension of the lenses'assembly which is inserted into the barrel...

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Luigi, not all genuine red scale Elmar lenses stop down to f22. As far as I know, the early samples don't (f16 is their smallest f-stop), while all later samples do. So no customizing was necessary for this job, they just took the "right" parts.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy

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Luigi, not all genuine red scale Elmar lenses stop down to f22. As far as I know, the early samples don't (f16 is their smallest f-stop), while all later samples do. So no customizing was necessary for this job, they just took the "right" parts.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy

 

Uhm... I'd like to have an evidence of this... don't remember to have seen one RS at f16 (and surely haven't one in my "personal archives"... :cool: some dozens of Elmars' pictures from various sources... I've checked... :o)

JC... have you something to say about ? I know that, as you say, "exception is the rule" but I'm curios about this minor question... :o

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Uhm... I'd like to have an evidence of this... don't remember to have seen one RS at f16 (and surely haven't one in my "personal archives"... :cool: some dozens of Elmars' pictures from various sources... I've checked... :o)

JC... have you something to say about ? I know that, as you say, "exception is the rule" but I'm curios about this minor question... :o

Luigi,

I have a lot of Red Scale, if you accept that 7 is a lot ...

Some with triangle some with rhombus some at f 16 and some at f 22

The old one from 1950 772xxx the youngest from 1955.1 244xxx

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