Spotting old, fake Leica lenses

[r s]

I've alway believed, and I may be wrong - hence the question here,

that genuine, older Leica lenses had the focal length designation in

a) lower case "f" and b) the length in cm (ex: "f=3.5 cm") and that

Russian, etc copies often used the upper case F and the focal length

in mm (ex: "F=35mm").

<br>

I was browsing ebay in lack of better things to do as I was waking up

today and noticed this one:

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Leica-model-III-with-nickel-elmar-lens-

estate-cs01_W0QQitemZ7565759283QQcategoryZ30030QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">

camera </a> and started wondering if the above rule is ALWAYS correct

or if there were exceptions to it.

<br>

Were/are there Leica lenses with the inscriptions "F" instead of 'f'

and 'mm' instead of 'cm'?

[tom h.]

"F"antastically "f"ascinating...

[r s]

Tom, well it's relevant if you're looking to buy a Leica lens.

[stephen_w.]

Bastardized camera, IMHO: brassed wind and rewind knobs, but good paint. I wouldn't go near this one.

 

BTW, I bought a Russian made fake in Harbin, China in 1997 when I was working in Daqing, and the lens was marked 50mm.

[kelly_flanigan1]

The chaps on the Russian camera board at www.beststuff.com are the old Yahoo groups Russian board. The group there has 10 to 50 times the experience with Russian cameras; their repair; than Photo.net. All these folks do is Russian cameras and their lenses. A Russian lens can have a huge number of variants. The fake "Leica stuff" is often discussed their on www.beststuff.com

[benlloyd]

I have (I believe) 2 Leitz 50 Elmars, and 2 Russians: 1 labelled Industar-22 in cyrillic, the other a FED labelled Industar.<p>

 

FWIW:<br>

Both Leitz have "f=5cm 1:3,5"<br>

The Russians "1:3,5 F=5cm/F=50mm"<p>

 

One thing that I have noticed, if you're shopping for an Elmar, is the positioning of the stop pin. On both my Elmars (scale in mtr) it is located between the marks for 7 and 10 metres, on the Industars between 20 and Infinity, and 5 and 7.

[Rob F.]

Jim Lager shows a nickel Elmar on page 24 of Illustrated Guide II. It reads, "Leitz Elmar 1:3.5 F=50mm. Jim wouldn't be fooled by a fake.

 

I'd say both the camera and lens in your link are genuine. It was probably kept in a leather case, which could protect the paint, but not the knobs.

[adrian bastin]

I have a 1930 Elmar marked F=50mm It's genuine....even if it did come from a Ukraine camera dealer. Hope that clears things up ......

[Andrew in Austin]

I've always wondered whose job was to stamp the miniscule serial numbers onto the front of the aperture selector ring. I had to use a magnfyer to read mine.

 

The camera in the photo, definitely has a patina that looks to be the real McCoy. With regards to the lens, I wouldn't have the foggiest, as my Elmar is rather late, from 1956 and it looks much different.

[adrian bastin]

No, really; it's on a non standardized Leica 1© and has the matching numbers. But I got it fairly cheaply coming from that source.

[jim nichols]

I have a 1946 Leitz Elmar, with the distance in meters, and it is marked f=5cm. Photo illustrations in the November 1955 Leica Product Directory show it that way on the Elmar and Summicron.

[canfred]

My info is both where used upper case for the f and mm or cm. So this lens is very likely not a copy.

[eliot_rosen1]

IMO, both camera and lens are genuine. The easiest way of spotting a fake Leica lens of that vintage is by the overall quality of workmanship, including the engraving, which is typically not as precise as that done by Leitz. For anyone who has a significant amount of experience handing the genuine item, the fakes are not hard to tell apart.

[__jon__]

>Kelly Flanigan , nov 27, 2005; 01:29 p.m.

 

>The chaps on the Russian camera board at www.beststuff.com are the old Yahoo groups

Russian board. The group there has 10 to 50 times the experience with Russian cameras;

their repair; than Photo.net. All these folks do is Russian cameras and their lenses. A

Russian lens can have a huge number of variants. The fake "Leica stuff" is often discussed

their on www.beststuff.com

 

Good god man! You only used two semi-colons in five sentences!! Are you ill???

[tom5]

My 1933 Leica III with, likely, its original 1933 Elmar has the "F" on the lens.

[yuri_yupiter3]

Leica copy make good fun, good sport.

[Gus Lazzari]

You can tell the body was sprayed black; in the last photo the strap lug and top plate in that area are beat up. No way the paint survives at the edges like that. Gus

[kelly_flanigan1]

JON: Re <I>Good god man! You only used two semi-colons in five sentences!! Are you ill???</I><BR><BR>When I wrote technical engineering<BR><BR>

 

reports for the Japanese ; they required semicolons and double spacing.<BR><BR>They paid my wage very well. The semicolons aided in<BR><BR>translating complex optical and engineering reports.<BR><BR>When In 5th grade I was at college level in math and engineering; and probably 3 grade level in English. The Japanese chaps I worked for were whizzes in engineering too; but much less in language skills. Maybe us egg heads wonder why the folks who worry about semicolons cannot do square roots longhand; know Japanese; use a circular slide rule; or why they worry about old requirements for writing by our older clients. Sometimes old requirements become habits.

[adrian bastin]

Yuri: it IS a commical subject: us British no less so, when, after WW2 we politely take detailed plans of an outdated Leica (111B) and manufacture it (Reid) to a higher standard than the original. But then, there are even Russian copies of that copy, too.