50/2.2 at Westlicht in Wien for 440 USD (plus 17,5/25%)

[Sonnar2]

Maybe someone has noticed these quite rare lenses last weekend. If not for interest, just for enjoyment of the pictures.

"452: Canon Lens 2.2/50mm black
rare, late complete black Canon Lens in excellent condition, both caps, this lens was only sold with Canon P (Serial. no. 12688, c.1961, Condition: B/A)"

"453: Canon Lens 1.2/50mm black
rare, fast Canon Lens with black front rim, in near mint condition with matching hood (Serial. no. 20943, c.1960, Condition: B/A)"
700 USD plus auction fee

 

[bennyng]

Nice! Lots of goodies in the auction but the 50mm f/2.2 is obviously the gem of the Canon lot.

Wonder if anyone managed to land anything? The 85mm f/1.8 looks to be in excellent to near mint condition, as is the Japanese 35 summicron, Canon 35mm f/2.0.

Cheers,

 

[brobbins]

Seiki Kogaku 50/1.5

Seiki Kogaku 50/1.5

Perhaps even more interesting was the Seiki Kogaku 50/1.5 in ltm mount. It appears the mount, and maybe also the diaphragm, were added after the lens was first made. Still a rare and historically interesting lens. The lens went for 1900 euros

 

[raid]

If they had anything for $100, I would be interested. Maybe a fancy lens cover? [just kidding here]
Yes, the items look great.
I wonder how good optically the 50/2.2is.

 

[bennyng]

If they had anything for $100, I would be interested. Maybe a fancy lens cover? [just kidding here]
Yes, the items look great.
I wonder how good optically the 50/2.2is.

I think the image quality of this lens is nothing to shout about. It's just rare outside of Japan, which drives up prices. I understand that lens might be a low price option from Canon. From the pictures, you can see that the infinity lock is actually just a focusing tab. It does not lock at infinity.

The Seiki Kogaku 50/1.5 looks interesteing, but the modification could well be a non factory conversion. Wonder how well the diaphragm works.

To be honest, a lot of items went below the estimated prices, especially for Leitz/Leica items. A sign of things to come?

Cheers,

 

[David Murphy]

This is clearly a Elmar-like focusing mechanism with a 50mm lens tacked onto it - not necessarily a bad thing, but this is a rather common conversion method since it's relatively easy to do (minimal machining and skill required). I've got a similar Tessar to LTM project on my workbench if I ever get around to finishing it.

Perhaps even more interesting was the Seiki Kogaku 50/1.5 in ltm mount. It appears the mount, and maybe also the diaphragm, were added after the lens was first made. Still a rare and historically interesting lens. The lens went for 1900 euros

 

[raid]

My ZJ Sonnar 5cm 2.0 LTM has something like an Elmar base. Marc Small said it could be either an adapting done outside the ZJ factory or by the factory. Nobody knows. I like the mystery.

 

[tooffy]

Nice! Lots of goodies in the auction but the 50mm f/2.2 is obviously the gem of the Canon lot.

Wonder if anyone managed to land anything? The 85mm f/1.8 looks to be in excellent to near mint condition, as is the Japanese 35 summicron, Canon 35mm f/2.0.

Cheers,

Ya, got the Canon35mmf2.0🙂

 

[Sonnar2]

My favorite of the auction was a non Canon lens:

It looks like German military in WWII instructed Schneider Optical Works to make the best German prewar and early postwar lens fit the best German camera, for military purposes. Of course Leicistis wouldn't accept this for reality and so there was just one bidder. Maybe engraving an SS-sign or something would have speed it up a bit.

"402: For Leica: Schneider Xenon 2/5cm
extremely rare RF coupled black painted Xenon for M39, made for the German Army in WW*II, clean lenses, cap (Serial. no. 1844236, 1942, Condition: B)"
900 USD



Re: live-floor auctions. I once bought a first rate 35/1.5 at Westlicht for 400 USD in Wien, including all charges. So it wasn't much difference (if any) to ebay. After I got one with a meter scale in the same condition, I sold it back on ebay for the price I've paid. my profit was a chrome Canon cap, which I kept.

 

[awilder]

The 50/2.2 is interesting for a few reasons. It replaced the 50/2.8 as the bottom of the 50 mm line Jan. 1961 and was discontinued Dec. 1961 making it very rare. It's optical layout is a simplified symmetrical Gauss 5/4 design where the cemented group normally found behind the aperture in the f/1.8 version was replaced by thick single element. I suspect Canon employed a similar trick with the less expensive Canonet GIII QL19 that sported a 45/1.9 lens with a 5/4 design vs. the 40/1.7 on the QL17 with a 6/4 configuration.

 

[januaryman]

Ya, got the Canon35mmf2.0🙂

Jeez- my holy grail lens that I've been looking for for months. Never found one when I could afford one. :bang:

 

[raid]

Jim,
There are other 35/2 lenses that are exceptionally good. Have you considered the Summicron 35/2? It is costlier than the Canon 35/2, but it is a superb lens.

 

[Sonnar2]

The 50/2.2 is interesting for a few reasons. It replaced the 50/2.8 as the bottom of the 50 mm line Jan. 1961 and was discontinued Dec. 1961 making it very rare. It's optical layout is a simplified symmetrical Gauss 5/4 design where the cemented group normally found behind the aperture in the f/1.8 version was replaced by thick single element.

It don't look cheap, at least in this condition. I estimate it was too expensive to make for a base lens (which has to cost virtually nothing when included in a camera kit) and therefore ceased. Zeiss and Schneider both made 5-element Gaussian lenses back then (Planar/Biometar, Xenotar) but just with f/2.8 speed. Few, if any companies tried out a lens faster than f/2.5 with just 5 elements in these days. So I dare to guess that the Canon 50/2.2 wasn't very sharp wide open, but very solid at slower speeds.

 

[awilder]

Sonnar2 sums it up very nicely, I couldn't agree more on performance. Lens configuration is more similar to the Xenotar or Biometar except for shape and thickness differences with these designs.