50 DR and 50 Rigid

[edoken]

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Hello All,

 

I have a very good condition DR Summicron, which I cannot use on the M8.

 

I have a Rigid, which has numerous cleaning marks on the front element.

 

Is it possible to take the DR head and put it on the Rigid mount? I tried, cannot see any problem with the photos, but the aperture ring now starts at a different location (rotated 90 degrees clockwise if you look into the lens) - however, the focus is spot on at 1m and at infinity.

 

Regards,

Ken

[Shootist]

Removed because of possible wrong information.

See post below.

[carstenw]

My DR Cron doesn't go on my M8 at all, except at the 90cm setting, and then I can't turn the focus ring. There seems to be different copies...

[edoken]

Thanks. The DR can definitely not be mounted on the M8 except if it is focussed at a close distance. However is the Rigid lens head the same as a DR lens head ie whether the DR lens head can be removed and then mounted on the Rigid mount. I have done it, it seems OK, but just hope someone can confirm the 2 lens head are the same.

 

Regards,

Ken

[pklein]

The DR Summicron is my favorite lens on film. I was interested in finding a Rigid Summicron with bad glass and mounting my DR optical head on it. I asked Don Goldberg (DAG Camera repair in Wisconsin) if this was possible. He said that the two mounts were "different" and it would not work. So it is possible that while you can mate the two parts, they would not be adjusted correctly, and might not focus exactly where the rangefinder indicates.

 

Don suggested that he can cut the near-focus cam off of a DR, and this would enable the DR to work properly on the M8 in the normal focus range (1m to infinity). This is tempting in a way, but also kind of like contemplating a vasectomy. You lose something, and it's forever. I'll have to see how much I use a 50 vs. a 35, and how much film I continue to shoot.

 

I can also confirm that the DR will mount and focus on the M8 in its near focus range only. I don't recommend that anyone do this unless they know exactly how the DR works.

 

--Peter

[edoken]

Thanks for your reply.

 

This is the test shot I made at f2, and the 100% crop.

 

 

 

So it seems to me that I can focus with the DR head on the Rigid mount. I have also made test shots at infinity. They look OK but I deleted the photos already.

 

I will try some more the next few days to confirm that it works.

[jaapv]

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Afaik the optical cell of both lenses is identical, so their is nothing to be gained by putting a DR lenshead in a Summicron rigid mount. These Summicrons are not that expensive, so one could either buy one as an extra, or sell the DR for a rigid and gain some money.

[carstenw]

I have heard from my Leica dealer (the manager used to work at Leica) that the DR Summicrons were given the most accurately manufactured lens elements at the time, to make them as accurate as possible so that they would work better at close range. The normal Summicrons are still all within spec, naturally, but they may not be as sharp or have exactly the same look. A good copy would be indistinguishable from a DR, a less good copy would not.