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Likaleica
Tinkerer
Username: Likaleica
Post Number: 4
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 09:41 am: | 
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In spite of my username I have never until now owned a Leica - and would welcome some knowledgeable advice please, having bought a 1938 Leica III body only.
Does anyone know if the Russian Elmar copy Leica screw lenses from my 1937 and 1940 Fed I cameras will work on the Leica (as I have a feeling these cameras were individually collimated) Would my post war coated Zorki I version of the same lens work ?
Does anyone know if the Leica IIIs were collimated individually or were they standardised at a particular setting ? |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 424
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 10:55 am: |
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Generally, any FSU lens you put on a Leica will need to be shimmed, as FED and Zorki used a different flange distance.
PF |
Likaleica
Tinkerer
Username: Likaleica
Post Number: 5
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2012 - 03:38 am: |
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Thank you PF - you may well be right but opinion seems to be a little divided.
I also subsequently contacted Yuri who runs Fedka.com in New York and he thinks the post war Zorkis were set to the Leica 28.8 mm focusing standard and that many of the prewar Feds were the same.....though I recall that my camera repairer in the FSU asked me if I wanted my prewar Fed set to Leica standard when he CLA'd it - and I cannot for the life of me remember what I said ! When my ebay purchased Leica arrives (hopefully working and in one piece) from Michigan I'll run a test film with the three lenses at various settings to see what happens.
If anyone could talk me through the best procedure for testing the lenses this way I'd also be grateful. |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 1038
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2012 - 03:10 pm: |
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ALL Leica LTM bodies were individually 'shimmed/adjusted' so that the flange to film plane distance is 28.8mm +/- 0.02 mm. All Leica LTM lenses are bench collimated for this standard flange to film distance.
For a true explanation of the FED and Zorki flange/film plane dimensions, you should read this -
http://www.jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page422.htm
There is an awful lot of rubbish out there about the FED and Zorki flange distance and as the above site explains, apart from the very early FEDs, these Leica copies were supposed to have the 28.8mm dimension. Any present day measured discrepancy from this figure can be explained by 1/ an almost none existent QA standard, 2/ shims going missing during subsequent CLAs, 3/ people swapping the actual mount ring in order to try and fit a genuine Leica LTM lens. The LTM thread is a bastard thread, metric diameter and imperial Whitworth thread form and pitch - the Soviets failed to notice this in their slavish copying and used the standard metric thread form for their 39mm screw mount. Due to the aforesaid poor QA, if one finds a Soviet mount that has been machined at maximum tolerances then the Leica lens will screw on without the threads binding.
I have a number of early Zorki 1s, and all the bodies had been originally machined to allow the flange distance to be shimmed to the 28.8mm dimension - most of them were 'missing' the odd shim when they came into my possession, but we are only talking the odd 0.1mm to 0.5mm. Nothing to suggest that the distance was supposed to be anything other than 28.8mm. |
Hollenbj
Tinkerer
Username: Hollenbj
Post Number: 94
Registered: 03-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 21, 2013 - 12:52 pm: |
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Glenn is right on. Postwar Fed and Zorki were supposed to be 28.8 flange to film. Only problems with QC and subsequent messing by owners and repair persons make them otherwise. The thread pitch difference is usually not an issue but I have a couple FSU bodies that like to bind slightly when mounting a real Leica lens (or Canon LTM, etc.). But in the end, I have numerous examples of post-war FSU bodies and lenses, as well as wartime and post-war Leica, and Canon, and newer Cosina-Voigtlander bodies and lenses. I interchange all of them freely with no serious side effects (except where collapsible is an issue). Now, the sonnar back focus problem... that's different. And a very different topic. Sorry.
Enjoy your "new" Leica right away! The "elmar" copy is often not bad. I have a few of them and only one is disappointing. The others perform much like an...elmar. Of course, the actual lens formula is different in the FSU lens. Tessar? I think? Can't remember.
PS. A 1938 Leica was a "hand fitted" assembly. I have had a problem interchanging parts between the wartime/pre-war bodies because each camera was tweaked and fitted during manufacture by those skilled Leitz workers. But, the flange to film distance was shimmed precisely to be 28.8mm when each body left the factory. I doubt one ever got past QC in any other condition.
Very early FSU stuff is a completely different matter when it comes to standards of any kind. But, little of that gear is circulating these days. I doubt you have any of it. |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 469
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - 12:47 pm: |
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So, I should be able to put my I-26M on a Yashica YF, and have no problems with focus? I was a bit concerned about the skinny rangefinder cam on the Industar snagging behind the cam follower on the Yashica. But then I should be able to use a Canon 50/1.8 on a Zorki 1D with no problem either.
PF |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 1052
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 07:46 am: |
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The important words here are 'Leica Clones'. One has to use a bit of common sense and observation to ensure that the mechanical interfaces match properly and do not snag, or otherwise cause operational problems on more advanced designs using the LTM system to allow lens exchange. |
