Lenses that were modified to be LTM

[raid]

We are fortunate to have individuals like Brian Sweeney and Amedeo offering their expert skills to adapt lenses from different mounts into LTM.
Their work will one day become collectible.

I wondered how many of us here have old lenses that have been at some time modified [in the distant past] into LTM lenses. It is intriguing to me to think that someone [maybe 40 years ago] decided to have a certain lens modified from M42 to LTM or from Contax mount to LTM ... etc.

I have a 50mm/2.8 Tessar lens that was modified from M42 to LTM. The mount is very well machined. Marc Small helped me identify this lens to have been a M42 lens. He and Charles Barringer helped me figure out whether my 5cm 2.0 Zeiss Sonnar was a fake or whether it was a genuine Zeiss lens that was modified [at some stage by someone ???] into a LTM lens.



I will post photos of these two lenses later on.

 

[dexdog]

I have a 50/1.5 sonnar that started out in Contax mount, and was modified to LTM soon after WW2.

 

[Seele]

I recall Cook & Perkins and Miranda (then Orion) made adapters for fitting Contax lenses to Leica, with full rangefinder coupling. These are of course very desirable and when one turns up it fetches high prices.

 

[bmattock]

I saw a really nice Wollensak 127mm lens modified by Leica America for the LTM mount, obviously a WWII-era piece, and it went for next to nothing on eBoy just the other day. I had a watch on it, expecting it to go high, was very surprised to find it had gone for less than $70 USD.

 

[raid]

I have a 50/1.5 sonnar that started out in Contax mount, and was modified to LTM soon after WW2.

Mark,
My Sonnar5cm 2.0 has been modified somehow by someone. Was it by Zeiss? Not even Marx Small could tell me. My optics are from the Contaflex TLR based on the serial numbers. I find this extra cool. There are more 5cm 1.5 modified by Zeiss to LTM than there are 5cm 2.0.

 

[raid]

I recall Cook & Perkins and Miranda (then Orion) made adapters for fitting Contax lenses to Leica, with full rangefinder coupling. These are of course very desirable and when one turns up it fetches high prices.

Amedeo makes a first class adapter for Contax mount lenses to fit Leica LTM cameras. His adapter costs about $250.

 

[raid]

I saw a really nice Wollensak 127mm lens modified by Leica America for the LTM mount, obviously a WWII-era piece, and it went for next to nothing on eBoy just the other day. I had a watch on it, expecting it to go high, was very surprised to find it had gone for less than $70 USD.

This may be an interesting lens for portraits. Do you have photos of/with the lens?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It's not all that hard to do with the number of lenses made in these mounts. The optics module comes out of the focus mount, which provides RF coupling and focus. Make a fitting (I usually use retaining rings) to get the target optics module into the mount, and you are done. You can even adjust some of the spacing of the lens groups to alter the focal length, and then shim the lens.

I've seena Summicron adapted for S-Mount. I've bought some bellows adapters for the Summicron module to give that a try. I have several mounts left over from the 5cm f1.5 to LTM conversions. Also bought a Leitz VARON with the idea of making an uncoated Elmar in S-Mount.

I've seen a number of Ziess lenses fitted to a Summar mount or an Elmar mount. I just bought a Canon 50/2.8 and Nikkor 5cm f2 with totally blown optics with the idea of doing some more conversions. Not sure what yet.

 

[raid]

I just bought a Canon 50/2.8 and Nikkor 5cm f2 with totally blown optics with the idea of doing some more conversions. Not sure what yet.

Brian,

If you used the Nikkor shell with a Jupiter 8, it would result in a cool looking lens with excellent optics. Would the Nikkor be large enough to host an SLR lens? Maybe not. I have an Exakta mount 50/3.5 Tessar. This lens would maybe fit the Canon 50/2.8.😀 The Retina Xenon 50/1.9 may fit into the Nikkor shell.

 

[bmattock]

This may be an interesting lens for portraits. Do you have photos of/with the lens?

Item number: 200326002823

Sorry, not my lens or auction, just something I saw.

 

[bmattock]

The Wollensak lenses were produced in the US after the war by E.Leitz New York in association with Wollensak.Wollensak provided the optical parts and E.Leitz NY supplied the metal parts and the lenses were assembled by E. Leitz NY.
I don't think they could be classed as modified lenses because they were a joint effort between the two companies and they were produced for use on Leitz cameras no modification being required.
Production included 50mm f2.8(very rare),f3.5 and f4.5 Wollensak standard lenses and a 90mm Wollensak Velostigmat and finally a 127mm f4.5 lens which was called Wollensak Anastigmat,Velostigmat or Raptar at various times during its period of production.

Below are illustrated the 50mm,90mm and 127mm lenses.

Thanks for the correction. I thought that they were wartime lenses made by E. Leitz NY when it was still in the possession of the US Govt.

 

[Eugen Mezei]

Hmm.... any ideea how to adapt (not convert, it must remain usable on SLR) my M42 (or even the PB version) 20 mm 2.8 CZJ Flektogon so it fits LTM and could be focused by rangefinder?

Eugen

 

[Sonnar Brian]

> If you used the Nikkor shell with a Jupiter 8, it would result in a cool looking lens with
> excellent optics.

I'm more thinking a Zeiss Opton 50mm F2 or Post-War CZJ SOnnar 5cm f2 which has larger diameter optics that the pre-war lens. The CZO 50/1.5 did not make it in.

There are non-RF coupled adapters for putting 42 screwmount lenses onto a Leica, but no direct rf coupling.

I've seen an F-mount 21mm F4 adapter to S-Mount and RF couple. I "Know" how they did it, but custom machining was involved. They clamped onto the outer bayonet mount and then coupled to the internal mount. The F-Mount lens must rotate 260degrees for correct RF coupling.

 

[JohnTF]

The Wollensak lenses were produced in the US after the war by E.Leitz New York in association with Wollensak.Wollensak provided the optical parts and E.Leitz NY supplied the metal parts and the lenses were assembled by E. Leitz NY.
I don't think they could be classed as modified lenses because they were a joint effort between the two companies and they were produced for use on Leitz cameras no modification being required.
Production included 50mm f2.8(very rare),f3.5 and f4.5 Wollensak standard lenses and a 90mm Wollensak Velostigmat and finally a 127mm f4.5 lens which was called Wollensak Anastigmat,Velostigmat or Raptar at various times during its period of production.

Below are illustrated the 50mm,90mm and 127mm lenses.

A black 90mm Wollensak LTM in very average condition was included in the auction last Sunday, and it went very high to someone on line.

Regards, John

 

[JohnTF]

I also found a LTM to Pentacon 6 mount in Prague, focuses rather closely. ;-)

Regards, John

 

[johannielscom]

I also found a LTM to Pentacon 6 mount in Prague, focuses rather closely. ;-)

Regards, John

Where did you find that? I'm going to Prague in a week, a formerly unknown address is always welcome!

My adresses thus far were Jan Pazdera and FotoSkoda, both are on Vodickova, right off Wenceslav Square. A third smaller shop (forgot name an location, near a well-known chucrh square) was closed on all three counts I tried to visit🙁

I'm hoping to find some pre-war FED gear there 🙄

My self-hacked 50mm f2.8 Wollensak looks like this:

Perfex 50mm f2.8 Wollensak Velostigmat on a brass Industar-22 lens mount and LTM converter. Easiest hack I ever did.

 

[payasam]

Eugen, Canon used to make the two adapters you will need: one for putting an M42 lens on an FL/FD SLR body, another for putting the combination on an LTM body. There will be no range-finder coupling, but a 20mm lens should have much depth of field and a scale to focus by.

 

[JohnTF]

The third one you mention is BS Photo, small shop on a corner, Karl is one of the guys, they also do some repairs. Last I was there, they were selling more jewelery and fewer cameras, --Bethelem square, good fish restaurant a bit further on, Rybi.

Skoda is across from Pazdera now, they moved about four years ago. Pazdera has a smaller shop inside the building, mostly for repairs, but they sell stuff as well. If you deal with Pazdera's son, he will bargain.

I have my Skoda Gold Card somewhere, if you spend enough, they give you one, unfortunately the guy I used to rely on for years, Lukas, has left. I found the adapter in one of their boxes. Czech Air used to have a higher weight limit for suitcases if you were headed to the US. Igor must have had 100 lbs. of cameras when he came back two years ago.

You can try the various second hand Bazars as well, there were a few near Namesti Miru, and some camera shops off Vinorady, near an exit on the Green line I canot prounce nor spell. There is a very modern church in the square. Should be one or so past Namesti Miru. Great pub, Husa a bit up the hill toward Flora as I recall, terrific food and drink.

You can get the address for Nikon and Olympus factory repair from the counter in the back of Skoda, Nikon is near Kodanska, and Olympus is near Narodni Trida. I mention them because they both did some excellent work for very reasonable prices for me, but am afraid the EU is having something to say about what is now reasonable. I needed some minor repair on an Olympus IS1, and they felt badly that they had to charge me the minimum fee for replacing a door spring, so they CLA'd the camera and added a warranty, for less than $20, one or two day service.

Pazdera closes for about a month, probably in August, and BS will close for a week if they feel like a vacation, or Karl has a date. ;-) He had a large Nikon lens case that he would go out and return with three beers, and they used to keep a bottle of water in the fridge for me. I lived for six weeks in a studio down the street. Really nice guys, again, no English, but we would talk "Camera"

BS used to have dozens of FSU cameras, and some rather rare stuff, hope they still do, but you will find enough at Pazdera and Skoda. Not too much English at Pazdera. Some stuff comes in each day, Skoda has a buyer to deal with used equipment, and a lot is on commission, but you can make offers and they will contact the owner.

There is one more camera shop near Old Town Square.

There was a street of camera shops in Brno full of odds and ends, and an excellent shop owned by Pavel for his collectable cameras, plus he had another shop as well for more normal items.

I heard Bratislava has some great shops as well, isn't Freeranger from there?

I have missed hanging about in Prague. Pavel Mara used to do an international workshop out in the country, and there are often photo exhibits in many locations, including coffee shops.

Have a great trip, enjoy the best beer in the world. Would love to hear if there are any real finds any more.

Regards, John

ps-- please excuse all the misspellings, afraid the spell check does not work well with Czech, and despite many trips and summers there, most of my Czech is limited to prosim pivo. ;-)

 

[johannielscom]

Thanks John, got your PM as well and will see if I can turn up anything good over there. I probably will visit Prague two times in one week before returning home, so this may complicate things a bit. But it still will be fun scouting the shops, and who knows what I run into. Might ask a fellow RFF member who lives there to assist me in visiting Pazdera, English is limited there indeed.

Back on topic now, sorry 'bout that, mr. mod...

 

[JohnTF]

Thanks John, got your PM as well and will see if I can turn up anything good over there. I probably will visit Prague two times in one week before returning home, so this may complicate things a bit. But it still will be fun scouting the shops, and who knows what I run into. Might ask a fellow RFF member who lives there to assist me in visiting Pazdera, English is limited there indeed.

Back on topic now, sorry 'bout that, mr. mod...

Sorry for any redundancy, I have to stop reading and posting in the middle of the night. ;-) I do miss Prague, have some fun. J