Hi Leicaphiles,

Has anyone here tried to use a Leica screwmount lens on a Russian camera body in my case a FED 3 which is a workhorse for me. How did the pictures turn out. I bet that the optics were probably on point, a little artistic and soft which gives it the Leica look of course.

I'm probably going to be run myself to getting a Summar lens and screwing it onto my FED 3 and see how things turn out :) After all, there's nothing which beats out experience and understanding than to photograph with those good old screw mounts...

By the way, does anyone here have a preference for which screw mount Leica lenses to get first? Do the Hektor lens fall short? I want to check out those 1930's lens to see whether or not I can get an old school look to my photographs :)

sincerely, Alfie

-- Albert Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), November 02, 2001

Answers

I have used several Russian lenses on my Leica, and found the infinity setting to be slightly off about the same with every one of them.(with the lens focused at infinity, the double image does not quite make it to full overlap on a distant object). This of course meens that critical focus will be off at all distances. I made a very thin "shim" out of some alluminum tape and stuck it on the back of the cam on the lenses and now they focus correctly. Makes me wonder if the registration isn't slightly different between the FED and Leica, or it could be the infamous quality controll. The fellow I bought the lenses from in Moscow told me it is a common problem.

If you want an old fashioned look and shoot B&W especially, pick up an uncoated Leica lens-like an older Elmar. Bright areas in the shot will often bleed over, and the overall contrast is not that high with an uncoated lens. Its definately a different look!

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), November 02, 2001.

Alfie. I have the same Fed-3 and use a whole variety of lenses including Leica. Depending on how many lenses you want to buy I would recommend the Summitar. I have the Summar and it definately gives a glow but have found it too specialized. For general use I find it not quite sharp enough with not quite enough color saturation. The Summitar still has the glow and 3 dimensional look but is improved for general use. I would recommend an Elmar 50/3.5 for a III series, but the larger Summitar fits nicely on the Fed.

-- Gerry Widen (gwiden@alliancepartners.org), November 02, 2001.

Thanks for your help indeed :)... of course, the main why I don't use an original Leica screwmount is because of the loading difficulties especially having to cut the film 4 inches before loading. Sorry but I don't believe in carrying pocket knives :)...

The FED 3 loading mechanism is straightforward and makes one wonder why didn't Leica utilized a loading system similar to the FED3 or Nikon F cameras :)

Alfie

-- Albert Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), November 02, 2001.

i have good results with a 50/1.4 nikkor and a leitz 135 hektor on fed and zorki. to put the leica 135 on the russian cameras though, you have to rack the lens out to minimum focus or the coupling cam will hang up on the follower in the body.

one of my favorite lenses is the 50/3.5 industar though.

rick :)=

-- Rick Oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com), November 02, 2001.

"The FED 3 loading mechanism is straightforward and makes one wonder why didn't Leica utilized a loading system similar to the FED3 or Nikon F cameras :)"

According to Lleitz/Leica' standards every their camera-body and lens (M&R) must withstand a shock of 1.5 g as for example a downfall on a concrete floor from the height of 1.5 metre, and remain in working condition after such a treasure. The Leica body shell design is very tough and rigid, while any camera body having removable back can’t endure such a standard.

-- Victor Randin (ved@enran.com.ua), November 05, 2001.