[Leica] Another 50 for the Jeffster

[jsmith342 at cox.net (Jeffery Smith)]

Thanks for the clarification on the lens differentiation, Marc. The lack of
compatible bodies available is what has steered me away from the Contax line
of Zeiss RF lenses. True, Voigtlander does make a Contax-compatible body,
but the price is just too steep for me considering how few Zeiss lenses I
own (2...both 50's).

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA
http://www.400tx.com




-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Marc
James Small
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 5:11 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: RE: [Leica] Another 50 for the Jeffster


At 05:28 PM 3/30/06 -0500, Jeffery Smith wrote:
>Van Stelten took hours trying to get the gummy 50-year-old grease out 
>of
my Contax shutter when he was giving it a CLA. I have read that the shutter
suffers from the metal crystalizing over time. Also, the cameras seem to
have been hand made one by one, and their parts aren't all that
interchangeable. After playing with a few Kievs, I got my Contax IIa, and
the difference in workmanship was amazing.

As a gemeral rule, the Prewar Contax II and III are better made from better
materials than are the Postwar IIa and IIIa.  Zeiss Ikon before the War was
flush with money and a very skilled workforce, while the Postwar Stuttgart
concern during its 26 years of existence only made a profit in three years,
the last of these being in 1957 when Contaflex III and IV sales gave the ol'
P&L sheet a hefty boost.  And the Postwar company lacked the privileged
position the Prewar company had had for the acquisition of quality materials
-- the Dresden company had really close relations with the German military
and was able to obtain chromes and steels and the like as a result.  The
Postwar company had to buy on the open market and without money this forced
them to replace the brass shutter elements of the Prewar II and III with
much weaker aluminium slats, and so forth.

The IIa and the IIIa are worthy cameras but their planned MTBF was on the
order of 10,000 exposures between CLA's as opposed to the 125,000 to 150,000
on the II and III.  

One final note, this one on lens markings.  Zeiss lenses marked in meters
always have a lower-case "m", while Soviet/Post-Soviet lenses bear a capital
"M".  This is a pretty rigid rule and is one certain way that collectors
sort the wheat from the chaff.

True Zeiss lenses in LTM were diverted from Contax RF BM lenses during 1942,
'43, and '44 and were installed on IIIc Leica camersa being sold in Sweden
to pay for high-quality iron ore for use in German U-Boats and tanks and the
like.  All such lenses bear standard Zeiss markings and all are from Carl
Zeiss Jena.  The one known exception to this is a Postwar West German
Zeiss-Opton Sonnar modified at Wetzlar by Leitz technicians for use by one
of the corporate bonzen on his personal camera.

Marc

msmall@aya.yale.edu 
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!

NEW FAX NUMBER:  +540-343-8505





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