Nicht immer nur Kaviar ... (English Version)

[pgk]

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On 6/7/2024 at 12:13 PM, pgk said:

A recent purchase and modification. An Oschwald era Swiss built Arca Swiss 5" x 4" camera. I bought a spare aluminium lensboard and fitted a section of mahogany to it having cut away a recess to take Gandolfi lens boards and fitted suitable brass retainers.

And here's the view through it with an 1865 Grubb Doublet attached. This lens was probably intended for stereo photography with a format of either 4" x 4" or more likely 3" x 3" and vignettes in the corners on 5" x 4". The imahe it produces would certainly give effective results on 3" x 3" and is surprisingly puncht give the simple. uncoated optics. When the 'step and repeat back is up and running I will be able to produce images from this format to find out.

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[Michael Geschlecht]

On 6/8/2024 at 3:36 AM, wlaidlaw said:

I will contact them Steve. Many thanks for the suggestion. I don't know with the early coating efforts, if just the two external surfaces were coated or all the air surfaces. I suspect with my father's original coating (probably Delfinerin by Oude Delft but certainly done in the Netherlands in 1948), just the two external surfaces were done. When I tested the Summar lens as part of a physics paper in 1965 (centre, edge resolution, distortion, vignetting) , it really was quite a poor performer, compared with a modern Mamiya Sekor 55mm f1.7 and another lens. It was dramatically improved by Wallace Heaton re-polishing the front element and coating all air surfaces. It jumped up from last place by a long way to first equal with the Mamiya. I think this shows the basic soundness of the design, just held back by the absence of coating and deterioration from much usage.

Wilson

Hello Wilson,

If you look at the optical design of the 50mm f2 Summicron-M,  Version 4a & Version 4b. As well as the second Version of the 50mm f2 Summicron-R. You will see that, except for more modern glass & modern coatings: These "M" & "R" lenses are pretty much the same optical design as the earlier 50mm f2 Summar.

Best Regards,

Michael

Edited June 10, 2024 by Michael Geschlecht

[pgk]

Yhe MkII Arca Swiss 'Step & Repeat' camera and the first 6 full frame stitch image shot wide-open (f/3.somethingish) on an 1860s Petzval lens from it. Needs refining but it does work!

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Edited June 13, 2024 by pgk

[pgk]

And a further trial shot - this is of a similar lens to the one it was taken on from the 1860s. A 9 image stitch equating to approximately a 6x9cm image (roughly 1/4 plate) using the Sony. This would be around 150-200MPixels. By available light and to be honest the result is not so bad from a lens intended to cover a much larger format.

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Edited June 14, 2024 by pgk

[zeitz]

Oude Delft made some mirror lenses for Leica thread mount cameras in the 1950s.  These include a 40cm f5.0 Fototel, a 45cm f5.6 Fototel and a 50cm f6.3 Delca TD50.  The lenses were direct mount, not for a Visoflex.  They were focused by a small mirror that lowered into the optical path and that was viewed by an eyepiece on the side of the lenses. A double cable release was used.  Wollensak marketed these lenses in the US with their trademark; all of these were called Fototel.

I have one of the Wollensak 50cm lenses.  It has been abused by someone who removed the focusing system and forced an Olympus mount on it.  I returned it to the LTM mount, but it can now only be used on cameras with live view for focusing (electronic Visoflex).  This lens had developed fungus and the focusing was stiff.  The lens had been opened previously and poorly.  The attached photo shows the lens almost totally disassembled.  After cleaning there are still some fungus tracks left on the primary mirror.  Other signs of fungus came off the collector plate and most of the primary mirror.  The lens had been lubricated with a heavy automotive type grease.  (Why do people think that is good grease for a lens?)  With the greasy mess cleaned up and lubrication with proper optical helicoid grease, the lens focuses like butter.  I believe the leatherette is real Vulcanite.

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[pippy]

This snap was posted somewhere else (can't remember where!) but it seems appropriate for it to be here!

A 40mm f2.8 Rollei Sonnar. This originally came as standard-fitment for the fairly short-lived Rollei 35 RF camera from 2002. The body was a reworked Voigtlander Bessa but although it was of a finer quality the high price of the Rollei was such that the camera was not successful commercially.

Here she sits on my old IIIc although since she came back from a bit of TLC the Sonnar (with Orange filter) has been a permanent fixture on my Monochrom;

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Link to the Macfilos review of the Rollei 35 RF with Sonnar;

https://www.macfilos.com/2021/02/15/retro-style-rollei-35-rf-with-sonnar-40-2-8/

Philip.

 

[wlaidlaw]

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I think the Zeiss ZM Ikon was an even more upmarket version of the Voigtlander but M mount and with Zeiss reworked rangefinder with a very long base. I was on the Zeiss stand at IFA  2003 and my memory of the ZM was of its very bright viewfinder (1:1 from memory). I have occasionally been tempted but then I think would it do anything my M7 can't do and my M7 has a motor drive. The answer always comes back as no. 

Wilson

[pippy]

5 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

I think the Zeiss ZM Ikon was an even more upmarket version of the Voigtlander but M mount and with Zeiss reworked rangefinder with a very long base......I have occasionally been tempted but then I think would it do anything my M7 can't do and my M7 has a motor drive...

Like you, Wilson, I have also been tempted from time to time by the Zeiss Ikon ZM a few times over the years. There have even been one or two Limited / Special Edition (details escape me) available here in London which were priced attractively but I know that, were I to have bought one, the odds are that it would have sat on a shelf - probably beside my M2 - gathering dust.

Lovely cameras - I really do like them very much -  but, for me, 'Surplus to Requirements'.

Philip.

[zeitz]

I decided to take apart another mirror lens, in this case a Zoomar 20 inch (500mm) f5.6 Reflectar made in 1958 for Visoflex I and other reflex housings.  The lens had some strange markings on the primary mirror that don't exactly look like fungus but still are troublesome.  Although the lens seemed to have been opened before, it was incredibly hard to disassemble because the large diameter / fine pitch threads were completely dry.  Unfortunately the markings are not fungus but are scratches in the silvering of the primary mirror.  There are also impact marks on the secondary mirror, which are hidden in the photo by the reflection of my ceiling.  The scratches on the primary mirror can be seen in the photo in the 11 o'clock position.  I also included a photo of the focusing mechanism; the lens is focused by moving the primary mirror.  The brass bar is a spring to load the detent for the filter wheel.

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[pgk]

My trusty old M9 photographed using a custom Arca Swiss Large format camera using a Sony A7II and fitted with a ~1862 Grubb Petzval lens and small Waterhouse Stop. This is a 6 shot merged image physically about 6x9cm (cropped) creating an effectively ~90MPixel file.

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[Scrapbook]

Sorry, this photo was shot with Nikon-equipment. But I love my Leica-materials:

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[pgk]

My 'spare' M9 (in better condition) shot using some movements on the 1864 lens (9 image stitch).

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[zeitz]

Rapid Sequence Photography with Rangefinder Cameras

The kit on the left is:  Nikon SP with S36 motor drive, Type II reflex housing and external microswitch connecting the external battery pack to the motor drive

The kit on the right is:  Leica M2 Mot, E Leitz NY with attached battery pack, Visoflex III modified with internal microswitch connected to the motor drive

Both kits are fitted with the 18cm f2.5 Nikkor lens.  1178 of these lenses were made in Nikon mount; 49 were made in Visoflex I mount.

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[wlaidlaw]

1 hour ago, zeitz said:

Rapid Sequence Photography with Rangefinder Cameras

The kit on the left is:  Nikon SP with S36 motor drive, Type II reflex housing and external microswitch connecting the external battery pack to the motor drive

The kit on the right is:  Leica M2 Mot, E Leitz NY with attached battery pack, Visoflex III modified with internal microswitch connected to the motor drive

Both kits are fitted with the 18cm f2.5 Nikkor lens.  1178 of these lenses were made in Nikon mount; 49 were made in Visoflex I mount.

I have two M winders, a large M4-2 on my M4-P, which is ridiculously over powered and the casing flexes and writhes in your hand when winding on and the very compact (barely bigger than the standard base plate, Motor-M on my M7. As arthritis has now pretty well seized the joint at the base of my right thumb, a winder/motor drive is essential for me. I have the two above, an R4 winder on my R4-MOT, R8 Winders on both R8 and R9 and a MOOLY on my IIIa. I would love to get a chrome MOOLY-C for my IIIc red blinds stepper but they are getting to be silly money. I tried a Leicavit but that was worse than a lever wind. 

Wilson

[zeitz]

11 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

M4-2 on my M4-P, which is ridiculously over powered and the casing flexes

The M4-2 winder is ridiculously bad, even feeling cheap just holding it.  I consider it the Leica worst accessory Leica that I ever experienced.  The E Leitz NY motor drive is a pleasure to use and worthy of Leica.  The SL2 motor drive is also excellent.

[willeica]

19 hours ago, zeitz said:

The M4-2 winder is ridiculously bad, even feeling cheap just holding it.  I consider it the Leica worst accessory Leica that I ever experienced.  The E Leitz NY motor drive is a pleasure to use and worthy of Leica.  The SL2 motor drive is also excellent.

Perhaps worse than the 21mm-24mm -28mm zoom finder which I have always ranked as the worst Leica accessory which I have. I have the M4-2 winder, but apart from when I first got it, I never use it and it remains a curiosity piece in my collection. 

William 

[zeitz]

3 hours ago, willeica said:

I have the M4-2 winder, but apart from when I first got it, I never use it and it remains a curiosity piece in my collection. 

Might as well keep it.  They only fetch about $50 on e-bay.

[willeica]

1 hour ago, zeitz said:

Might as well keep it.  They only fetch about $50 on e-bay.

This came with a camera. I have never sold a Leica item and I have hundreds of different Leitz/Leica items. I did not really buy this to use it. 50 dollars would be a meaningless sum to me and it would probably cost me more than that to get rid of it.

William 

[wlaidlaw]

I rather like my M4-2 winder. It is so intensely mechanical. I have had mine adjusted so that it is not quite as violent as it originally was. Alan Starkie followed the instructions posted on Andrew Nemeth's Blog https://leica.nemeng.com/011b.php .

Wilson

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Hallo,

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[pgk]

I picked up a lens on ebay recently. It was cheapish because the aperture was jammed solid - which is not unusual in early Taylor Taylor and Hobson lenses! Its a Series III (general purpose) 4.4" Cooke lens, to cover 3.25 x 3.25" (1/4 plate effectively,) and these small (approx 1.25" diameter) shorter focal legth lenses are what I would describe as 'uncommon' rather than rare but sought after because they can be adapted readily enough to digital.

With some very careful application of WD40 which, whilst not ideal, can work wonders, and moderate hand force only, the aperture actually started moving and now works well enough, with the rather dirty diapragm operating as it should. First results are that for a ~1911 lens its pretty good, quite usable and shows its pedigree very well. Wide open its is pretty sharp across a 35mm frame, and at f/11 I would class it as good enough to use for landscapes even today. I will mount it up properly (its on a card lens board currently) and use it. Photo taken on an 1865 Grubb Stereo lens .....

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