Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/08/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:38 PM 8/12/96 +0100, Douglas McLernon wrote: >Someone out there mentioned Zeiss lenses for rangfinder Leicas. How many and >what modern Zeiss lenses are availabe for III series or M series Leicas? Are >you refering to pre-war Germany designs made in the old USSR or East Germany >(Jena), or special mounts for newer designs. There are no "prewar" designs made in the former USSR. There ARE late wartime Zeiss lenses -- almost the entire Contax lens range, in fact -- still being manufactured in Russia in LTM. The Soviets stole the Zeiss lens works and moved its machinery to the KMZ plant outside of Moscow precisely as we stole the corporate brains and took those to the West. I use all of these a good deal on both my IIIc and my M6. Zeiss itself produced the 8/28 Tessar, 2.8/35 Biogon, 1.5/50 Sonnar, 2/50 collapsible Sonnar, 2/85 Sonnar, and 4/135 Sonnar in LTM during the War. A small run of 2/50 rigid lenses were produced in 1945 or 1946, as was an extremely limited run (25?) of 1.5/60 Sonnar lenses. Finally, there is the quite enigmatic 1.5/58 "Leica" Sonnar, whose provenance has not yet been determined. The last of these Zeiss-produced lenses dates from 1947 or so, though the Russian clones are still in production. Despite their age, these are superlative lenses -- they are as capable of all but the most cutting-edge lenses produced today. Please bear in mind that the concentration of optical engineers since 1939 has been to MAINTAIN quality while REDUCING production costs, not in increasing quality. A lot of these older lenses are still competitive today. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!