Please help me identify this Leitz franken lens!

[Perspectives]

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Hi Guys, I'm new around here and I'm really enjoyed experiencing the aura of such an amazing camera brand as Leica totally permeating a forum.

 

I bought what looked like a Leitz Wetzlar Hektor 1:4.5/135 lens a while back, serial 1738xxx build age approx 1960, I was a little stumped as to why it didn't look exactly like other Hektor 135 lenses of similar vintages but I bought it anyway. Turns out it's what looks like Hektor 1:4.5/135 optics and aperture unit coupled with what is called a Leica Adapter Ring OTSRO for Visoflex and the focusing mechanism from what may be a 50mm lens or thereabouts, it can't be the original part for the 1:4.5/135 lens head because it has depth of field engravings from F2.8 to F22 whereas the Hektor is F4 to F32.

 

Does anyone have an idea what the lens is and what it could have been used for?

 

Despite it's quirky build the lens works fine and focuses from around 2m to infinity, that's on a Fujifilm mirrorless camera body with Leica M mount adapter. It's reasonably sharp and has nice out of focus blur, typical of Leica lenses and the round aperture blades.

 

Here are some samples I took to test it and some pics of the lens itself.

 

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[Perspectives]

Here's the last pics:

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Test shots:

 

 

 

 

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[Perspectives]

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[jaapv]

It is the Hektor 135 lens head in the OTSRO Visoflex adapter, which is meant to be used with the OTZFO focusing module. However, here it is screwed into a 90 mm Elmarit  barrel.

[Perspectives]

Thanks for the info Jaap, what application was the OTZFO focusing module and OTSRO Visoflex adapter designed for and how are they supposed to be used?

Can this lens be used as it is with an M body?

Edited November 1, 2017 by Perspectives

[jaapv]

The Visoflex adapter and OTZFO adapter are meant to be used on the Visoflex, basically the same way as you are using it on your mirrorless now.

No, it cannot be focussed on an M, as the helicoid of a 90 mm lens is different from a 135. However, you can use it with the EVF.

[luigi bertolotti]

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It's someway strange that one has offered for sale such a combination...which of course can be focused only through EVF (I hope the price would have been decently low...the Elmarit focusing mount is "aliene" to the rest.. anyway, Hektor is a good lens ).

Just for fun, having all the components, I put ensemble a similar set (the lenshead is indeed not Hektor, but Elmar 135) and adding another intermediate tube (16471 - OTRPO), which would result in a sort of (very long) "almost-macro" lens...  (by chance, it goes to a "round" ratio.. you can focus a 8x12 cm object on full frame)

 

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Edited November 1, 2017 by luigi bertolotti

[jc_braconi]

This kind of mix is usually cal a "cannibalized" lens 

[UliWer]

The length of the strange assembly - with the head of the 4/135 Elmar - is almost the same as for the real Elmar with full shaft. Also the angle of view is almost precisely the same. Though the "assembly's" min. focus is at about 2m compared to 1.5m of the real lens. Infinity is much further off. Not really practical to use, though the results I got by some playing around were comparable to the Elmar. 

[Perspectives]

Thanks for the very interesting info guys, I didn't pay a premuim for it so perhaps more of a gain than a loss.

 

The Leica M Lenses due to the short flange to focal plane distance(only a very small mount adaptor needed), small size and great optics are like holy grail on the Fujifilm bodies in terms of manual lenses, suppose also the reason why Fujifilm released an official mount adaptor for the M mount. I'd love to get a few more M lenses as time goes on and eventually a Leica digital body. The one thing I have grown to appreciate adapting manual lenses on Fujifilm(Their nice EVF allows quite accurate manual focussing whereas the DSLR's I used previously didn't), is what an amazing creative tool manual focussing is with a bona fide manual lens, I would absolutely love to experience the native and highly optimized manual focusing that a M body with lens would allow.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Perspectives

[lct]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by lct

[jaapv]

Thanks for the very interesting info guys, I didn't pay a premuim for it so perhaps more of a gain than a loss.

 

The Leica M Lenses due to the short flange to focal plane distance(only a very small mount adaptor needed), small size and great optics are like holy grail on the Fujifilm bodies in terms of manual lenses, suppose also the reason why Fujifilm released an official mount adaptor for the M mount. I'd love to get a few more M lenses as time goes on and eventually a Leica digital body. The one thing I have grown to appreciate adapting manual lenses on Fujifilm(Their nice EVF allows quite accurate manual focussing whereas the DSLR's I used previously didn't), is what an amazing creative tool manual focussing is with a bona fide manual lens, I would absolutely love to experience the native and highly optimized manual focusing that a M body with lens would allow.

If you got an M8 with for instance a 3.5 Summaron you would have that experience with a limited financial outlay.

[luigi bertolotti]

In case you are interested, there are currently for sale (ebay) some lensheads of Elmarit 90... (I quickly found one from England, another from Ukraina) :add it to the focusing mount of your "Franken-Hektor" and you get a 90mm lens surealy usable and with a standard 1m to infinity focus throw.

[jaapv]

And the Elmarit 90 is a very nice lens

[Michael Geschlecht]

In case you are interested, there are currently for sale (ebay) some lensheads of Elmarit 90... (I quickly found one from England, another from Ukraina) :add it to the focusing mount of your "Franken-Hektor" and you get a 90mm lens surealy usable and with a standard 1m to infinity focus throw.

 

Hello Everybody,

 

If a person wants to match a lens head to a focusing mount with 50mm & longer lenses: They should probably begin by matching the lens head to the lens mount.

 

The 90mm Elmarit, F2.8 lens was manufactured at a time when Leitz put those nifty little 2 digit numbers indicating the actual focal length of that specific lens on the mount & on the lens head.

 

The 2 digit number, ie: 00, means that the actual focal length is 90.0 millimeters. since the 2 digit number is the last whole millimeter & the 1/10 of a millimeter that the actual focal length measures.

 

Without the decimal place being indicated.

 

If these 2 numbers do not match then the lens may have to be adjusted in order to focus correctly. If the numbers on the lens head & the numbers on the lens mount do match: There still might need to be some adjustment, sometimes.

 

Doing this correctly is worth the effort.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

Edited November 3, 2017 by Michael Geschlecht

[lct]

Good advice. Those two little numbers were engraved on the focus mount whereas the actual focal length was engraved by hand on the lens head, as far as my lenses are concerned at least. Here "55" on the focus mount # 14072 and "135,5" on the lens head # 11951 (Elmar 135/4). The focus mount could be ordered separately but Leica asked for the serial number of the lens to check compatibility.

 

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[luigi bertolotti]

My Elmarit has "90" on focus Mount and "90" scratched on the lenshead... dunno exactly if this means that is 90,00 or 90,9...

 

Indeed, thinking again, matching a lenshead and a focus mount with different numbers would be someway risky even using an EVF like the OP does... no problems at intermediate distances... but it' someway possible that infinity isn't achieved correctly...

Edited November 3, 2017 by luigi bertolotti

[pico]

Fascinating. My 135mm M-Mount Hektor has the little vertical imprint '50', the scratched-in on the lens head base as '135', and inside the focusing tube a matching serial number to the lens. Leica in a bewildered state? Or is it me - again?

Edited November 3, 2017 by pico

[a.noctilux]

My Elmarit has "90" on focus Mount and "90" scratched on the lenshead... dunno exactly if this means that is 90,00 or 90,9...

 

...

 

Luigi,

 

As Michael stated in post #15,

numbers are in 1/10 mm

so 90 means 9mm

 

your 90mm lens has measured focal length 89.0mm

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[a.noctilux]

Fascinating. My 135mm M-Mount Hektor has the little vertical imprint '50', the scratched-in on the lens head base as '135', and inside the focusing tube a matching serial number to the lens. Leica in a bewildered state? Or is it me - again?

 

Pico,

 

Your 135mm is measured 135.0mm for a nominal 135mm lens.

50 means last two digits (as Michael stated post #15) xx5.0