Any friends use Prominent and Nokton or Ultron lens?

[mauro scacco]

Do anyone friend use prominent RF and nokton f 1,5 or ultron f2 lens (prominent mount, with adapter also on contax or leica) ?
It's strange, i haven't seen any word about this on our forums . Mauro

 

[raid]

I have posted threads with both lenses.

https://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167343

https://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160839



Ultron with M8
https://raid.smugmug.com/5020-Ultron-M8/

Nokton on M9
https://raid.smugmug.com/M9-Old-Nokton-50-15/

Nokton on M8

I use an adapter that Amedeo made for me.

 

[peterm1]

Mauro I suspect that these lenses are not used by many people these days. I had a Prominent when I shot film, and can say the lenses are very good without doubt. But the Prominent camera, while not at all rare, is still not exactly a common camera and the same can be said for the lenses and the range of lenses in Prominent mount is also quite small.
Also the adapter for the lenses is quite uncommon and quite expensive to buy as the engineering required is quite complex (e.g. the Fotodiox Prominent to Leica M adapter is $225 US while the Kipon one is $340 US) which, combined with the fact that there were only a very limited range of lenses for Prominent cameras (and if my memory is correct not all of them can in any event be used with the adapter due to their design) the adapter once purchased, would only be able to be used for perhaps one or two specific lens. That could make it uneconomic for many shooters to make the relatively large investment in an adapter which would get limited use. Of course some people are keen enough to do it anyway (and occasionally I have read reports of people doing so - Obviously Raid is one - well done Raid) but they are few in number.
I have been tempted but myself put off by the above considerations. Having said that a Prominent to M4/3 or Sony adapter should be somewhat cheaper as they do not have to be calibrated for rangefinder focusing, but they will still require an inbuilt focusing helix as the relevant lenses relied upon an inbody focusing mount). But I have not seen any advertised as yet.

 

[raid]

Thank you Peter.
The cost of an adapter plus lens can be around $500-$600.
If the lens is very clean, you get a collapsible Summicron quality lens for a good price.
I bought the Prominent with Nokton and the 35mm lens for less than $200. Amedeo made the adapter for the 50mm lenses.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

After wanting one for over a decade, I finally bought a Prominent last month which came with three lenses: 50mm Ultron; 35mm Skoparon and 100mm Dynaron. It arrived from overseas just before Christmas. As I suspected, despite the sellers suggestions to the contrary it was not working correctly. But basically sound. I cleaned the shutter escapements and removed the top cover so that I could clean the finder optics, and also clean and lubricate the cam under the focus knob which was feeling a little gritty (it's smoother, now). I then patiently dialled in the infinity calibration of the body and painstakingly set the rangefinder to match (both with the aid of my Seibert Emoskop to substantially magnify my view for a very high degree of accuracy). The 100mm Dynaron was focusing slightly beyond infinity, I also corrected that. I've been running my first roll of film through it these past few days and I expect to use it frequently. It's a gorgeous camera with superlative finish and the lenses, from what I have seen from Rick Drawbridge in New Zealand, are outstanding. The ergonomics are unusual but as is often the case not as problematic as many suggest. But I like using ALPAs and Exaktas so maybe I'm just not very particular...

 

[peterm1]

After wanting one for over a decade, I finally bought a Prominent last month which came with three lenses: 50mm Ultron; 35mm Skoparon and 100mm Dynaron. It arrived from overseas just before Christmas. As I suspected, despite the sellers suggestions to the contrary it was not working correctly. But basically sound. I cleaned the shutter escapements and removed the top cover so that I could clean the finder optics and lubricate the focus knob which felt a little gritty. I then patiently dialled in the infinity calibration of the body and painstakingly set the rangefinder to match (both with the aid of my Seibert Emoskop to substantially magnify my view for a very high degree of accuracy). The 100mm Dynaron was focusing slightly beyond infinity, I also corrected that. I've been running my first roll of film through it these past few days and I expect to use it frequently. It's a gorgeous camera with superlative finish and the lenses, from what I have seen from Rick Drawbridge in New Zealand, are outstanding. The ergonomics are unusual but as is often the case not as problematic as many suggest. But I like using ALPAs and Exaktas so maybe I'm just not very particular...

One of the things which struck me when I had mine was the quality of the satin chrome. It is much more robust and durable than on any Leica I have ever owned and nice looking too. I did not mind the handling and loved how quiet the leaf shutter is. It is also said that one reason photo reporters of the time liked the camera was that when used with an electronic flash any sync speed up to its max (1/500th) was usable. Which made it perfect for fill flash. I had exactly the same lenses as you and particularly liked the Ultron.

 

[KEVIN-XU 愛 forever]

Voigtlander Prominent Nokton is my all-time favorite vintage 50mm f1.5 lenses built in the 1950s. The build quality of the German Voigtlander is top-notch. Unfortunately, due to the complicated and strange camera design, the prominent series did not achieve a huge business success back in its time. But now many people love to adapt the classic Nokton 50mm f1.5 into Leica M-mount to use it on their M cameras.


Voigtländer Prominent “White Face”Collection Nokton 50mm f1.5 LTM by Kevin-Xu, on Flickr


Voigtländer Prominent “White Face”Collection Nokton 50mm f1.5 LTM by Kevin-Xu, on Flickr


Voigtländer Prominent “White Face”Collection Nokton 50mm f1.5 LTM by Kevin-Xu, on Flickr

 

[Canyongazer]

Brett, it is so gratifying to see a worthy camera adopted by a worthy parent such as yourself.
Happy shooting!

 

[markjwyatt]

Don't the classic Noktons tend to have separation problems?

 

[KEVIN-XU 愛 forever]

Don't the classic Noktons tend to have separation problems?

The final version (silver bottom) does have a higher possibility of separation problems. The versions earlier than this not likely to have separation problems. As far as I know that Voigtlander changed the cement formula while they were making the final version Nokton lenses.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Brett, it is so gratifying to see a worthy camera adopted by a worthy parent such as yourself.
Happy shooting!

That's kind of you to say so—thank you!

I particularly wanted one of the two Prominent variants made with strap lugs fitted, but before the accessory shoe was integrated into the top cover. The only reason is because I think the Prominent is a particularly fine-looking camera in its early incarnation without a shoe attached. But the earlier ones are often found with numerous scratches on the cover around the shoe area.

So one minor, but worthwhile modification I've made is to cut to size a small piece of black felt, which I've glued to the underneath of the removable flash shoe in order to protect the finish of the top cover. Voigtländer provided a thin piece of felt inside the shoe for the early Vitessas. I have one, and it works well.

I've also gently adjusted the shape of the shoe lugs so that they still engage with the mounting pins in the cover but do not actually contact the chrome of the cover itself. I had to be fairly precise but with some care they can be profiled so that they will still engage the pins securely but have a very small gap from the chrome. When this is done, (providing the user is careful) it's now possible to attach and remove the shoe without scratching the cover at all.

With the interference of the felt under the centre of the shoe it is now a very firm fit onto the cover and there is no chance of it accidentally coming loose. Although not a major problem, one nice point is that when an accessory finder is fitted to the shoe it's fairly well centred above the lens axis, whereas the subsequent Prominents incorporating permanent shoes have a slight offset which may have to be taken into account at close range. I've also filled in the missing black paint in the rewind handle since the photos above were taken.

I quickly inspected the shutter speeds, self timer and extra set of shutter blades for proper function at the end of my first roll today, and they're working flawlessly. It's already re-loaded!

 

[raid]

Kevin: How did you get the White Face collection?
My Nokton and Ultron have the black fronts.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I developed my first roll through the Prominent on Friday, from my dwindling stock of 35mm Acros 100. I processed it in ID-11 1 + 3 for around 16.5 minutes (20C). Previously it had accompanied me to Constitution Dock on Sunday 29/12 to see the vessels which had competed in the 2019 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
These are with the 35mm Skoparon f/3.5:

The 50mm Ultron f/2:

Surprisingly good performance into the sun from the Ultron, much less flare than I anticipated. No danger of burning holes through the Prominent shutter, of course!

After a long life this old blue gum tree has faded rapidly in the last year. It's too close to the house to stay as it's become quite a fire hazard. It will be coming down on Friday, so I thought I'd get an image of it first. We'll miss it. With the 35mm Skoparon on a lightweight Linhof tripod using the self timer, f/8-f/11.

Last Friday I finished the film with a visit to St Davids Cathedral in Hobart. This photo of one of the western windows featuring three saints was a Bulb exposure with the 100mm Dynaron f/4.5 on a Linhof tripod. It's a slight crop for better symmetry.

 

[KEVIN-XU 愛 forever]

Kevin: How did you get the White Face collection?
My Nokton and Ultron have the black fronts.

I acquired them from collector and on eBay. Voigtlander made very small amount of white face version Notkon and Ultron lenses. White Face Nokton 50 1.5 in ltm are the rarest of all.

Kevin

 

[Pentode]

I have the same three lenses that Sarcophilus has and I like the performance of all three. I’ve never adapted them to any other body; I just use them on my Prominent. I’ve seen no signs of separation in mine but I might just have gotten lucky.

The Prominent is a quirky camera to use, but beautifully made and I enjoy shooting with it.

 

[Merlijn53]

Have been using Prominents several times during the last 50 years. The lenses are great, as many stated here. The cameras are not so great, especially the finder is terrible, that is the first version (double stroke), the second version (single stroke)is a lot better. The Prominent II seems to be even better, but I never had one.
Regards,
Frank

 

[phofseth]

prominent

prominent

I exercised one of my prominents (the one with the small-viefinder) with both the f2 and the f1,4 on Ilford xP2 in order to picture the local school-climate strike (the point of using B&W with an old camera was to illstrate policy lethargy; the camera was produced two decades before we authored a book on energy policy quoting the risk of climate change as a reason to level out energy use.) Sharp, but substandard snap in front of parliament.

No complaints about the lenses, but the shutter was a bit sluggish and did not open all the way, hence causing vignetting.

p.

 

[CarrotRoom]

Hi
I'm new here.
Yes I have a Prominent and the Ultron lens and I try to use it as often as I can... love it

Nigel

 

[CarrotRoom]

A recent photo with mine....

Tall and small by Nigel, on Flickr\

 

[raid]

I acquired them from collector and on eBay. Voigtlander made very small amount of white face version Notkon and Ultron lenses. White Face Nokton 50 1.5 in ltm are the rarest of all.

Kevin

Very interesting, Kevin. I am content with which lenses I happen to own.
I bought a Prominent I with Nokton and a 35mm lens for $200.