Does someone have used the Elcan 50 f/2, a four elements lens supplied for the US army as the standard lens for the KE7A, military version of the M4 camera? What are the results? Also very fascinating ,the 66mm/f2 or the 90mm/f1 ! thank's for your answers.
E. Leitz, Canada, now known as Elcan, made some oddball optics for the millitary. I have vague recollections that Modern Photography magazines got hold of the 50/2 to try out. It was more than sharp enough to produce acceptable 8x10 prints, the kind of things you might use in a newspaper or brochure, but wide open it wasn't going to give you super crisp 16x20's. As a practical lens for shooting public relations pix or news it was fine.
Looking at the elcan 90 f/1, it looks very similar to the 90 f/1 picker x-ray lens. Does anyone know if the optics are the same?
I have been very fortunate to have owned all three of these Elcan lenses. here are my comments. Elcan 50/2 -- a mediocre lens optically, made to fulfill the U.S. Army contract for the KE7A, which specified that a normal lens would be supplied. Nice and compact but otherwise nothing special -- a 50/2.8 Elmar performs better. Elcan 66/2 -- a superb lens, one of the best ever. Made for high resolution espionage by NATO military attaches stationed in the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War. Works just fine on an M camera. Elcan 90/1 -- Totally impractical for normal photography. Focus is not coupled to the M rangefinder (and viewfinder is blocked by the huge lens). Instead, focus is achieved by extension rings for fixed distances, in tandem with a special lighting system. Designed for photographing Soviet submarines in poor light -- this is NOT for portraits of your mother-in-law! Note: Optically not the same lens as the other 90/1 Elcan made for Picker X-Ray Corp.
I owned an elcan 66mm that I purchased along with an M4-2. The setup would scratch the film and all the pictures were out of focus. I wrote a letter to Lecia and I was immediately visited by the FBI who impounded the camera. It appears that it was a Naval intellegience camera and the particular camera/lense combination that I purchased was set up for special thin infrared film. I wish I still owned it but it was misappropriated from it rightful owners (the taxpayers) somewhere along the path to me. An experience that I would rather not repeat.
