Collectors value

[Muggins]

Rauber, the MF marked lenses often sell for 4 or 5 times as much as an unmarked copy. I may throw a bid on it late in the auction.

Sold for £135, I suspect a bargain for the lens alone. Was it anyone here?

 

[dexdog]

Sold for £135, I suspect a bargain for the lens alone. Was it anyone here?

wasn't me. I thought about it but did not bid. Went pretty cheap if you ask me.

 

[WoodallP]

This rare screw mount M with the ultra rare 50mm psychedelic lettered Summaron must be tempting to someone on this forum. At that price it’s a bargain. Vulcanite looks ok and having a red dot on the back makes it less attractive to thieves.

Rare Russian USSR Leica Film Camera Rangefinder FED Summaron 2.8/50 Lens | eBay

Les meilleures offres pour Rare Russian USSR Leica Film Camera Rangefinder FED Summaron 2.8/50 Lens sont sur eBay â Comparez les prix et les spécificités des produits neufs et d'occasion â Pleins d'articles en livraison gratuite!

www.ebay.fr

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Or best Offer.

Offer $50 on it.

 

[Muggins]

What on earth was it before they got the kids crayons out?

 

[dexdog]

a FED-5b

 

[Muggins]

So it is! That Dymo tape Leica badge completely threw me.

Well that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

 

[JakobN]

One last think about this R-Sonnar conversion. Can you check out the aperture blades? As mentioned the R-Sonnar lens block has no aperture blades or ring. The question is, how did they solved this? Do they use a donor or did they build a replacement? A generic Sonnar 5cm f1.5 uses 13 aperture blades. The 5,8cm 1.5 Sonnar uses 12.

My R-Sonnar from the first batch 2610... has a fully functioning aperture with 13 blades but no means to actuate it from the outside.

 

[wes loder]

Some of the Kriegsmarine Zeiss optics have a MF numbers, others have only a M. All lenses pictured are for Tenax II. The Tessar has the diaphragm removed, focus set at infinity and has yellow filters mounted on back. Perfect lens for snap-shooting aerial photos.

 

[JakobN]

I would have transplanted the glass from the R-Sonnar to a Wartime Barrel with the aperture mechanism. I've transplanted glass from improperly machined barrels to those with bad glass.

On the R-Sonnar: is the lens optimized for close-up work? Or- is it just a standard lens without an aperture mechanism?

The batch of Sonnars 1.5/5cm 2610001-2610600 and the batch of R-Sonnars 2610601-2611000 refer to the same lens card in Thiele, so I believe the lenses are the same in both types. I have read (https://www.arnecroell.com/docter.pdf) that you can optimize a lens made for 1:1 reproduction for use at longer distances by increasing the length between the front and rear groups. So my guess is that the inverse has been done here, that the length between between the lens groups in the R-Sonnar has been reduced compared to the regular Sonnar to make it more suited for close-up.

 

[Räuber]

Engraved Contax III 35mm Rangefinder Camera + Sonnar 50mm f2 Lens SKA0198 | eBay

The shutter does not work. Rangefinder patch bright & clear.

www.ebay.de

Another Kriegsmarine Contax III with number MF 0638. U 638 was sunk by a British corvette. Quite funny to see this Contax sold by someone from the UK.

English Page about U-638

German submarine U-638 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[boojum]

Engraved Contax III 35mm Rangefinder Camera + Sonnar 50mm f2 Lens SKA0198 | eBay

The shutter does not work. Rangefinder patch bright & clear.

www.ebay.de

Another Kriegsmarine Contax III with number MF 0638. U 638 was sunk by a British corvette. Quite funny to see this Contax sold by someone from the UK.

English Page about U-638

German submarine U-638 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

OK, I am not quite as bright as the average bear, if the U-boat was sunk with all hands, how as the camera gotten?

 

[wlewisiii]

OK, I am not quite as bright as the average bear, if the U-boat was sunk with all hands, how as the camera gotten?

I would say that's the point of the humor 😉

 

[boojum]

I would say that's the point of the humor 😉

See, I told you that I was not quite as bright as the average bear. ;o)

 

[oldhaven]

Kiregsmarine?

Misspelled engraving

 

[Sonnar Brian]

You know, "Kireg", as in the guy that invented the Coffee Maker... He has his own fleet of Submarines now.

There must be a local cottage industry cranking out these fakes. A number of camera shops in the UK and Japan, and others- have been taken in. I wonder how long ago these were made, picked up by individuals long ago- or how many are importing them now. Probably a mix of both. I would not buy any "rare/collectible" former USSR product at a premium. The 1950 J-3 I picked up was $50, with shipping. It is authentic. This other stuff- is crap.

 

[boojum]

Kiregsmarine?

Kiregsmarine has me lost. I can't help you with that. But with Kriegsmarine, I can tell you that literally it means "War Navy" and in use as we would understand it means Navy as we have and different from the Merchant Marine.

 

[Räuber]

@boojum is right. That is the correct translation. But it was the official German name of the German Navy inside Nazi Germany too. You see the Nazis loved the sound of words when they appeared strong and martial. And it was totally fine to produce all kinds of goods for the military in this time in Germany.

I cannot say if this one is fake. Looks legit to me. But most of the cameras I have seen were not engraved on the bottom but on the backside of the camera. But cameras are not my field of expertise.

That a camera of a sunken submarine shows up on auctions might not be a no go. We don't know the history of this camera. It might be that it was broken and went to repair. There might be a lot explanations. Unfortunately the Sonnar is not engraved. And the serial of the camera can't b seen and is not noted. Usually the Sonnar should be engrave with the same MF serial number. So it might be another Sonnar that does not belong to this camera. I don't know if someone worked on an overview of MF Contax cameras. I imagine that there are some silent collectors out there noting all serial numbers they have seen but do not publish anything. Maybe I look in my books if I can find something.

Update: Nice! I knew that Mike Eckman has most of the Zeiss Historica issues online and in 2015 there was an article about M and MF markings ... with a list of known cameras inside.

Zeiss Historica Spring 2015

Zeiss Historica Spring 2015 From Riflescopes to automotive headlights, 125 year anniversaries and two mysteries of war time and Chinese marked cameras, the S

mikeeckman.com

 

[Out to Lunch]

Deutsche Marine: 1995-present: the Navy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Bundesmarine: 1956-1995: the Navy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Kriegsmarine: 1935-1945 - the Navy of Nazi Germany
Reichsmarine: 1918-1935 - the Navy of the Weimar Republic
Kaiserliche Deutsche Marine: 1871–1918 - the Navy of the German Empire

Volksmarine: 1956-1990: the Navy of the German Democratic Republic

 

[wlewisiii]

You know, "Kireg", as in the guy that invented the Coffee Maker... He has his own fleet of Submarines now.

There must be a local cottage industry cranking out these fakes. A number of camera shops in the UK and Japan, and others- have been taken in. I wonder how long ago these were made, picked up by individuals long ago- or how many are importing them now. Probably a mix of both. I would not buy any "rare/collectible" former USSR product at a premium. The 1950 J-3 I picked up was $50, with shipping. It is authentic. This other stuff- is crap.

I wonder if the Sonnar on this one is decent...