I got a 35 PII, now a big question

[Avotius]

Like it says, I picked up a 35 PII, its nice. But instead of saying Voigtlander Skopar 2.5 pancake or whatever it says on the inside it says "Cosina/Epson R-D1 2004 35mm F2.5"

Whats up with that? Its the same lens right? Everything else seems to be the same, the loosish aperture ring, the stiff focus tab, and the sharp as hell ears on the aperture adjustment that im going to file down. The box it came in, cards and instructions and stuff are all in Japanese so im assuming what I have here is the Japanese market model but the outside of the box is the standard ugly pea green voigtlander box with the pictures and the color skopar words on it. Oh and the lens cap is the voigtlander one.

 

[Topdog1]

Calling Stephen Gandy

Calling Stephen Gandy

Maybe Stephen Gandy knows?

/Ira

 

[markinlondon]

Maybe a special edition sold as a kit with the RD1? Hmmm...

 

[rover]

Oh, a collectors item.

 

[Avotius]

I am wondering if I should keep it or send it back (bough it online but there was no photo of the lens just the box because it was new)

 

[mwooten]

Upon seeing your post, I was reminded about something similar on the RD1 forum;
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33113

Take care,
Michael

 

[Terao]

It won't work on a Bessa, only on an R-D1 🙂

If you send it to me I'll send you a normal one in return 🙂 as I own an R-D1

Seriously though, that sounds like a collectors item - I've certainly not seen one before, or heard of rebadged lenses for the R-D1. The R-D1 was a joint venture between Cosina Voigtlander and Epson and the 35 was the standard lens used for testing focus/rangefinder alignment, etc. I wonder if this lens is from build/test line and not intended for release to the public? Whatever it is its certainly rare!

 

[Avotius]

It won't work on a Bessa, only on an R-D1 🙂

If you send it to me I'll send you a normal one in return 🙂 as I own an R-D1

Seriously though, that sounds like a collectors item - I've certainly not seen one before, or heard of rebadged lenses for the R-D1. The R-D1 was a joint venture between Cosina Voigtlander and Epson and the 35 was the standard lens used for testing focus/rangefinder alignment, etc. I wonder if this lens is from build/test line and not intended for release to the public? Whatever it is its certainly rare!

heh I hope you are kidding about it only working on an RD1...

but yeah, whatever it is I got here it is not something thats in normal circulation to the western world I guess. I sent off a email to mr. gandy and hope to get a reply from him soon. This is kind of worrying me, I dont want to have ended up with some sort of unusable lens for a m mount film camera that only works on a rd1

 

[Calvin]

My one simply has "Voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm F2.5" on it.

 

[Terao]

Hey, Avotius - I was just joking 🙂
I am sure it will work fine on a Bessa...

 

[Avotius]

Hey, Avotius - I was just joking 🙂
I am sure it will work fine on a Bessa...

yup yup I figured that, I am just a little wound up lately, after loosing a lot of camera equipment in a flood and what not lately my mind isnt working right :bang:

 

[Avotius]

What Mr. Gandy said:

"Epson probably sold the 35/2.5 with the camera in some markets
Stephen"

It certainly seems plausible, the other lenses ive seen here all have the normal stuff on them. Either way whatever I got here seems to be a one off so ill just ahng on to it and use it as I was planning to.

 

[KoNickon]

Stephen may even want to swap you it for a "regular" Pancake II -- he might be interested in this as a rarity.

 

[Avotius]

didnt say anything about it so im guessing not, if he wanted to swap I would because I could care less, I want to use the lens not look at it, but im on the wrong side of the planet so what ya gona do I guess.

 

[sevres_babylone]

1. It is known to have a magenta cast, though not as strong as the Cosina/M8 Pancake II.
2.It was designed to account for wonky framelines in some R-D1s, so pictures will be crooked when used on other cameras.
3. If it needs repair, you will need to deal with Epson. At first they will deny that they make lenses, but then they will offer to repair it for a flat $545 fee.

But seriously, I think the collector's item theory is correct. I use a 35mm Pancake II on my R-D1 (though not with this distinctive branding), and like the lens, and love the feel of the combination. It is my favourite street-shooting lens on the R-D1.

 

[Avotius]

Come on people, enough with the sarcastic remarks, I need a straight and plain answer because my ability to return the lens will be gone very soon and I cant be stuck with this if its not going to work.

 

[Terao]

Avotius, I am sure it is 100% fine. The lens ring is designed to be modified for just the reason of re-badging. Different names for different markets. Remember that Voigtlander is just a brand name for Cosina - if Cosina lost the rights to use it they wouldn't trash a whole production run of lenses, they'd just change the name ring. I think Canon used to do similar - for example a lot of their '60s cameras were marketed as Honeywell or Bell & Howell(?) in the US. And there is the whole question of their lenses being badged as Canon or Serenar...

Bottom line, don't worry,just use the lens. If Stephen doesn't know the origin of your lens only someone at Cosina will.

If you want to sell it/trade it I'm sure someone in the R-D1 forum would take it...

 

[clintock]

The only trouble I see is if you are really serious about filing down the aperture adjustment-killing the collector value.

 

[Avotius]

ive decided to hang on to the lens, ill use it, collectors value doesn't mean much to me so when I get a m body it will go on it