Leitz 1200mm, 800mm and 400mm Prototype Lenses

[luigi bertolotti]

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The appearance of the lenses is not Leitz like.

My first idea was: a well made set of DIY work.

 

On the picture with the open Viso there is a text engraved on the lens. I could not read it....

I tend to think is not a text, but simple signs of wear and/or rough finishing : btw, would be a position that Leitz never used to place writings... my feeling is that this set, whatever its origin and how much of Leitz work is in it, is not easy to sell at that price....

[dkCambridgeshire]

 A phone call to Vienna might help. I find that the staff in Leicashop/Westlicht are very helpful.

 

William

 

 

 

Possibly … but cannot imagine that Peter Coeln and co. have not researched the set and then not published their findings with the original WestLicht Auction listing. 

 

Given the longest focal length is 1200mm, the set could have been a special 'one-off' project for a customer's special purpose. But why on a Visoflex? Unless they predate the first 1964 Leicaflex? 

 

In 1958 Canon made a 1000mm lens; maybe the Leitz set could have been Leica's response … at a time when Japanese cameras and lenses were encroaching on German camera/lens sales?

 

Maybe the set could have been designed to a military specification for a surveillance purpose? 

 

The listing states c.1970 - but the M2 camera was made in 1960. Any M film camera would be compatible - but if the lens is c.1970, why hitch it up to a 1960 camera? 

 

What clues exist to estimate the c.1970 date and why are they not documented. 

 

dunk

Edited January 7, 2016 by dkCambridgeshire

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[luigi bertolotti]

Is also worth noting that they specify that focals ar APPROXIMATELY 400-800-1200 : given that an exact focal length is easy to be measured by any decent lab, such a detail is someway strange... hasn't anyone inspected technically those items ?

I still wonder if the optics can come from the sport optics division... but could even be that the glass isn't from Leitz, but only the body/bellows/Visoflex are the real Leitz components...

Edited January 7, 2016 by luigi bertolotti

[dkCambridgeshire]

Is also worth noting that they specify that focals ar APPROXIMATELY 400-800-1200 : given that an exact focal length is easy to be measured by any decent lab, such a detail is someway strange... hasn't anyone inspected technically those items ?

I still wonder if the optics can come from the sport optics division... but could even be that the glass isn't from Leitz, but only the body/bellows/Visoflex are the real Leitz components...

 

 

The fact that potential buyers at WestLicht Auction last June were not tempted suggests they had doubts similar to those expressed thus far in this thread. 

 

The lens set's provenance is deserving of being fully researched and documented. 

 

dunk