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ELMAR with FISON and FIGRO

Agripix

By Agripix,
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Agripix

Agripix

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    Hello.

     

    I have a late model FISON hood (chrome with set screw) which fits the ƒ3.5 50mm ELMAR perfectly, as it should.

    I have a very nice FIGRO black slip-on Yellow 1 filter, which slips onto the ELMAR perfectly, as it should....

    However, the FISON doesn't like to fit onto the FIGRO already on the ELMAR, so that I have the filter behind the hood. Yet, it fits beautifully onto the front of the hood.

    Is that the way it was designed to be.  Hood then filter.  Is it a quirk of the design.

    It seems that the filter behind the hood would be preferred, although as has been pointed out to me, witness the Cokin filter range.

     

    Your advice please.  

     

     

     

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    Susie

    Susie

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      Hi,

       

      Looking at your picture, I think the hood needs to go on a bit further - over the next step.  It might work easier if  you put the area where the clamping screw is on first, then the rest of the hood.  Sometimes the tab that gets pushed in by the screw to clamp it on doesn't completely retract when the screw is undone.

       

      I how all that makes some sence!

       

      Susie

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      Agripix

      Agripix

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      Hi Susie,

       

      Many thanks for your note (which made sense). However, I still have the problem - at least you are indicating to me that the filter should indeed be first and the hood second, as I imagined it should.

       

      The hood will not go onto the second "step" of the filter, and will not tighten down enough on the first step. I might see if I can put a felt strip inside the hood diameter to make the smaller and wider step the logical place to clamp. If you tighten (clamp) the hood at present, the slightest movement makes it click off the thinner bigger step and then of course it falls off as it doesn't clamp the smaller step.

       

      I hope you can see the "steps" in the following images, and that I am making sense. :-)

       

      It makes me crazy that it fits so perfectly if the filter is on the front of the hood.

       

      Cheers,

       

      Colin

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      willeica

      willeica

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        The very first filters for the Elmar screwed into the centre of the lens and the FISON (originally black paint with no screw and a square cut out front) did not touch the filter. I have these and also some of the next generation of hoods and filters where the FISON (still black paint) has a round front and no screw and fits over the slip on filter (FIOLA UV is the one I have) very well. The later chrome FISONs (I have two versions of those) with a screw also fit over the FIOLA very well. The FIOLA looks somewhat like the FIGRO shown in your pictures but is not exactly the same. My FIOLA came in an early 'crocodile skin' box. I also have an early square filter (not made by Leica) which is held onto the Elmar barrel with a wire clip. It looks like a Cokin or Lee Filter and you can change the filter in the square holder.

         

        I will post pictures of the various early combinations, but it may take a couple of days to organise this. In the early days Leica changed its accessories at very frequent intervals as they were essentially a work in progress.

         

        William

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        Agripix

        Agripix

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        Many thanks, William.

         

        "Traps for young players" with this accessory game for ELMAR etc.  The II D and the ELMAR are both probably 1932, and I knew for sure that the FISON fitted the outer ELMAR knurled flange.  When I recently came into owning a yellow 1 FIGRO and it fitted the knurled flange also, I figured it was a natural fit for both.  Not so.  :-)

         

        I am inclined to put some sticky back black craft felt around the inner ring of the hood … but then it would not slip over the ELMAR if I did not have the filter on ...

         

        Not quite sure where I go from here.  I'm tempted to use the hood with the filter at the front of the hood more or less Cokin style but it looks a little weird ...

         

        Cheers,

         

        Colin

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        Agripix

        Agripix

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        Thanks for the note. But what is the guarantee that this doesn't happen?

         

        Both of my pieces fit onto the lens, but they do not nest to each other (male to female). Will the clamping one be any different?

         

        Cheers.

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        luigi bertolotti

        luigi bertolotti

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          Yes. The front of the clamp-on filters is the same diameter as the front of the lens, so hoods such as the FISON and FIKUS fit perfectly (and you can stack the filters together too). 

          I confirm : FISON FIKUS and also FOOKH (35mm) are perfectly fitting onto A36 clamp screw filters : and you can find on the forum funny pics in which A36 filters are stacked in quantity...

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          willeica

          willeica

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            Sorry for the delay in getting back. I was wrong on one detail from my previous posting. Slip on Yellow Filters were available for the Elmar from 1925. In 1931 Leica expanded its range of slip on filters to include, among others, the FIGRO shown above and the FIOLA UV filter shown in my photo below on a II Model D. At the same time Leica introduced a range of the screw in type filters including the yellow/green FIXIO (corrections welcome) shown on the I Model A below. On the left side the first FISON hood is shown with its strange square(ish) cut out at the front which has to be re-oriented after focussing. On the right side the second FISON with a round opening is shown. In the middle the 'crocodile' box for the FIOLA is shown.

             

             

            The next photo shows the FISONs mounted on the cameras with the filters still attached. It will be seen that the FISON and FIOLA on the II Model D on the right fit perfectly together. The two different later chrome FISON models in the photo also fit over the FIOLA. There is obviously no problem with the hood and the screw in filter.

             

             

            Finally, here is the VERAX (not made by Leica) square filter on the I Model A. I am not aware that there was a hood to go with this. Different types of square VERAX filters could be fitted in the square holders, just like the later COKIN and LEE filters. 

             

             

            I hope that my little collection of filters and hoods can throw some light on the issues in this thread. I don't know what the solution to the FIGRO issue is, but it is certain that many accessories for the Leica with Elmar did appear on the market in the early 1930s and it is worthwhile studying the various texts and catalogues which cover that period.

             

            William

             

             

             

             

             

             

             

             

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            Agripix

            Agripix

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            Thanks, William, for all the trouble.  Excellent photos and explanations.  

             

            Try as I will, I cannot get the FISON to fit completely over the ridge, or be stable, on the FIGRO slip -on.  

             

            I have today purchased a clamp-on FIGRO rather than a slip on, based on your words, as well as those from Giordano and Luigi.   When it arrives, I will report back.

             

            Cheers,

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            Agripix

            Agripix

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            I just wanted to "close off" this thread by saying that yesterday I was able to get a clamp-on Y1 FIGRO filter, and as already stated above, it fits the clamp-on FISON hood perfectly, and securely.

             

            Lesson learnt.  Clamp-on to clamp-on for ELMAR ƒ3.5 for sure.  Slip-on to clamp-on does not work - as a pair.

             

            Thanks, everyone, for contributions and great photographs.  

             

            Cheers

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