50mm f/3.5 elmar no serial number - any shooters out there?

[yossarian123]

I purchased one of these lenses a few months ago on ebay. It's a standardized nickel with 11 o'clock infinity knob, no serial number w/50mm instead of 5cm. Which dates it to roughly 1932 or so. Of course it was described as minty, so there was little surprise when the aperture control was frozen, focus was stiff, the lens barrel scratched, lots of internal haze, and some cleaning marks....but I digress. I paid $170 for it but immediately sent it into Youxin who cleaned it up a little and got aperture working again. However, I've never been able to get a really decent shot out of it, the internal haze made flare really truly terrible and no shots were ever really that sharp. I've heard that these lenses are really quite good but mine is pretty terrible. I sent it to DAG, he said it looked like it was barely cleaned and focus is way off. He's giving it a complete overhaul (not cheap) but I should have it back in a few weeks or months.

So.....is anyone else out there shooting one of these little gems? Care to post some shots? I haven't been able to get any decent shots out of mine, but I need a little encouragement after sinking so much cash into an 80 year old uncoated lens.

 

[Nikon Bob]

I haven't got any photos close to hand but DAG did mine quite a few years ago. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how good these can be given that they are uncoated and they certainly do not lack sharpness.

Bob

 

[johannielscom]

This is mine.

It has no infinity lock and is scaled in feet. I've had great shots from it:


Sunny Amsterdam by Johan Kuiper, Portretteur.nl, buzzardkid, on Flickr

There's more shots in the uncoated pre-war lenses thread in the Leica LTM forum. Most are also in this Flickr set, Visiting Amsterdam.


Q: Does yours have an infinity lock? I've looked online but all lenses I found were 'close but no sigar', if they had all the specifics of my lens, they still had an infinity lock with it...

 

[Simon Bruxelles]

1934 Leica III with an uncoated unnumbered 5cm nickle Elmar

1934 Leica III with an uncoated unnumbered 5cm nickle Elmar

I think they are great little lenses. I have three: uncoated nickle, uncoated chrome and coated red scale and quite honestly there is not much to choose between them. But then I rarely shoot colour.

Royal Wootton Bassett's big day:


Wootton Bassett's Big Day by debrux2010, on Flickr

And another:


Wootton Bassett's Big Day by debrux2010, on Flickr

Bath market cafe:

Cafe in Bath market by debrux2010, on Flickr

 

[yossarian123]

those sure are nice shots. Mine does not have an infinity lock and is scaled in meters, along with the non-standard aperture values (3.5/4.5/6.3, etc.)

I don't have many samples online (because I've never been able to wrangle a decent shot from it), but just now uploaded one to flickr (I set it as private, let me know if you can't see the shot). As you can see, any kind of light sets it to flaring something awful.


IIIA_20110812_02 by SL_Photos, on Flickr

 

[dabick42]

The 50 f3.5 LTM Elmar, if in good condition - no haze, clean glass - is a very able performer in b&w and very acceptable using colour film.
I have two clear, clean examples - a 1938 uncoated and a coated specimen from 1950, and they perform equally well when used with a VALOO lens hood and careful placement of the sun in the scene.
I find they give a pleasing ''rounded'' quality, what some call the ''Leica glow'', that's unique in Leica lenses.
A good Elmar, coated or uncoated, is well worth having in your Leica armoury.
Cartier Bresson did good work with it, I seem to recall... !

 

[Nikon Bob]

Johan

FYI, mine is identical to yours down to having no infinity lock except it is scaled in meters.

yossarian123

I think your flare problem is much worse than would be normal for an uncoated lens. I think the "lots of internal haze" you mentioned will turn out to be the culprit. Should be greatly improve after a cleaning by DAG. Not flare free but a whole lot better.

Bob

 

[yossarian123]

thanks. DAG transformed a 35/3.5 summaron that was in pretty terrible shape so i'm pretty confident the 50 will turn out just fine.

What's worse is that both the elmar and summaron went to Youxin first. I hate to say it but both came back looking like they were barely touched, so I had to spend even more money by sending them to DAG.

Johan

FYI, mine is identical to yours down to having no infinity lock except it is scaled in meters.

yossarian123

I think your flare problem is much worse than would be normal for an uncoated lens. I think the "lots of internal haze" you mentioned will turn out to be the culprit. Should be greatly improve after a cleaning by DAG. Not flare free but a whole lot better.

Bob

 

[johannielscom]

Before, I was wondering if my lens's characteristics were a rarity: nickel, uncoated, unnumbered, unlocked, in feet.
Seems there's at least two out there 😛 that have all but the feet scale, so mine still is rare 😀

The 1932 black paint Leica II came from Germany some months back and it has the Auf <-> Zu bottom plate marks so my lens in feet is non-matching it.
But I'm determined not to care, shoot the camera and lens and not follow the pipers call and look for a meter-scaled lens to match that body...

 

[bobkatz]

thanks. DAG transformed a 35/3.5 summaron that was in pretty terrible shape so i'm pretty confident the 50 will turn out just fine.

What's worse is that both the elmar and summaron went to Youxin first. I hate to say it but both came back looking like they were barely touched, so I had to spend even more money by sending them to DAG.

Same here with my summarit and Xenon after Youxin job...must sent them to Sherry...😱

 

[Nikon Bob]

I was going to post some photos I found but for some reason I can no longer add attachments in a post. What a frigamoroll.

Johan

The only reason I can think of that yours is scaled in feet is that there were export models to be sold in countries using the imperial measuring system. If that were so then there should be more around.

Bob

 

[rickp]

50 elmar

50 elmar

here's mine. nickel, uncoated (i believe), scale in feet, overall a nice performer (now in australia). i had the infinity lock disabled (standard procedure for me, i'm afraid).

greetings from hamburg

rick

sorry, can't add either the lens photo, or photos done with the lens at this time

 

[johannielscom]

I was going to post some photos I found but for some reason I can no longer add attachments in a post. What a frigamoroll.

Johan

The only reason I can think of that yours is scaled in feet is that there were export models to be sold in countries using the imperial measuring system. If that were so then there should be more around.

Bob

Likely so, I bought mine from a US-based member here, a few months ago. Guess I was lucky, I paid USD 200 for it 😱 At Leicashop they are asking different kinda cash, but I guess they smell the holiday season and big wallets approaching over there...

 

[Nikon Bob]

Well, lets see if this works.

Bob

OK. you learn something new everyday.

 

[yossarian123]

Nikon Bob,
That's a nice looking copy - I couldn't see but does the lens barrel have any wear and tear?

Also, I assume that the hood is pretty much mandatory for this lens? I have a Summaron/Elmar clamp hood that I use for the summaron 35/3.5 - I was thinking about getting a VALOO but don't those have standard aperture values on the outside?

 

[johannielscom]

It's the best of both worlds.

I use one on my lens and it's easy enough to look at the front of the lens while setting the aperture with the VALOO. And, it allows for trouble-free setting a new-scale aperture if that is what your meter tells you!

 

[Nikon Bob]

yossarian123

The lens barrel has a bit of wear but no brassing. I don't have a hood for mine but I think it would be a very good idea.

Bob

 

[goamules]

It's not an uncoated one, but I compared a 50/3.5 Elmar to an Industar 10 here:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113110

Another:

 

[Steve M.]

These lenses, like the Summars, are very, very good IF the haze is removed. Youxin Ye is fine for cameras, but as you've seen, lenses need to go to specialists. I also would highly recommend John over at Focal Point for lenses. Absolutely top notch work. My problem w/ the Elmars was that infernal aperture control on the front, which made changing it w/ a filter on far too fiddley. Best way to shoot these is to put 'em at f8 and use a camera w/ AE. Make sure the lens is adjusted properly for whatever camera you're using it on too. This is often a cause of un sharpness.

 

[Nikon Bob]

Steve M

"Make sure the lens is adjusted properly for whatever camera you're using it on too. This is often a cause of un sharpness."

I was wondering what you meant by having it adjusted properly for whatever camera you are using? I have used mine on various cameras with no discernible focus problems. The lens mount on mine is stamped with an O indicating it has a mount that is for the standardized Leica flange to film distance. I am guessing that the same lens without the O stamping will only work on the camera it was originally matched to.

Bob