UN-coated LTM 50s?

rbiemer

rbiemer

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I've enjoyed using my pre-war(1937) 9cm Elmar and I think the lens is not coated. I can't see any thing, anyway.
So I've started thinking about looking for an un-coated 50mm lens.
But I really don't know what I should be looking for, any suggestions?
How hard would it be to take apart a FED 50/Industar 22 and remove what coating they have?
Rob
 
Why not go for something like an early Elmar 3.5? When I got mine, the cost wasn't that high and the seller actually apologised for it being uncoated!

Obviously just check out that the glass is clear and clean, but I wouldn't be put off by any small "bubbles" in the glass. Many of the earlier lenses have these, and from my experience they don't seem to affect the image.
 
John,
That would compliment the 9cm Elmar nicely! How early should I be looking at? I'm thinking most if not all post war Elmars were coated.
Rob
John Lawrence said:
Why not go for something like an early Elmar 3.5? When I got mine, the cost wasn't that high and the seller actually apologised for it being uncoated!

Obviously just check out that the glass is clear and clean, but I wouldn't be put off by any small "bubbles" in the glass. Many of the earlier lenses have these, and from my experience they don't seem to affect the image.
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I bought a 1928 /Uncoated 3.5 35 Elmar
For B&W work its Superb

I purchased it from Adorama.... Exc + condt
Pristine Glass , Clean Body with front cap & old leather case for $299.

My three FAvORITE Lenses :
The 35 Elmar, a 1962 50 Lux & a 1958 DR cron...HEAVEN

Here are TWO Elmar shots on Rd1:
 

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Get an uncoated ZJ 5cm 2.0 Sonnar in Contax mount plus a J-8 LTM and send both lenses to Brian Sweeney to have him convert the Zeiss lens into LTM.
 
rbiemer said:
John,
That would compliment the 9cm Elmar nicely! How early should I be looking at? I'm thinking most if not all post war Elmars were coated.
Rob
Click to expand...
I don't have my Elmar to hand, but I'm pretty sure it dates from 1933, so a good bet is anything pre-war. The only slight difficulty is finding one that hasn't been coated at a later date.

You may also wish to consider a Summar. I think all these were uncoated, although again many were sent back later for coating.
 
not sure which of these lenses below are uncoated
- nikkor 50/1.4 S (not S.C.)
- jupiter 8
- zeiss 50/2 collapsible
 
pesphoto said:
They have a lot of stuff, thanks for the link. Is it a good place to buy from?
Click to expand...

Yes. I've had no problems with them in the past, and I've purchased quite a few items from them.

I find it's usually best to either call or e-mail them and have a chat about the item first, and you can sometimes haggle a bit on the price and discuss what despatch method you want.

Bear in mind they are more or less a two man operation, and they sell a lot of stuff! If buying after a weekend they usually have a lot of orders to process.
 
gohaj said:
not sure which of these lenses below are uncoated
- nikkor 50/1.4 S (not S.C.)
- jupiter 8
- zeiss 50/2 collapsible
Click to expand...

the zeiss 50/2 collapsible is the likely candidate to be uncoated.

some of these pre war ones were sent out to be coated when coating became the rage.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, folks!
Helen, Like the look of those photos!
Raid, good idea I'll need to think on a bit and see where my budget is after the first of the year.
jmkelly, ditto.
John, it seems like most of the pre-war lenses went back to be coated but I have patience. And thanks for the reminder about MWClassics.
gohaj, I'm pretty sure the Nikkors are all coated and as far as I know, all Jupiter 8 lenses are as well. Dunno about the Zeiss and I'll see what I can find out about those.
xayraa33, again, I guess that the pre-war lenses are more likely to be uncoated? I recall reading that Zeiss started coating lenses as soon as they got back to production after WW II.

Well, I have some research to do. Cool! I just got my copy of Marc James Small's book out of storage so that will help.
Thanks again!
Rob
 
Sonny Boy Havidson said:
Why removing the coating of an Industar 22? You can find a Fed 50/3,5 with exactly the same glass but without coating.
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Fair question. Three reasons I wondered about this: The FED and Industars are usually inexpensive, I like the I-22( I am using one now), and I thought they were all coated. Didn't know that the FED 50 was not.
Rob
 
rbiemer said:
Fair question. Three reasons I wondered about this: The FED and Industars are usually inexpensive, I like the I-22( I am using one now), and I thought they were all coated. Didn't know that the FED 50 was not.
Rob
Click to expand...

the pre war Fed 50/f3.5 would probably be uncoated, but I do not know if their LTM thread pitch is compatible with Leica or the more modern Canon LTM models.
 
raid said:
Get an uncoated ZJ 5cm 2.0 Sonnar in Contax mount plus a J-8 LTM and send both lenses to Brian Sweeney to have him convert the Zeiss lens into LTM.
Click to expand...

Or an early uncoated CZJ 50/1.5 Sonnar - though get one new enough to stop down to f16 ;) - and a bad J3 instead. The whole idea of the Sonnar/Ernostar design was to make a fast lens before coatings were availabe and in doing so CZJ created one of the truely great lens designs.

Personally, I'll stick to my uncoated Tessar on my Contax :)

William
 
xayraa33, I'll have to see when FED changed to a truly compatible mount; I believe it was before the war( though not by much).

William, well I already have a bad J-3--allegedly adjusted(not by Brian or it wouldn't have the problem it still has!)--can you suggest ser. #s or date range I should consider?
wlewisiii said:
Or an early uncoated CZJ 50/1.5 Sonnar - though get one new enough to stop down to f16 ;) - and a bad J3 instead. The whole idea of the Sonnar/Ernostar design was to make a fast lens before coatings were availabe and in doing so CZJ created one of the truely great lens designs.

Personally, I'll stick to my uncoated Tessar on my Contax :)

William
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Rob
 
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Rob,

Glancing through my notes, CZ invented coating in 1935, would have needed a bit of time to get it onto the production lines - my guess would be a lens prior to 1937 or sn < 2,000,000. You might get better info from either the ZICG on Yahoo or the new ZI Users Forum http://www.ziforums.com

Good luck! You'll end up with of the really great lenses.

William

PS - I just noted over at ZIF that Brian has images from a 1938 uncoated 50/1.5 so...
 
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