Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/01/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My heretical view is that the Elmar was a sneaky Tessar - and not much the worse for that. This opinion is re-enforced by the traditional Tessar position for the stop in the supreme latest 50mm f2.8 Elmars. There are many ways to balance the compromise of aberration combination which probably accounts for any difference in look between the multitude of Tessars designed by different lens design teams. Frank On 29 Jan, 2006, at 07:13, Daniel Ridings wrote: > Phil, > >> From what I've read --- I'm no expert --- both the Industar's (10, 22 > and 50) and the Elmar are Tessars, optically. Leica moved the aperture > up a bit, right behind the front element, as you already remarked, but > otherwise, the Elmar _is_ a tessar too. Some have wondered if Leica > did that to avoid patent problems with Zeiss, while Zeiss, on the > other hand, did a little research on the Elmar to try and figure out > how Leica's Elmar could perform better than what they could do with > the Tessar. I doubt that the difference was all that great. > > So the Tessar's are unabashed Tessar copies and the Elmar is a > sneaky copy :-) > > Daniel > > On 1/29/06, pswango@att.net <pswango@att.net> wrote: > >> However, I'm not sure I'd call it an Elmar copy. The rear element >> is a bit smaller in diameter than my 1950 Leitz Elmar and the >> diaphragm is just in front of the rear glass rather than just >> behind the front glass, as in a true Elmar. My other FSU Elmar is >> the same. Considering that the pedigree of the FSU lenses runs >> through Zeiss and not Leitz, I'm wondering if it's not a Tessar >> copy, at least optically. (Not that it matters.) I'll try to >> snoop around on the Vade Mecum CD and see what I can find out. >> Anyone here know more? >> >> -- >> Phil Swango >> 307 Aliso Dr SE >> Albuquerque, NM 87108 >> http://pswango.smugmug.com/ >> pswango(at)att.net >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information