What Leica lens is this?

[TRSmith]

A friend is gathering some Leica gear to sell. She sent me photos (too small for identification) and I am not familiar with this arrangement. It looks like a combination of lens and viewfinder. She has several examples. Here's one. Can you tell me what these are called and what the likely focal lengths might be?

Thanks!
Tim

 

[Shac]

It's almost certainly a 35 mm focal length either a summicron (f2) or a summaron (f 2.8 or 3.5) - to me looks like the cron. These were for the M3 bodies that had no viewfinder frame for 35 mm focal length - the attached "goggles" formed the 35mm view

 

[thrice]

It's a 35mm summicron, says so on the barrel. Goggled version obviously.

 

[TRSmith]

Thanks for that! How are these lenses with regard to quality? Are they likely to be easy to sell?

Thanks again,
Tim

 

[Ranger Rick]

Thanks for that! How are these lenses with regard to quality? Are they likely to be easy to sell?

Thanks again,
Tim

Check out the reviews on kenrockwell.com

 

[trisberg]

Thanks for that! How are these lenses with regard to quality? Are they likely to be easy to sell?

This looks like a German made 35mm 8-element Summicron v1. Should be a good match for anyone using a Leica M3 since the goggles let you use the 50mm frame lines for framing with a 35mm lens. Supposed to be a good performer as well, maybe a bit less contrasty than later Summicrons but some people prefer these older lenses.

This should be rather easy to sell on RFF I would think.

-Thomas

 

[TRSmith]

Thanks for all the info. The Ken Rockwell site was a good tip since I was able to see it more closely. Surprisingly (at least according to KR) it works just as well even on the M9 as it did on the M3.

Thanks again,
Tim