Voigtlander Superb - Oldie and goodie

Code word Highlander Super then? ;)
How dim are your screens? I've cleaned mine as good as I can but I still had a lot of trouble shooting under decent daylight.
 
mkvrnn said:
Hey, that's enough!

I have a special section of my display cabinet reserved for Voigtlander Superbs, and I'm currently trying to corner the market. I've only managed to buy 5 so far.

So please, let's just keep quiet about them shall we?
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Five Superbs!? So that's where they all went!
Actually I only got mine because I was browsing one day and found it with a low BIN price...
 
BTW you might try opening up a couple of stops on the back-lit shots of human subjects to expose the skin tones better - this camera certainly has portraiture potential.
 
Fudge!!!
Nothing was sharp on the test roll and after checking the focus with the tape trick as a screen I realized that the taking lens is severely off.

Under even deeper inspection inspection I got a hunch that the rear element group is missing. Can you compare with yours with a Heliar if you have one?
WP_20150224_19_46_56_Pro.jpg
 
Luddite Frank said:
Sorry... mine are all Skopar.:eek:


Is there no rear element at all in your camera ? :confused:
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That's what I don't know, I've been told bothways.
I finally found some focus.

My computer screen with the focus ring at the minimum 0.8m was looking decently sharp on the "focusing screen" at about 0.1-0.15m away. Infinity is at about 0.35m.
 
My one is also a skopar unfortunately.
But I think you should be able to tell if you're lens is missing its rear element, the outer cemented elements of the heliar lens are convex while the middle one is concave, so if your one has a convex element on the back then you can assume that the rear element should still be there.

Or you could try and count the number of reflections in the lens when it is held open?

regards,
nathan
 
I unscrewed the front group that one splits in two groups. After that comes the aperture and behind it the one or two last lenses (can't see). As the infinity setting seems to be closer than the supposed to be minimum focus I can't see how it's an error with the helicoid, the lens seems like the main question mark in my eyes.
 
Hard to tell from the image you posted but were those some vacant threads I spotted in the back of the lens mount? If so I'd suggest there should be something in them. There is no way the lens should be able to focus at the distance you mentioned. Yes, I think you are missing a lens component sorry.
Cheers
Brett
 
I got three groups as I should but something seems wrong. One thing is that the rear one don't have anything to grip on for removal from inside the camera. It looks convex but fairly flat (hard to see so deep in) so maybe it could be mounted in backwards? That could explain why I get a decent pic but at the wrong distance.
 
VisualDarkness said:
Fudge!!!
Nothing was sharp on the test roll and after checking the focus with the tape trick as a screen I realized that the taking lens is severely off.

Under even deeper inspection inspection I got a hunch that the rear element group is missing. Can you compare with yours with a Heliar if you have one?
View attachment 101603
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I think I may have some good news.

I pulled-out a Superb ( Anastigmat Skopar, s/n 32670xx on the side of the shutter housing) this morning, and looked inside.

The rear element group is set DEEP within a threaded barrel, which moves in & out with the focusing helical.

I see no spanner slots or other means of removing it from the rear.


All that said, it would seem that your example is "complete" as far as the taking lens train goes... ;)

That said, if the focusing scale on the viewing-lens bezel disagrees with the image you're getting at the film-plane, then I would suspect that someone in the past "worked on it", and got the viewing and taking lenses out of focus-register. With the geared focusing connection between the viewing and taking lens-mounts and the MANY helical leads on the lens helical, this would not be difficult to screw-up ( sorry about the pun ! :p )

Using the Ground glass, run the taking lens through its focus range: if it will focus to + 100 ft / Infinity, and down to a little less than 3 feet, it would seem that your taking-lens group is intact, and that there is mechanical discord with the viewing system.

I'm still scared to do anything to these beyond loading film and taking pictures. :D

Good luck !
 
Luddite Frank said:
I think I may have some good news.

I pulled-out a Superb ( Anastigmat Skopar, s/n 32670xx on the side of the shutter housing) this morning, and looked inside.

The rear element group is set DEEP within a threaded barrel, which moves in & out with the focusing helical.

I see no spanner slots or other means of removing it from the rear.


All that said, it would seem that your example is "complete" as far as the taking lens train goes... ;)

That said, if the focusing scale on the viewing-lens bezel disagrees with the image you're getting at the film-plane, then I would suspect that someone in the past "worked on it", and got the viewing and taking lenses out of focus-register. With the geared focusing connection between the viewing and taking lens-mounts and the MANY helical leads on the lens helical, this would not be difficult to screw-up ( sorry about the pun ! :p )

Using the Ground glass, run the taking lens through its focus range: if it will focus to + 100 ft / Infinity, and down to a little less than 3 feet, it would seem that your taking-lens group is intact, and that there is mechanical discord with the viewing system.

I'm still scared to do anything to these beyond loading film and taking pictures. :D

Good luck !
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That makes some sense, but, with the focus kicking in around the 10cm mark the gearing would have to be way off and one would also expect, the taking lens should be noticeably protruding forwards to bring the focus point so close, yes?
It is certainly something that should be checked.
Cheers,
Brett
 
I think the first thing would be to determine whether or not the taking group can focus properly on the film-plane through the range of travel offered by the helicoid.

If it can, that would suggest the taking system is reasonably correct, and that the the viewing apparatus / connection with is wonky ?

?

LF
 
Luddite Frank said:
I think I may have some good news.

I pulled-out a Superb ( Anastigmat Skopar, s/n 32670xx on the side of the shutter housing) this morning, and looked inside.

The rear element group is set DEEP within a threaded barrel, which moves in & out with the focusing helical.
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That is great news!
Luddite Frank said:
I see no spanner slots or other means of removing it from the rear.
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That is why I can't remove it to check it.

Luddite Frank said:
That said, if the focusing scale on the viewing-lens bezel disagrees with the image you're getting at the film-plane, then I would suspect that someone in the past "worked on it", and got the viewing and taking lenses out of focus-register. With the geared focusing connection between the viewing and taking lens-mounts and the MANY helical leads on the lens helical, this would not be difficult to screw-up ( sorry about the pun ! :p )

Using the Ground glass, run the taking lens through its focus range: if it will focus to + 100 ft / Infinity, and down to a little less than 3 feet, it would seem that your taking-lens group is intact, and that there is mechanical discord with the viewing system.
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They aren't even close. It never ever focuses as far as 0.8m so I doubt it's a helicoid thing, there simply isn't enough room left for it.

Sarcophilus Harrisii said:
That makes some sense, but, with the focus kicking in around the 10cm mark the gearing would have to be way off and one would also expect, the taking lens should be noticeably protruding forwards to bring the focus point so close, yes?
It is certainly something that should be checked.
Cheers,
Brett
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It looks pretty much exactly like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMyyXymPoeM

....And the mystery continues.

Either something is put in the wrong way or similar or some of the glass have been switched. Who would do something like that to a Heliar? :(
 
Luddite Frank said:
I think the first thing would be to determine whether or not the taking group can focus properly on the film-plane through the range of travel offered by the helicoid.

If it can, that would suggest the taking system is reasonably correct, and that the the viewing apparatus / connection with is wonky ?

?

LF
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No, it can't. It's closer than 0.8m all the way to infinity.
The viewing lens seems to be pretty much spot on compared to the marked distances.
 
I tried to compare the front and the rear groups by hand holding the camera (with the rear group left) and the front group side by side. They look to be of fairly similar FL but it's hard to compare them like that.
 
I think I'm out of ideas... unless someone tried to transplant a Heliar on to a Skopar body???


The video was interesting - this is the first Superb I have seen with a bright-nickel trim-ring around the lens - all the ones I see are painted black with nickel lettering.
 
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