LEICA D.B.P. Value

LEICA D.B.P. IN ORIGINAL BROWN CASE

MARKINGS READ, " EARNEST LEITZ WETZLER GERMANY"

LENS READS, " 5-KM 2ND 1--35"

 

I have an opportunity to buy this camera. I've never had it in my

hands so this is all I know about it. Value?? Good investment???

Thanks.

D.B.P. means Deutches Bundes Patent (postwar, West Germany patent). That should be Ernst Leitz and the lens markings you wrote are odd.

 

How about the serial number of the camera and the lens as a start?

Sounds like a Post camera - used by the german Post Office (Deutches Bundes Post?) to

photograph telephone meters. These had 'DBP' stamped on them. They were adapted from

general models - 1c, M1, MD, MDa. They hd non-interchangeable lenses, fixed-focus

Summaron 35mm, initially f3.5, later f2.8. Some of the camera took a 24 x 27mm

negative, others used the standard 24 x 36. (All info from Rogliatti's First 60 Years' book).

D.B.P. indicates postwar (federal) west germany, as opposed to the

pre-war D.R.P. where the R stands for "Reich", which is odd, since

germany was not a monarchy anymore, hence calling it "empire" did

not make much sense, and it started as a democratic country in 1919,

so it has nothing to do with wwII either..<br><br>

D.B.P. Deutsches Bundespatent<br>

D.R.P. Deutsches Reichspatent<br><br>Both simply indicate that the

product is regisetred and protected by a german patent. The "p"

could also be "Patentamt", referring to the patent office, but this

seems unlikely to me)<br><br>

Now enter the postal service! Indeed the abbreviations are the same,

but they have never been used with dots, as far as I know (and I

worked many years there at the german postal service)<br><br>

DBP = Deutsche Bundespost, German federal mail<br><br>And of course

you already guessed it, in the dark ages before 1949 it was<br>

DRP = Deutsche Reichspost, German imperial Mail<br><br>Since it's

D.B.P. with dots, it seems unlikely that it refers to the

Bundespost.

It's from the Leitz factory in Earnest - like when they say, "The snow began in Earnest at ten o'clock" or "The effort began in Earnest"; this is the famous town.

 

A 5KM lens is an earlier model with excellent bokeh but was intended for portraits since it would not focus past 5 kilometers.

 

Hope this helps.

If the camera is truly marked "Earnest" rather than "Ernst" and "Wetzler" rather than "Wetzlar" I think the thing is a BAD forgery! Check the spelling . Best regards, Bill

Doesn't seem like Jay to me.

Stu, this is not the original 5KM lens, it's the second one as

indicated by the engraving 2ND 1 and the 35 indicates its

outstanding resolution of 35 lp/mm.

 

It's loved by portrait photographers for its capability to have just

the tip of the third eyelash on the left eye in focus and everything

else blured out.

 

 

And back to the question, it's a fake and worth around $20