Retina lens question

colyn

colyn

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Anybody know at what serial number was the rangefinder cam removed from the 50mm f/1.9 S-K lens??

I've seen a couple on eBay but they were not rf coupled so they won't work on my Retina IIIS...

Below is an example of a lens with the rf coupling. note the brass cam pointed out by the red arrow..


lens_rf by Colyn's fotografs, on Flickr
 
The numbers could be all over the place, depending on when S-K production was dedicated to rangefinder or SLR lenses. I think all the lenses sold to Kodak would have the cam, while other camera companies might not have needed it, so why run up the price point?

PF
 
farlymac said:
The numbers could be all over the place, depending on when S-K production was dedicated to rangefinder or SLR lenses. I think all the lenses sold to Kodak would have the cam, while other camera companies might not have needed it, so why run up the price point?

PF
Click to expand...

Actually some Retina lens do not have the rf coupling. When shopping on eBay some will include images of the rear mount showing clearly the coupling while others don't have it..
 
Then maybe Kodak was the culprit. I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever get a IIIS. Still, who knows what the sequencing is on the numbers.

PF
 
I've got one with the cam s/n 9736129, and one without s/n 10916608, so somewhere between the two. The earlier is labelled Retina-Xenon, the latter, just Xenon.

Regards, Chris
 
Chris Sherlock said:
I've got one with the cam s/n 9736129, and one without s/n 10916608, so somewhere between the two. The earlier is labelled Retina-Xenon, the latter, just Xenon.

Regards, Chris
Click to expand...

There's one on eBay with a serial number of 11774613 which is rf coupled and I have seen some in the 6xxxxxx-9xxxxxx without rf coupling.

Based on that I suspect both were made as demand was needed.

Since I plan to use the lens on both my IIIS and Reflex IV I have to get the version that is rf coupled..
 
Since there was a year or two (1959-60) of overlap between the Retina IIIS and the Retina Reflex S, wouldn't production of the cam and no-cam lenses have overlapped as well?

Chris, my Xenon (no cam, no "Retina-") could been produced on the same day as yours. It's number 10916657.
 
Yes, the cammed lenses would have continued for a long time, but the last lenses were made in the days of the Instamatic Reflex, and the IIIS was ancient history by then. Regards, Chris
 
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