[Leica] Manufacturer's Lens Tests

[Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>]

At 06:04 PM 2/18/98 -0800, Bill Larsen wrote:
>This led me to a train of thought that included the question "why, when
you buy a >lens, doesn't the manufacturer include a series of test
photographs demonstrating the >characteristics of the individual lens?"
>

Ah!  Two points.

First, Heinz Kilfitt (Leichtenstein and Munich, and, later, Zoomar of
Munich, Long Island, and Lost Angles) did just this:  when you bought a
Kilfitt lens, it came complete with a microform resolution test complete
with a small magnifying glass with which to read the sucker.

Second, while it was still Leitz, Leica would provide to lens owners copies
of the original tests of their lenses.  I know people who obtained copies
of these tests for '30's era lenses as late as the middle 1980's.  However,
there was a huge house-cleaning when the firm moved to Solms, and I suspect
all this was tossed at that time.

Marc


msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
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