Standardised lenses on early bodies

[Malcolm M]

How useable are pre-standardised Barnack bodies with standardised lenses? Early Leica lenses were quite variable in focal length (±5% according to van Haesbroeck). The first rangefinder coupled Leicas were individually collimated (via a hole, subsequently plugged, in the back of the camera). Lenses were engraved with the serial number of their matching bodies. After a year or two, tolerances were tightened to the point where any lens would work on any camera. Pre-standardised bodies often come up for sale without lenses (LCE had a II from the first batch of 30000 late last year). So, how well would a later lens focus when attached to a pre-standardised body. Does anyone have any first-hand experience?

 

[Mr_Flibble]

No experience, except with a fixed lens Leica I(a).
I suppose the registration distance with a modern lens would still suffer from the 5% variation on the pre-standardized bodies. In case of back-focus you could probably correct it with some shims under the lens mounting ring and then adjust the rangefinder accordingly (if applicable).

 

[Dralowid]

Some previous experience, used a more modern Elmar on a non standardised body for a couple of films. All seemed fine.

However...I would have been using smallish apertures on middle distance to long distance pictures so almost anything would have worked. Standardised Leica Is and Standards are not expensive and come up quite often. I'd wait for one.