Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/01

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Subject: [Leica] Zorki Lenses
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 10:37:09 -0500

At 02:51 AM 12/1/97 -0800, Patrick wrote:
>And just to give this some Leica content, I'll talk about something
>completely different now.  I saw a message on Usenet today in which it was
>claimed that the later Zorki LTM lenses (for the Zorki 5 and later cameras)
>had a different cam rate than the earlier lenses, and so do not focus
>properly on earlier Zorkis, Feds, or Leicas.  I find this astonishing -- I
>would have thought that not even central planning could give birth to such
>a dumb idea.  Is it so?  Do we have to watch out for and avoid later Zorki
>LTM lenses?

You have it backwards.  The actual dimensions of the LTM are 39mm in width
times 26 turns per inch.  This mixture of Imperial and Metric measurements
has thrown a lot of folks, including FED.  The early FED cameras used a
close metric equivalent, but would not always mount properly on a true LTM.
 This was reworked around 1958 or so, and lenses since that date work
properly.

I've never heard of the camming change, and would question that it actually
happened.

Nikon and Canon had the same problem, and early Nikkor and Canon lenses
don't always mount properly on LTM.  See Dechert for details.

Marc




msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
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