On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 11:08 PM, Larry Colen <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On 12/14/2011 10:54 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: >> ... went for an M-Rokkor >> 40mm f/2 instead (identical to the Summicron-C 40mm f/2 I had with my >> CL once upon a time). > > I'm lost here. It sounds like there is some interesting lens mount > compatibility issues going on here. Could someone please give me a brief > explanation? > > Rokkor is Minolta, did they make lenses for Leica?
In the 1970s, Leica and Minolta collaborated on a smaller, less expensive M-bayonet rangefinder camera. The camera and lenses were a shared effort. The original body was designed by Leica, with Minolta assistance, and manufactured by Minolta. It was branded "Leica / Minolta CL" in some markets and in other markets was sold as "Leica CL". A 40mm f/2 and a 90mm f/4 lens were designed for it, both by Leica. The 40mm lens was named Summicron-C for the Leica branded packages and carried the Leica name and filter ring design; it was manufactured in Wetzlar. The same lens design was named "M-Rokkor" for the Leitz/Minolta packages and carried a JIS standard filter thread; it was manufactured by Minolta. The 90mm f/4 lens was built entirely in Wetzlar by Leica, with one bezel naming it the Elmar-C and with a Leica filter thread, the other bezel naming it "M-Rokkor" and a JIS filter thread. There were QA problems for Leica with the bodies which ultimately caused Leica to cease selling the camera, but Minolta had the rights to continue development and production of the camera. After Leica pulled out, Minolta introduced a re-designed body named the "Minolta CLE". They updated the 40mm f/2 lens design with multi-coating and continued to manufacture it as the M-Rokkor 40mm f/2, Leica continued production of the M-Rokkor 90mm f/4 for a time. Minolta also introduced an M-Rokkor 28mm f/2.8 which was entirely their own design and manufactured in Japan. IIRC, the Minolta CLE and its lenses were discontinued about 1981. See http://www.cameraquest.com/leicacl.htm and http://www.cameraquest.com/cle.htm for more detail. I had a Leica CL with the Summicron-C 40mm f/2 and the Elmar-C 90mm f/4 once upon a time. It was a great camera, I'm sure frank will concur. When I was acquiring lenses for the GXR-M, I immediately thought of the Summicron-C and Elmar-C lenses as they are the right focal lengths and are very compact. I bought one of the M-Rokkor 90mm lenses first because of the JIS filter (a standard 40.5mm filter thread is used, instead of the Leica DIN spec threads which are hard to get) and because it is identical to the Leica lens, built on the same production line. I went for one of the second series, multicoated M-Rokkor 40mm f/2 lenses later, mostly because I was curious how it compared both to the Nokton 40mm f/1.4 MC which I already had and also to the Summicron-C 40mm f/2 I had in the past, but also because I now have more than one M-bayonet body and this is a focal length I find very desirable on both. (That was about the same time as I was casting about looking for a Pentax-L 43mm f/1.9 Limited...) Performance-wise, the M-Rokkor 40/2 matches the look and quality I see in my older Summicron-C 40/2 photos perfectly. Comparing to the Nokton 40/1.4, the Nokton's rendering is slightly harder-edged at f/1.4, they are almost identical at f/2, and by f/2.8 and smaller apertures they are so close as to be identical. The Summicron-C/M-Rokkor f/2 lenses are very small, having been purpose designed for the short mount register of the M-bayonet rangefinder cameras with no mirror to clear behind them. The Pentax-L 43mm f/1.9 Limited is a transposition of the same optics in the FA43/1.9 Limited into an M-bayonet lens mount, as a result it's about twice the size and half again the weight of the 40mm lenses. I'd still like one anyway! :-) -- Godfrey godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
