Other/Uncategorized Request: Please post Photo's taken with the Steinheil Culminar 85/2.8

Other Screw mount bodies/lenses

Sonnar Brian

Product of the Fifties
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I've had some inquiries about Short-Telephoto lenses, and the Steinheil Culminar comes to mind as a possible solution.

But, I do not currently have one. The one I picked up had a lot of coating damage, still delivered nice results.

So- if you have some photos with this lens, Please post them.
 
Hi Brian,
I have a clean one,and it is an excellent lens overall. I will search for some images taken with it.
 
At 2.8:
4754688-md.jpg


The lens used to be very cheap.
 
At 8.0:
4754694-md.jpg


The lens testing comes in handy for such times! I found an old thread on tele lenses.
 
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For comparison purposes, this image was taken at 4.0 with a 90mm 2.8 Elmarit;

4745859-md.jpg


The lens is a little warmer than the Steinheil. It appears on the screen to be sharper ..maybe?

Elmarit at 8.0:
4754753-md.jpg
 
It's amazing what some Ebay sellers want for these lenses. I picked up one for $15, was close to opaque inside. I cleaned it up, but an inner element looked like it had been cleaned with sand paper. Sold it cheap to a student.

This is a good lens if you can find it at a low price, but it is not as sharp or contrasty as the Tele-Elmarit. It should not cost near as much as a Tele-Elmarit. But- Ebay and Cosmic Rays seem to make prices go through the Stratosphere.
 
I have the old version Elmarit (chrome), Brian. The Elmarit is certainly better built than the steinheil.
 
The Elmarit looks sharper, I know the Tele-Elmarit is sharper and higher contrast. I tend to use the Nikkor 85/2 and the Elmar 90/4 most often for a short Telephoto. The 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit is no bigger/heavier than the Elmar. The Steinheil, as I recall, was about the same size and weight as the Tele-Elmarit.

"One Day", I am going to make the 90/4 Schneider Arton into a Leica mount lens. I love the look that lens delivers.
 
There is a Braun Paxellete (spelling?) version as well. The threads are also 39mm but the lens will not focus on LTM or M mount cameras.
 
Hi Andy,
Yes, we always caution to make sure that the Steinheil lens is LTM and for Exacta or for Paxette. Brian modified a non-RF Luxon 50/2 lens meant for the Paxette into a RF coupled LTM lens!
 
Interesting conversion. I've not even heard of that lens. I have a couple exacts lenses that I've used on my canon dslr. Nice iq overall. Not the sharpest always but very pretty rendering And medium contrast for portraits. I warn on the Paxette lens as it looks like it is a ltm. 39mm thread that screws into Leica, a cam pusher of brass that moves with focus. Very easy to assume it's for Leica. One give away maybe is that it is a very small lens for an 85. The true LTM version is larger I think.
 
248-400-aubreyDock2.jpg


my culminar 85mm f2.8 has fungus and is filled with scratches but it takes pictures that are fine for me
 
I should have one in my cabinet for a long time, and I didn't take any picture with it except a few test shots. Let me try it out in coming time.
 
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