Close-focus Elmars - an eveready Distance Gauge.

[jcgoodman]

<p>Some Leica LTM enthusiasts will possess examples of Elmar 5cm and Elmar 3,5cm lenses that focus as close as half a meter - these lenses were issued before the addition of a rangefinder to the Leica camera, whereafter the closest focusing distance became one meter.<br>

A handy half-meter distance gauge can be made by setting a neck strap, such as is found on an eveready case, to extend to half a meter, as illustrated, for quick use in the field. The attached photograph shows this technique being used with a close-focus Elmar 35mm lens, closed down to f12,5. The neck strap is allowed to fall away, and the exposure taken.</p><div></div>

[jcgoodman]

<p>Lemon at Half-Meter, as gauged:</p>

[jcgoodman]

<p>Distance is measured from the back of the camera, or - from the film-plane.</p><div></div>

[Sandy Vongries]

<p>Neat trick! Thanks for sharing.</p>

[jcgoodman]

<p>This same technique can be used to gauge the focus when screw-in, or otherwise attached, near-focus lenses are employed in addition to the prime lens, e.g. the little screw-in diopter lenses No.1, 2, or 3. A ground-glass focus-checker, such as the Leitz VEHIG, can be used for initial set up. Markers can be placed on the neckstrap, corresponding to the various distances with the lens set at, say, infinity. Framing is, of course, apt to be a little inexact, but we are revisiting, here, the world of the Leica-equipped explorer of the 1930s.</p><div></div>

[glen_h]

<p>I don't remember ever trying diopter lenses in the rangefinder days, before I bought my first SLR.</p>

<p>I bought the AI 35/2.0 with my Nikon FM, and it goes down to 0.3m, (from the film plane, so much closer to the front of the lens), which allows for some pretty good close-ups without extra lenses or extension tubes.</p>

<p>So, the rangefinder will only go to 1m? That sounds like about what I remember, but I didn't think about why. </p>