Many years ago I picked this lens up at photo swap meet and sale for very little money. I don't know much about the lens. It does seem to be coated and it has a chrome finish (probably aluminum). Does anyone know anything about this lens and its qualities? I do not yet have a screwmount to M bayonet adapter so I don't know whether it would work on my M6. Does anyone have any experience using the lens mounted on an M6? Thanks for any ideas on this. Dennis

-- Dennis Buss (dbuss@rider.edu), March 22, 2002

Answers

Steinheil was more of an economy lens line, and a few of the lenses I have tried were adequate but not exceptional. The lens should couple with the M6 fine and with the correct adapter it will bring up the 135mm lines.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 22, 2002.

RE: "Steinheil was more of an economy lens line". I've read this a few times recently, but, as I recall, back in the late 50s, when I first became interested in photography,Steinheil was considered a top maker. For example, Exakta VXIIa s came with a choice of Zeiss Jena (Biotar), Schneider (Xenon), or Steinheil (Quinon) normal lenses @ the same price.

-- Robert Marvin (marvbej@earthlink.net), March 22, 2002.

I quess I should have said "more of an economy line of lenses compared to Leica's screw mount offerings from that time". I have a Steineil 50mm lens on an old Braun Paxettee, and there isn't anything special about it in my opinion-it certainly isn't in the same league as an Elmar or Summar from that era.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 23, 2002.

My Steinheil Culminar 135mm f4.5 lens is serial number 791589 ; and its scale is in feet. First scale tick after infinity is 300 feet!, next is 150, 80, 50, 35, 25, 20 etc. closest focus tick mark is 5 feet; will focus a tad closer than 5 feet..It came with original lens cap & rear cap. It cost mighty 29 dollars on Ebay last September; and I was the only bidder..Was I smart or a goof? The lens is coated and is a four element Tessar type lens. The lens does not have a filter thread; but the filter attach is 1.648" diameter..The lens weighs 359 grams without caps. Steinheil also made a cheaper 135mm F4.5 called the Triplar; which had 3 elements. I have used the Culminar lens on a Leica M3 with the 135mm adapter with success. My photos were good; but I have not run any formal tests..the photos were all shot wide open at f4.5 at a pro hockey rink that is well lit. typical exposure is 1/250 @f4.5 with fuji asa 800..A small aperture lens like this works well when shooting thru the hockey glass; where I sit at the games.. The "glass" is plastic; and NOT perfectly flat...Kelly Flanigan

-- Kelly Flanigan (bluelines@bellsouth.net), March 30, 2002.