Canon R-Serenar f/1.5 100mm lens

[bennyng]

Hi guys,

I know there is a 50mm version of the R-Serenar f/1.5 50mm for CX-35 X-ray camera which can be adapted for LTM use. Read about this in Peter's Canon RF book. Does anyone know about using the R-Serenar f/1.5 100mm on LTM cameras? I believe it was bundled together with some CX-60 X ray camera. It looks like a monster and there is no aperture control.

Cheers,

 

[bmattock]

I did not know about this. It can only be used at f/1.5? Hmm. I would suspect then that it had better be one very sharp 1.5 at longer distances, because close up with a rangefinder, it would be very difficult to work with razor-thin DoF. Is it rangefinder-coupled, at least?

 

[brobbins]

The Serenar X-ray lenses had no diaphragm, and thus could be used only at maximum aperture. I believe also that that they had no focusing mechanism, or could only be focused over a narrow range. It seems that some of the early Seiki 50/1.5 lenses were adapted by Canon to have adjustable focus and diaphragms, and so could be used on rangefinder cameras. A 50/1.5 Seiki lens modified to ltm mount recently sold at Westlicht for 2280 euros.

Occasionally the lenses and X-ray cameras come up for sale. It would be interesting to hear if anyone here has used one for general photography. I recall being told about a Japanese photographer who had converted the lenses to a different mount (I believe a Pentax mount) to use for some close-up photography.