Some questions about my first lens (ELMAR 5cm)

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Sebo69

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Hi everybody!

I´m new here in this fourm and right starting with some questions...😀

Finally I made a dream come true and bought myself a Leica M2 (leaving the store with empty pockets and a huge smile . . .)

Recently I bought my first Leitz Lens used (still waiting to arrive)

Though I didn´t have a lot of money to spend left I was happy to get this lens for about 100€:

Leitz ELMAR 5cm f3,5
According to the pictures it´s a M mount, is it?

in the web I didn´t get very much information
(some flickr etc... and a few older posts here. so I thought, I´m going to start a new one...)

Who owns this lens and can tell me about the results?
How old is it approximately?
Do you think the price was OK (Hoping that it all works well)?

(pictures, the seller made of the lens, are attached)


Thanks a lot!!!

p.s. I´ll post some pictures as soon a the first roll is developed . . .


Servus!
Sebo

e1.jpg

e2.jpg

e3.jpg

e4.jpg
 
I am not an expert on elmar. From the pic, I think it's a screw mount version with a LTM->M adapter ring.

Definitely it can be used on your M2. and the hood is lovely.
 
Wellcome to the forum Sebo, that looks like a nice M mount example of the classic Leica standard lens!, and at that price would appear to be a bargain.
Being a late model, probably from the early to mid sixties, it is coated, and will give superb results providing the glass is clean, clear, and unmarked. For some applications, you may later require a fifty that is a little 'faster', but it is an exellent partner for that M2!.
Dave.
 
From what I understand the Elmar is a (Zeiss) Tessar type lens of four optical elements in three groups. The Leica version was designed by Max Berek I believe, though I may be wrong, and is renowned for it's sharpness. I'm unsure as to whether or not any of the f/3.5 Elmars are coated however.

I hope you make good use of it anyway. It's certainly nice to be able to have a lens that fits flush with the body, when you want to go for a walk with a coat for example.

All the best,

Benjamin

P.s you may well be thinking of the f/2.8 Elmar which is slightly larger, and not as close to a flush fitting lens.
 
thanks!
I´m already very excited (hope it´s in the mail today . . .)

Do you think on the 3rd picture it´s just dust or could this be fungus in the glass?

A faster lens would be nice, but I mainly work with 400asa and higher. So, it´s ok as long as it has a nice out of focus area.
 
This is a screwmount Elmar F/3.5 50mm. These are excellent lenses that were already made in the 1930s. Your's is probably a post WW version. It probably is not a so called Red Scale version, the distance scale is on the barrel and not on the base. The chrome looks great but the front element has a lot of dust that needs to be cleaned. The post WW Elmars had coated glass and this coating is soft. Take care not to scratch it with cleaning. Better yet, have it done by a pro, he can clean the internal haze also, which is probably also present. If the glass has no deep scratches this would be a good buy. The hood alone could be worth up to 50 euro. The Elmar is the lens that made Leica famous!
 
Indeed it is a screw mount Elmar with apparently an added adapter and a hood. I't s bargain, considering the prices for hoods & adapters alone, certainly when the adapter is an original Leitz one.
I can't see the color of the lettering of the DOF-scale on the lens mount, but I think is is a later 'red scale' version with the DOF-scale in some sort of reddish teint; I compared it with my red scale example. Older black scale versions have the distance scale printed in black on the lens flange, in stead of the DOF-scale. You can easily tell when the DOF-scale of your example is on the lens flange and in (faint) red.
It is a pretty sharp, moderate contrast, very compact and light lens. A good user. You'll need the hood to prevent flare and a bit of stopping down for maximum performance.
When you give the s/n (first three digits) someone will give you the manufacturing year. The s/n is in very small digits on the front lens ring, near the aperture lever.
 
Last edited:
Sebo69 said:
Looks good !
Thanks.

Are you satisfied with the lens?
Is the focussing and aperture change much more difficult with a collapsible lens?
Click to expand...

Yes, I am. I even have had it professionally CLA'd by Will van Manen here in NL, who even painted the dull and worn DOF-scale bright red again 😎.
I only use it incidentally, at long light-weight tours e.g., since I have a heavy but nice DR-Summicron too and preferably use 35mm wide-angles.

When you browse around in the 'Archives' of my web-log (some funeral place photo's IIRC) you will find some Industar-22 (I-22) examples too. I think IQ of this Soviet clone of the Elmar 3,5/50 is quite comparable.
 
Sometimes it's impossible to tell glass quality from a photo, but your photo #3 strongly suggests to me that a professional cleaning will be necessary (unless you enjoy low-contrast images).
 
If it is indeed a red scale, it's an even better buy. Red scales were apparently a new (read better) computation. BTW, Erik is right about the distance scale of red scales on the barrel. I just went home to check my black and red scales 🙂 If you get the lens, check the number. It's in small imprint on the ring inside of the F stop indicators. I can't see the number on your photos above, but if it's a 7-digit number it is almost certainly a late, red scale elmar.
 
I picked up my I-22 the other week after not using it for weeks, and it's stayed on my M3 since. I mostly use it at f11 with 400ISO film which gives me good DOF at hyperfocal distance and matches the available shutter speeds to the light (1/1000 in open sun and so on).

For street photography, the front ring aperture change makes me less likely to accidentally change it and the collapsing comes in handy for easily retrieval from and storage in my shoulderbag.

This month I am shooting a pic-a-day street photography project with it. There has been little pp-work on the pictures (on HP5+) which appear in this thread:

http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?showtopic=1092835
 
Last edited:
Just for an update:

The lens arrived yesterday an looks very clean. After removing some dust from the front lens, the glass is really clear and the focussing goes so smooth . . . 🙂

I was looking: the serial number has 7digits and the numbers for the depth of field are painted red. what does this tell me? does anyone know?

leicam2seb.jpg



But now I´m going to test it by taking some pictures!!! 😉
 
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