Jump to content

Strange Leica Object needs Clarification


Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

OK, I said to Luigi that I would start a thread where people who know a lot more than me can tell us what we are looking at....

How about this with a nice Focotar attached? I've been all the way through a few Leica catalogues and cannot find it. Nicely engineered and finished in grey enamel, same type of finish as a Leica enlarger, but I have no idea.

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!

Edited by seneschal
Link to post
Share on other sites

The Focotar is an enlarging lens.  It is in the Leitz catalogs.  The hamertone gray part, rack and pinion, and the locking knob is from a Leitz Bellows II.  The rest is custom made for some application.  In general the custom parts are nicely made.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Bellows II? I will have a look. Some kind of custom made copying device perhaps? I wonder why someone would go to the trouble of custom building such a think for a Focotar which is more optimised for „projection“ rather than image capture. The mounting plates are completely over-engineered and very accurately finished. I have tried to see if it has any function with my Focomat but it doesn’t match up to anything. My best guess is that it was to focus some kind of projected light, rather than to capture an image. Perhaps some kind of scientific instrument.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Bellows II from Wiki

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!

 

I use for many years old Focotar 4.5/50mm for copy my slides and films 1:1

with BEOON

No curved field, one of the best results even if they (I have two types) were designed for projection.

Optic is mostly symmetrical so same quality in each side, I think the same with Focotar 60mm.

 

As I know Leica users of the old days mounted their 3.5/50mm Elmar to use as enlarger lens.

  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, definitely bellows II. But the rest of it... why would someone bother go to such extraordinary and expensive lengths, the construction is complicated, with locating pins and other unnecessary features for a custom part, and what for, why chop a bellows I wonder? I'll post another.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Very handmade looking ABLON, possibly nickel, with curve for end of leader, compared with what I thought was a normal ABLON. Any ideas?

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!

  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, seneschal said:

But the rest of it... why would someone bother go to such extraordinary and expensive lengths, the construction is complicated, with locating pins and other unnecessary features for a custom part, and what for, why chop a bellows I wonder?

We will never know why the original owner needed a part like this.  It may not even have been a photographic use; it may have been for a lab setup that used optics.  All we can say is the original owner needed it enough to have custom parts made.

Link to post
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, luigi bertolotti said:

Just to chat... it could even be some kind of "school-exercise"  made by students of some technical institute located into or around Wetzlar... 🙂

This reminds me of one anecdote I read in "Leica Fotografie" n° 4/1967:

Free translation in English, from French text:

" In the US, one experienced Leica User set himself up as portraitist.

Customers didn't want to pay such high gages for portraits from such small camera.

The genius Leica user put his Leica with long focus lens in a big wooden box with many chrome settings&dials.

His Leica became presentable for customers, since then they payed the right established price without discussion ".

 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, luigi bertolotti said:

Just to chat... it could even be some kind of "school-exercise"  made by students of some technical institute located into or around Wetzlar... 🙂

In the 1950ies Leica would do special conversions on customer request. My father had a modified Pradovit 150  with dedicated film carriers and modified film gate, 45º mirror in front of the Focotar lens in a focussing adapter, mounted on a Focomat footboard and column, to view and print microfilms from the Bodleian. All constructed on special order by Leica.  Unfortunately the contraption got lost in the nooks and crannies of time.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Sometimes it helps when we know when a mystery piece was made. The Focotar will have a serial number on one of the matte black rings inside the rear. Often these are not easy to find, good light and a loupe helps. In Wiki's enlargers section you find enlarger lenses and their serial numbers.

This Focotar had a production span of about 25 years, to me it looks like a later one.

Perhaps you can also take a picture of the part where the lens comes out off?

Edited by M.Hilo
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Anyone any idea what this is? Seems to have an M Mount, must separate into two pieces I suppose? A winder? Clockwork? Three lens mount for quick change?

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!

Link to post
Share on other sites

vor 14 Minuten schrieb seneschal:

Three lens mount for quick change?

Yes, looks like an OROLF. You could attach three lenses to it and change them quickly by turning the device around. It had its own baseplate for the camera. According to Laney only 250 were made. Though on the item you show I am missing the "stick" to hold the whole device together with the camera. Without this the whole thing doesn't look very practical.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Turret for using three lenses. Picture from James Lager’s Accessories book.

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!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought it might be a turret. The handle/grip was present, part of a collection at auction, but difficult to see what other items were contained within the collection.

Hammer fell at $3250

if so few were made, then someone will be very happy. I can’t think that I would have ever used it. Easier to carry 3 bodies with lenses mounted??

Debatable??

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!

Link to post
Share on other sites

This was what I really liked. Number 238, 1925, anastigmat, closed at €28,000… what a beaut!

congrats to whoever won this, too steep for my current pocket!

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!

Link to post
Share on other sites

for Illustration :

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!

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Pyrogallol said:

Somebody should invent a zoom lens ! Or a Tri-Elmar.

Zoom lens? A lens that functions at more than one focal length. Surely that would compromise optimisation of the optics? 

Clever idea to combine Tri and Elmar as a name for such a contraption, perhaps you could suggest it to those clever boffins in Wetzlar…

… I doubt they‘ll go for it

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...