Leica lenses

Posted by: andrew tooley on 16 August 2005

i have the chance to buy a number of leica R series lenses ranging from 19 mm wide angle to 100mm macro all in good nick ( eight lenses in all) does any one still use these ? what are they worth?
Posted on: 16 August 2005 by Nick_S
They vary in the number of cams and the support for metering with different bodies (conversion for later bodies is possible for some). If they are fixed focal length then they are worth strong consideration, but the zooms vary in quality according to vintage.

Try posting your question on the Leica Forum and you will get some gurus give you a better idea about this:
http://www.leica-camera.de/markt/forum/newsboard/index_e.html

Nick
Posted on: 16 August 2005 by David C
Andrew,
The R series still has life in it, given the availability of a digital conversion on the later bodies. However, the question to ask yourself is what do you want from a camera system and how long do you want it to last. The R is one of the best manual focus SLR systems ever produced. As long as you are happy with the constraints of a manual focus film SLR platform it is excellent. If you want digital then you can scan negs and slides. I use contax 35m when I don't need autofocus and want 35mm.
Nick's advice about the CAM's and zoom's is spot on, check the vintage with care.
David
Posted on: 16 August 2005 by andrew tooley
they are all 3 cam .19mm elmarit .28 mm summicron.35mm elmarit .50 mm summicron f2. 60 mm macro 1-1.100mm macro 1-1. 90 mm f 2,8 summicron . 135 f 2.8 elmarit. leitz 2x convertor and leica r3 and motor wind all are in good nick i can get them all for £1000, is it agood deal?
Posted on: 16 August 2005 by Nick_S
I can't comment on the prices (I'm an M user), but the lenses you listed would make a superb outfit. You can treat the R3 body as a stopgap and look to an R6.2 later on, or the R8/R9 for the digital back.

Nick
Posted on: 16 August 2005 by Julian H
Andrew

The ultimate value depends on which variations of the lenses you are referring to

Does the 19mm have dial in filters(unlikely since that is worth £1k alone)?
Is the 28mm Summicron an M lens, or did you mean 28mm Elmarit?
The 60mm Macro is 1:2, 1:1 with macro adaptor.
Is the 100mm an APO-Macro-Elmarit, also 1:1 without an adaptor (unlikely since that is worth 1k alone) or the earlier f4 version?
Is the 90mm f2.8 Elmarit or a f2 Summicron?

The R3 is a (heavily) modified Minolta XE1 and was released in the mid 70's. It is OK and is probably a better bet than the R4 series.

Julian
Posted on: 17 August 2005 by andrew tooley
I took the risc and decided to get them , they will be here on saturday. i will let you know then! for 1k its worth a flutter!
Posted on: 17 August 2005 by Nick_S
Kodachrome is superb with Leica glass and will give a good test of the camera meter, if you can still find some. Enjoy the new camera and lenses.

Nick
Posted on: 17 August 2005 by Roy T
/HomerSimpson
Ahhhhh . . . Kodachrome.
/HomerSimpson
Posted on: 17 August 2005 by long-time-dead
/MickParry
Ahhhhh... Leica lenses
/MickParry

Big Grin
Posted on: 17 August 2005 by Martin D
http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-fr...ens-R.html~mainFrame
Posted on: 23 August 2005 by andrew tooley
got all the bits ! Leica r3 body with winder, good nick, 19mm f 2.8 elmarit,28mm f2.8 elmarit,35mm f2 summicron, 50 mm f2 summicron, 60 mm f2.8 macro with 1-1 adaptor , 100 mm f4 elmar macro with 1-1 adaptor, 90 mm f2 summicron, 135 mm f2.8 elmarit , 2x leitz adaptor . lenses are all mint and boxed with all the bits! and an unused Leica R5 in chrome, all the lenses are 3 cam and all but two are made in germany,seems like a good buy for £1k , i just need to find time to use it now!