Uncommon, Rare, and Collector's Delights.

[boojum]

I am always amazed at just how many male children make it to 21. ;o)

 

[SamuraiJack]

Few images of my Canon 85mm 1.5 LTM II. Would love to know more about this lens but there's hardly any information to be found.

 

[former member]

At this point: The Canon 85/1.5 is in very high demand for conversion to a Motion Picture lens.
The Canon 85/1.5 is a double-Gauss design, an unusual 7 element in 4 group design 1-4-2-1. This is the same layout as the Simlar 5cm F1.5, which is reputed to have been computed in 1937. The lens used to get a "Bum-Rap" for being soft. More likely just too difficult for people to focus on screwmount cameras. I found my copy to be a very good performer. Bought it at $400, sold for 6x that amount. Paid for the 50/1 Nokton and the 90/1.5 Mitakon.

Wide-Open on the Leica M9.

 

[SamuraiJack]

Actually I expected worse quality from a sixty year old lens, I´ve had quite some vintage lenses but never of this quality and rarity. All I do is shoot wide open.

Came across those pictures earlier and posted some myself too in street photography. I´m probably keeping it a few weeks longer before I´m selling it.

 

[boojum]

Potassium Chlorate and flares. Bright red light and lots of it.

 

[S.H.]

Had for years this ltm biogon... I finally bought a if/iiif for it. Seems to fit OK. Now shipping off the iiif for a service and new curtains, it sat for decades in a display case. At least the summicron is not scratched.

View attachment 4836754

I have a nice lineup of lenses to go with it. I also have a biometar and an orthometar but the rear of the lens interferes with the rf cam at short distance. I wonder about selling these and buying a less fiddly wide angle.

Well...

The rear element of the biogon has some kind of sleeve (on the right)



It looks like it touches the round RF cam on my IIIf : properly focussing it is impossible... Same thing happens on a wartime IIIc. I don't see myself dismantling the RF cam, and making it thinner. Not sure how the sleeve can be removed either.

On what camera this frigging lens could have been used in 1942? IIIb ? Were some Leica specially adapted for these?

 

[Miles.]

Is the barrel original CZJ, and what is the serial #?

Have seen custom jobs (of the era) that were made to mount but not to be RF coupled? Example attached.

 

[S.H.]

According to the serial this one is original zeiss ltm, coupled. Not a custom job... does not look modified either, and it has been used before obviously.

 

[Räuber]

My last Ebay purchases were all Sonnar 5cm F/1.5 lenses. I have to save some money the next month...

• LEFT = very early black and Nickel Sonnar with aperture scale marked as F8. But this batch is something special. The scale ends on a unlabeled stop of about F9,5. This variation is called f8+ by some.
• MIDDLE = wartime LTM Sonnar 5cm F/1,5 with T coating. This one was sitting on the shelf at Ebay for some years now. I finally made the purchase because it is an authentic Carl Zeiss Jena LTM Sonnar. Those authentic ones are very rare and the asking price is more than justified. I have a second one that was assembled in the FSU and both lenses are as sharp as it gets.
• RIGHT = this is not really a 5cm even if this is what the engraving is claiming. It is a 5,8cm Sonnar. Those usually go for a lot of money but sometimes you might be lucky because the seller is not aware of what he is selling. As far as we know the optics might be created by CZJ but the barrel is made by an unknown (probably black market) manufacturer.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

My latest addition

US Army Signal Corps PH-629/UF , a.k.a. the Premium Instrument Corporation's "Military Kardon" camera.
This "Cold Camera" from 1949-1954. Only 1654 made.
Featuring a 6-element Kodak 47mm f/2 Ektar lens.

 

[Alpsman]

My latest addition

US Army Signal Corps PH-629/UF , a.k.a. the Premium Instrument Corporation's "Military Kardon" camera.
This "Cold Camera" from 1949-1954. Only 1654 made.
Featuring a 6-element Kodak 47mm f/2 Ektar lens.

Interesting piece of machinery. Never even heard or read about it.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Interesting piece of machinery. Never even heard or read about it.

The story is an interesting one,
Basically during WW2, the US Government asked Leitz N.Y. if they could produce Leica IIIa cameras for the military.
Leitz N.Y. couldn't do it, but Peter Kardon of the Premium Instrument Corp. went to work to create a copy that could be mass-produced.
Unfortunately the war ended and the contract was cut short.
In 1947 Kardon's design was adapted to resist heat and cold temperatures by request of the Goverment, hence the bigger knobs to operated it with gloves.
In 1949 it was accepted and produced until 1954

 

[Alpsman]

The story is an interesting one,
Basically during WW2, the US Government asked Leitz N.Y. if they could produce Leica IIIa cameras for the military.
Leitz N.Y. couldn't do it, but Peter Kardon of the Premium Instrument Corp. went to work to create a copy that could be mass-produced.
Unfortunately the war ended and the contract was cut short.
In 1947 Kardon's design was adapted to resist heat and cold temperatures by request of the Goverment, hence the bigger knobs to operated it with gloves.
In 1949 it was accepted and produced until 1954

Thanks for your info! Now I'm a little wiser 🙂

 

[JoeV]

My friends and I made explosives with calcium carbide, which any kid could buy in a hardware store. We also charged electrolytic capacitors from old radio chassis on a Model T Ford coil and a lantern battery.

I remember other kids making iodine crystals that exploded on impact. One kid made some of these crystals, packed them carefully in cotton, and stashed them in a flat plastic case that he unwisely stowed in his back pocket. On the school bus, someone shoved him backwards, cracking that case on the steel edge of one of the seats, the crystals responded and burned the kid's butt!

Those were the days!😎

- Murray

Back in the day, the Improvised Munitions Blackbooks, published by Paladin Press and advertised in the back of Soldier of Fortune magazine, had an allure to young males such as myself. It turns out that they were reprints of US Army field manuals. Paid for by the taxpayer. Then, post-9/11, they became “terrorist” literature for a few years, with people forgetting their official USG origins. It also makes me wonder how many of those techniques were taught by the US Army School of the Americas to “freedom fighters” in Central America, many of whom are now the military wing of the narco cartels. Learn from the best, be the best!

 

[Miles.]

The 24th Simlar 5cm f1.5 sold today on eBay for about $1,300 USD. It needed a full restoration. Did anyone here buy it?

This is the earliest known example I've seen.

 

[David Murphy]

Simlar 50/1.5. Speaking as a former owner of one, I can't understand the high price this lens is commanding. My example was pretty ordinary actually.

 

[Miles.]

Simlar 50/1.5. Speaking as a former owner of one, I can't understand the high price this lens is commanding. My example was pretty ordinary actually.

I’ve really only been using and collecting odd and rare LTM lenses since 2016, but if I’ve learned anything in the past 8 years, it’s that this little corner of Leica and Leica adjacent collecting is completely detached from reality. I’m still having fun, though.

 

[former member]

That's more than double what I paid for the 74th made with a Leotax D-IV 4-digit SN on it, MIOJ. There is an internal "10" scribed on mine. Mine stops down to F16 and uses 39mm filters.
Mine also required a complete CLA- including 4 days soaking in alcohol to free up the helical. The screws of the mount had to be screwed back in the same hole they came out of. A real proto-type quality to it.

I've also done a CLA on a later one for an RFF member, several years ago.
It is a unique 1-3-2-1 double-Gauss, using a triplet for the second group to reduce air/glass interfaces.

It's a collectible lens. Better for B&W than for color.

Wide-Open.

 

[wlewisiii]

Interesting but I think I like my less rare but more usable lenses better 😀

I've been just a happy little clam doing B&W with the 1937 f2 Sonnar & Color with the early 50s Exacta f3.5 Tessar.

But that doesn't make it any less fun to read threads like this one 👍

 

[former member]

Sonnar, Simlar, Summarit.

I read the description of the lens that sold: sounds identical to mine with the frozen focus, was the grease used- gets like cement. 4 days soaking in alcohol, trying to move it twice a day did the trick. "Simlar 5cm F1.5 Disassemble", lets see if the buyer uses google for instructions.