sandro Posted February 2, 2021 Share #1 Posted February 2, 2021 Advertisement (gone after registration) Does anyone know when the infrared marks on Leitz/Leica lenses were not used anymore? I am checking my own lenses: Hektor 13,5 cm (1956): yes; Elmar 135 mm (1962): no Elmar 9 cm (1937): yes; Elmar 9 cm (1952): yes; Elmar 9 cm collapsible (1954): yes; Elmar 90mm (1962, new version or II): no Summicron 50mm II (1960): no; Summicron 50mm III (1968): no Summitar 50mm (1948): yes Summar 5 cm (1937): yes Elmar 5 cm (1939): yes None of my 3,5cm/35mm lenses has the R-mark Best, Lex Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 2, 2021 Posted February 2, 2021 Hi sandro, Take a look here Infrared mark on lenses. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
ckuwajima Posted February 2, 2021 Share #2 Posted February 2, 2021 My Collapsible Summicron LTM 50mm has the R-mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerzy Posted February 2, 2021 Share #3 Posted February 2, 2021 Lex, vor ein paar Jahren habe ich mich mit Varianten von 5cm Elmar beschäftigt und damals fand ich, dass ab cca 1934 Infrarot Markierung angebracht war und ist auch bei den Elmaren aus Ende 50-gen vorhanden. Ich gehe davon aus, dass auch andere Objektive ab 1934 die R Marke bekamen. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 2, 2021 Share #4 Posted February 2, 2021 Maybe around 1956 - # 1.4xx.xxx ? Some of my personal items in that area are : - Elmar 90 collapsible 1188412 : yes - Elmar 50 RS 1243011 : yes - Elmar 90 E39 filter, BM 1335403 : yes - Elmar 90 A36 filter, SM 1409234 : no - Summaron 35 M3 1555464 : no - Summicron 90 SM 1681650 : no ... and I'd bet (didn't check all... too many 😎) that there is no R mark on any newer lenses... even in the ones with "critical" focusing like the 200 f4 (while is there in my old 200 4,5 ) or the 280 4,8 (while is there on my old 400 f5) Probably it's even harder to define when they started to add the R index in the '30s ... No mark on my unnumbered fat Elmar 90 and my 5-digits Elmar 50 - no mark also on my Hektor 7,3 129.006... but the unnumbered Elmar 135 4,5 has the R... as well as my Hektor 50 178256 and Alpine Elmar 300282 (but no IR mark on the Hektor 28 274691...) Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerzy Posted February 2, 2021 Share #5 Posted February 2, 2021 sorry for my previous response in German language. When analyzing Elmars 5cm few years ago I found that R mark appeared early 1934, I assume that all lenses had it then. Fast check of my newer lenses shows that R mark disappeared again around 1956/57, as Luigi wrote. It is not u nusualk to find R mark on unnumbered lenses - many of them have been converted (fixed Elmar/Hektor to interchangeable, adding rangfinder coupling, standartizing) so scale with R mark could have been added during conversion Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrogallol Posted February 2, 2021 Share #6 Posted February 2, 2021 I still use the R mark, with Rollei 400 infrared film. I understand that the right hand f5.6 mark can be used if the R is not present. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 2, 2021 Share #7 Posted February 2, 2021 Advertisement (gone after registration) 1 hour ago, jerzy said: It is not u nusualk to find R mark on unnumbered lenses - many of them have been converted (fixed Elmar/Hektor to interchangeable, adding rangfinder coupling, standartizing) so scale with R mark could have been added during conversion And infact my unnumbered Elmar 135 (with R mark) looks to be a standard-uncoupled upgraded to coupled. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandro Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share #8 Posted February 2, 2021 Thanks, this is interesting. I forgot to mention my Summarit 1.5/5 cm (1953) does have the R mark. So the R mark seems to appear in 1934 and disappears again around 1956/57. Now it would be interesting to know why the R mark was added in 1934, and why the apparent interest on the part of the users seems to have faded away around 1956/57. Lex 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted February 2, 2021 Share #9 Posted February 2, 2021 29 minutes ago, sandro said: ...it would be interesting to know why the R mark was added in 1934, and why the apparent interest on the part of the users seems to have faded away around 1956/57... No idea as to why it was dropped but the introduction is fairly simple to explain (I quote from Wiki); "Infrared photography became popular with photography enthusiasts in the 1930s when suitable film was introduced commercially." Having just checked some lenses the odd-one-out in terms of what has been discussed so far is that my first-series 35mm f3.5 Summaron (in M mount) from 1954 does not have an IR mark. Perhaps, though, this is down to the already quite overcrowded nature of the D-o-F markings on the lens not allowing sufficient space for such an IR marking to be engraved? Philip. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckuwajima Posted February 2, 2021 Share #10 Posted February 2, 2021 2 hours ago, Pyrogallol said: I still use the R mark, with Rollei 400 infrared film. I understand that the right hand f5.6 mark can be used if the R is not present. Hi, the R mark on my Collapsible Summicron is right before the f/2 mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted February 2, 2021 Share #11 Posted February 2, 2021 (edited) Without wishing to go too far off-topic... IMX the positioning of the IR mark can change for each different focal-length of lens and often for each different optical design. I suppose this makes perfect sense? From the brief but informative tests I carried-out last year (although with Deep Red 4X filters and not true IR at all) "f4" seemed to be a common 'happy place' for a number of lenses but there were some particularly notable exceptions such as the 21mm f4 Super-Angulon which required 50% less adjustment that anything else. Philip. EDIT : OK; I know it's been posted before but I suppose it might be of help here, too? Post #8 for some rough'n'ready examples shown at 150% magnification; https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/313352-monochrom-type-i-and-color-filters/?tab=comments#comment-4047525 Edited February 2, 2021 by pippy Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin B Posted February 2, 2021 Share #12 Posted February 2, 2021 (edited) 47 minutes ago, pippy said: Without wishing to go too far off-topic... IMX the positioning of the IR mark can change for each different focal-length of lens and often for each different optical design. I suppose this makes perfect sense? From the brief but informative tests I carried-out last year (although with Deep Red 4X filters and not true IR at all) "f4" seemed to be a common 'happy place' for a number of lenses but there were some particularly notable exceptions such as the 21mm f4 Super-Angulon which required 50% less adjustment that anything else. Philip. EDIT : OK; I know it's been posted before but I suppose it might be of help here, too? Post #8 for some rough'n'ready examples shown at 150% magnification; https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/313352-monochrom-type-i-and-color-filters/?tab=comments#comment-4047525 f/4 in IR on 35 mm film or sensor plane corresponds to about f/5.6 in IR light. The longer wavelength of infrared provides one additional stop in depth of field. That's why shooting with f/4 on a 35 mm camera in IR light nails the focus very often even without IR mark focus adjustment. This said, the location of the IR mark depends on the focal length - it is further to the right of the regular focus mark when looking top down on the lens with wider lenses and closer to the visible light focus mark with 50 mm or tele lenses. To my knowledge newer Leica M lenses are built that there is a negligible difference between visible and infrared focus marks. I tested this recently with my 50/2 Summicron pre-ASPH which has no IR focus mark. The IR film photos nailed the focus wide open by not even changing it from the visible focus mark. As mentioned above, this is different with older M and LTM lenses which have the IR mark. I don't own a wide Leica M lens to run the same test that the focus doesn't need to be adjusted for IR light - it would be interesting since there the IR focus mark is in theory located further right on the scale if the lens is not designed to remediate this. Edited February 2, 2021 by Martin B Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jul Posted February 2, 2021 Share #13 Posted February 2, 2021 30 minutes ago, pippy said: there were some particularly notable exceptions such as the 21mm f4 Super-Angulon which required 50% less adjustment that anything else It might be worth pondering that with the fact that the marks on the f4 Super-Angulon are more optimistic than on other lens. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin B Posted February 2, 2021 Share #14 Posted February 2, 2021 The CV 25/4 Snapshot Skopar LTM lens works excellent in IR. Taken with Leica M6, Rollei IR 400 film, and Hoya R72 filter (which stands for 720 nm cutoff). I estimated a slight focus shift and turned the focus a tiny bit clockwise to adjust for some IR focus shift (the lens also has no IR mark). The photos were taken at f/5.6 which corresponds approx. f/8 in IR light. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! The photo below was taken with the Leica 50/2 Summitar LTM lens with adapted Hoya R72 (58mm) filter. I used the IR mark on the lens to adjust for focus difference at f/2.8 or f/4 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! The photo below was taken with the Leica 50/2 Summitar LTM lens with adapted Hoya R72 (58mm) filter. I used the IR mark on the lens to adjust for focus difference at f/2.8 or f/4 ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/317609-infrared-mark-on-lenses/?do=findComment&comment=4132254'>More sharing options...
romanus53 Posted February 3, 2021 Share #15 Posted February 3, 2021 Just to add some numbers: Elmar 3.5/50 no 203935 from 1934 is the oldest in my list with IR-mark, Summicron 2/50 DR no 1465825 from 1957 is one of the last. Curiosly a 6.3/105 Elmar no 162370 from 1933 has that mark but looks also coated so it may have been modiefied at some later time; same for 4/90 Elmar no 165920 from 1933 which shos some numbers inside the barrel but not the serial number. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 3, 2021 Share #16 Posted February 3, 2021 9 hours ago, pippy said: Having just checked some lenses the odd-one-out in terms of what has been discussed so far is that my first-series 35mm f3.5 Summaron (in M mount) from 1954 does not have an IR mark. Perhaps, though, this is down to the already quite overcrowded nature of the D-o-F markings on the lens not allowing sufficient space for such an IR marking to be engraved? Philip. Also the older Summarons 3,5 (the A36 LTM) have not the mark, and neither the Hektor 2,8 cm : I think that for such focals Leitz evaluated that DOF was sufficient to ignore the IR issue. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandro Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share #17 Posted February 3, 2021 In the famous Leica Handbuch by Fritz Vith I don't see mention of IR. In Morgan & Lester's Leica Manual and data book (13th edition, 1956) it is noted that all but the 28 and 35mm focal length lenses have an IR index mark. And Hans Windisch in his "Achtung-Aufnahme!". Kleinbild Jagd auf Dinge und Menschen (1st ed. 1937) mentioned that Leica recently ("neuerdings") has indicated the IR index point on lenses. Lex Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
romualdo Posted February 3, 2021 Share #18 Posted February 3, 2021 17 hours ago, luigi bertolotti said: ... and I'd bet (didn't check all... too many 😎) that there is no R mark on any newer lenses... even in the ones with "critical" focusing like the 200 f4 (while is there in my old 200 4,5 ) or the 280 4,8 (while is there on my old 400 f5) my 1955 Telyt 200 f4.5 (SN 1256658) has no R mark (well I can't find one?) but my 1951 Summitar 50 f2 (SN 846113) has one Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandro Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share #19 Posted February 3, 2021 1 hour ago, romualdo said: my 1955 Telyt 200 f4.5 (SN 1256658) has no R mark (well I can't find one?) but my 1951 Summitar 50 f2 (SN 846113) has one That confirms what we discussed, that the IR marks were used between 1934 and 1956/57. My Telyt 4/200 (1963) and Telyt 4.8/280mm (1961) don't have the marks, since they date from after the moment the IR marks were not used anymore. Lex 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 4, 2021 Share #20 Posted February 4, 2021 12 hours ago, romualdo said: my 1955 Telyt 200 f4.5 (SN 1256658) has no R mark (well I can't find one?) That's curios... by chance Lager in his books displays a Telyt very close to yours (1256534) which has the R mark... in its usual location... Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/317609-infrared-mark-on-lenses/?do=findComment&comment=4133031'>More sharing options...
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