Elmar 3.5cm Marked with F = 35mm

[mickjazz]

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Probably discussed before but I couldn't find it.

 

The early weitwinkel marked F=35mm. Hard to find when the change to 3,5cm mark. I understand some of the early ones were non standard and had the 3 digit code stamped on them. Some were evidently standard or modified but have no sn.

 

Confusing.

[luigi bertolotti]

I think that the only sure fact is that all the 35mm Elmars have the "11 o'clock" infinity catch... many are non standard and have the last 3 digits of the matching body (and some the full 5 digits, Pecole posted examples), standard and uncoupled 35mm Elmars also exist ; Lager reports items of 1932 with 35mm as well as with 3,5 cm... so 1932 ought to be the "year of the switch mm to cm".

Edited February 5, 2017 by luigi bertolotti

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[willeica]

I agree with Luigi. Lager shows some some nickel 11O'Clock 3.5cm Elmars with various infinity catches, square, bell push and domed. One of the domed infinity catch 11 O'Clock models has F=35mm. It is shown on Leica II Mod D with SN 78585, but it is not clear if these two started out in life together. SN 143489 is 11 O'Clock with a square infinity lock and f=3.5 cm. SN 149858 is 11 O'Clock with domed release and f=3.5 cm. I have a nickel Elmar SN 149890 which is 7O' Clock with a domed infinity catch and with f=3.5 cm. My lens is from 1932 and is a 'heavy cam' model ( I think this is also called 'snail cam'). The change from 11 O'Clock to 7O'Clock seems to have occurred between SN 149858 and SN 149890.

 

Van Hasbroeck states that the change from 35mm to 3.5cm happened when the change from non-coupled to coupled mount occurred. Leica lenses were undergoing very rapid changes in the years 1930 to 1932 and there is the possibility of some overlap in production. Upgrades were also common and I believe, for example, that the lens with F= 35mm shown by Lager on II Mod D SN 78585 is an upgraded lens because of the domed infinity catch. It was probably also converted to rangefinder coupling.

 

Sorry about all of the detail in this, but the changes around 1931/32 are somewhat difficult to track with 100% certainty.

 

William

[jc_braconi]

in 1932 there are both cm and mm.

I have a 107xxx in cm and a 120xxx in mm

we already made this survey years ago

[mickjazz]

7 o'clock nickel elmar 35mm, no number.

 

No 3 digit #, Feet, works perfectly. Came in red Leitz cardboard tube box, black enamel flat cap. Was owned by the Geology Dept, University of Nebraska. Code engraved. Probably stock #.

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[luigi bertolotti]

I think that the only sure fact is that all the 35mm Elmars have the "11 o'clock" infinity catch...

"touché"

[Giuliobigazzi]

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Here are 14454 in cm and domed release, and 143429 in mm with square release. From the first two first serialised batches. Don’t know if this helps with the chronology but it may be that mm and cm versions were produced concurrently. 
 

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[jc_braconi]

I have 2 Elmar 3.5 / 35 both from 1935, both in mtr scale, one in mm 236xxx and one in cm 270xxx.

[pgk]

Without wanting to muddy the waters, I wonder just how Leitz engraved their lenses? (Oddly enough a competitor, Taylor Hobson, was a producer of engravers as well as lenses and some are still in use today). I just wonder if, when a machine was set up to produce an engravinf of say 35mm, then this was used until it needed to be reset for a different requirement and then or later perhaps reset to 3.5cm or vice versa? If engraving was done as relevant parts were backed up then there could be no other reason for random changes than this being the way batches were handled in the engraving section at the factory.