Sonnar 5cm F1.5 Converted to Leica Mount- Sometimes you just get Lucky.

Sonnar Brian

Sonnar Brian

Product of the Fifties
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I picked up a couple of really nice CZJ 5cm F1.5 Sonnars from an RFF member, followed up by a Jupiter-3 with scratched glass and in need of a CLA. Four Hours well spent. The Sonnar had been CLA'd- so nothing to do there. The J-3- typical original grease, and some metal filings still left in it from drilling the original Taps. This is a ZOMZ mount, the helical held into the mount using three screws. The KMZ mount: the helical screws tightly into the mount, one screw holds it in place. The ZOMZ- the helical can be screwed in too deep. The three set screws are required to correctly position it for accurate focus. AND- if you overtighten the screws, they press down on the outer helical which will warp: and you will not be able to focus the lens. If that happens, and it did on this one: back out the three set screws ever so slightly. Usually find this out AFTER getting the focus ring in place, and left wondering why you cannot move it even though the helical moved freely before putting it into the mount. Now you know.

The Jupiter Mount: I use 3M polishing Sheets for optical connectors. I cut a strip and use it to polish the oxidation and scratches out of the aluminum surfaces.
The focus is tighter on this one, but well damped. Means accurate focus for the F1.5 lens. Some Jupiters have a lot of slop in the threads- not this one.
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The focal length on this particular Sonnar is very close to the Leica standard, and I nailed the focus on the first try- from close-up to infinity.
Luck.

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The Jupiter- next block of free time (rare) will become a Contax mount lens.
 
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This is a relatively early Sonnar, 1661xxx- Chrome mount and 40.5mm filters. My earliest 5cm F1.5 Sonnar that I've converted is 1607xxx. The optical formula for the 5cm F1.5 Sonnar was "tweeked" a couple of times before the War. There is deviation from individual lenses, but larger changes among batches of lenses as the optics changed.

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Wide-Open to this point.

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Last shot at F4.
 
That is a well-known stump.

Have you ever tried Happich Simichrome for polishing? Metal polishin - HAPPICH, a Pelzer Family Company, (GHE) I have had it around since the late 50's. You can polish the scratches out of plastic with it. Only the tiniest amount is needed and it still works fine even when it has changed from red to black on the polishing cloth. VW dealers always had it in the parts department, back in the beetle days when a lot of owners did their own tune-ups and oil changes. Good stuff.
 
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I've tried various brass and silver polishes- all work to varying degree.
The Fiber Optic sheets- the metal comes out very smooth, including the inside of the focus ring. A little corrosion on the inside of the ring can mage focus very rough.
The 3M sheets are as small as 0.5micron, very fine.
 
The LATE 50s were only 63 years ago... 1953 was 70 years ago now.

Come to think of it- I was using Silver Polish in 1965 for my Mom's sterling silver.
 
I wrote a custom Demosaic routine that used the color components from the M8 DNG file as the input values to the Mandelbrot set.
It was wild.
 
The Space Age started just over 65 years ago. I used to be a rocket Scientist. The first Orbitology Generator I used was written in 1963, when I was in Kindergarten. But I was in my 20s when I rewrote it.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
The Space Age started just over 65 years ago. I used to be a rocket Scientist. The first Orbitology Generator I used was written in 1963, when I was in Kindergarten. But I was in my 20s when I rewrote it.
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I remember the first US orbital flight, I was at Fort Dix, keeping the world safe from Communism, and bad drivers. LOL That first US orbital flight was a big deal, especially if you were in uniform. We were all thrilled, truly thrilled. And ask yourself that while it may be common now then it was exceedingly dangerous, it was our first attempt and it worked, and wasn't it a lot to be impressed with and proud of? You bet. Invented airplanes which managed sustained powered flight, mass produced autos and surpassed the Russians in space engineering.
 
raydm6 said:
I’m a little younger and vividly remember the Apollo Program and a bit of Gemini before that.

Once and awhile I will go to YouTube and watch some of the news coverage. It was a magical time.
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Yeah, it was magic, it "righted the wrong" of Sputnik and Gargarin and was "Made in America" back when life was simpler and goals were plainer. IIRC I was in the field that day and missed the event in real time but was thrilled to hear of it and then, back in the barracks, to actually listen to and hear it.
 
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