Mystery Elmar

[jerry_lehrer1]

Forumites,

 

This Elmar has no visible

serial number. Here is the data on this lens, which looks barely used:

 

50mm f3.5 Elmar--

Nickel finish-NOT chrome--

Distance scale in feet, not meters--

Black "plastic" front and back caps--

Brown leather case--

4 A-36 filters--

 

Every other 50mm Elmar that I have seen, had the serial number on the little

black ring around the front element,

but not this one. Can anyone help me to locate the number?

 

Jerry

[l._david_tomei1]

Hi Jerry,

 

Leitz reportedly made Elmars without engraved serial numbers on the front ring until 1932-33. In late 1932 the serial number allocations began at 156001 according to many references. Up to that time the lenses were only nickel. The nickel lenses were phased out in 1936 in favor of the chrome. Your infinity lock should be at the 11 o'clock position. If you have a lens that has a "O" engraved under the flange wing at the focusing lever, it was made between 1931 and 1933 and is a standardized mount. Before that time, the lens had a serial number that matched the body or at least the last three numbers of the body. The lenses also had a small code engraved on the back of the focusing lever that indicated the true focal length of the lens (which could vary a few mm's) but I am not sure when that practice began.

 

For many years the factory offered to standardize older lenses so there can be quite a few variations in the details and any one source of information on these lenses may not be completely accurate. For instance, the nickel 5cm Elmar on my Leica D has a serial number of 130736 engraved on the front of the lens, and a focal length code on the back of the lever, yet no "o" suggesting that lower serial numbers had been assigned and engraved on the front prior to 1933. The serial number on this lens also indicates that the lens was standardized yet there is no accompanying engraved "0". So, you are likely to find many exceptions to the rules and such exceptions are often due to factory servicing and modifications performed for the owners.

 

David

[paul_neuthaler]

Great explanation, David.

[charles_stobbs3]

The f stops may be a clue also.

[jerry_lehrer1]

Charles,

 

The f stop scales are in the European system (3.5- 4.5- 6.3- 9 etc)

[l._david_tomei1]

Actually there weren't any standard f stops during the years up to 1946-47 in Europe, the USA, or Japan. Leitz began changing the intermediate f stops on the 5cm Elmar some time around 1939 but Zeiss had been using there own as did other major companies like Argus. Although I'm sure it is an over simplification, it would seem that the selection of f stops depended on the ability to engrave numbers uniformly spaced on the lens which in turn depended on the mechanical design of the diaphragm. After WWII most companies adopted the then new international standards of f stops and later shutter speeds that together corresponded to linear increases in exposure so one could transpose the two parameters easily. So through the 1930's you will see f/8, f/9, f/11, f/12.5, f/12.7, etc. together with a withering array of shutter speeds on all shutters and lenses.

 

David