[gofour3]

My father in-law gave me his old German Akarelle Rangefinder and it has the same lens, though it looks a bit different than the above pictures. I had both CLAed and the camera/lens now work great.

Here are a few pictures taken with the camera and 50/2.8 lens, yes it's pretty good. (film used was Efke 25, shot at 25 ISO)







Phil.

Attached Images

 

[ChipB]

Phil, I'd say it works great - those are some sharp and clear images!

[gofour3]

Phil, I'd say it works great - those are some sharp and clear images!

Thanks!

Phil.

[BigMackCam]

My father in-law gave me his old German Akarelle Rangefinder and it has the same lens, though it looks a bit different than the above pictures. I had both CLAed and the camera/lens now work great.

Here are a few pictures taken with the camera and 50/2.8 lens, yes it's pretty good. (film used was Efke 25, shot at 25 ISO)

Phil, I'd say it works great - those are some sharp and clear images!

Yeah, I agree, those photos look good!

Nice that you had the camera CLA'd, Phil... I think many people are tempted to let these old cameras slip into obscurity, or perhaps use as display pieces only. It's great that you've kept it alive

[cyberjunkie]

For all those interested:
the front glass focusing reveals the design of the objective. Only triplets have this kind of solution.
Mostly it's found on cheap triplets set in leaf shutters, mounted on folding cameras or other cheap cameras for 35mm or 120/220 film.
Some not-so-cheap Isco lenses for reflex cameras use the same cheap mechanical solution to focus the lens.
One important note: unlike normal lenses that focus moving the entire optic away from the film/sensor plane, adjusting the front glass DOES affect the optical signature, not just the focusing!
IIRC the re-edition of the Trioplan 50mm released by modern day "Meyer" has an adjustable front lens to control (to a certain extent) softness.



---------- Post added 18-07-18 at 02:18 PM ----------

L

[lytrytyr]

For all those interested:
the front glass focusing reveals the design of the objective. Only triplets have this kind of solution.

The Tessar (4 elements) on (at least some) Zeiss Super-Ikonta 6x6 folders also has front cell focusing.

[cyberjunkie]

The Tessar (4 elements) on (at least some) Zeiss Super-Ikonta 6x6 folders also has front cell focusing.

True.
Very likely not the only one.
I should have written that the only interchangeable lenses I have seen with front glass focusing were triplets.

[jeallen01]

Awesome! Here's the pertinent translated section. Mine was on the front of a Praktica FX, though, which has an intriguing waist-high viewfinder. I'm going to be playing with that, for sure.

A Practika FX-2 was my first SLR - not bad for what it was but not very sturdily built! The clip on the shoulder strap broke and the camera and lens hit the road = bent body, but luckily I had insurance that covered the repair,

The waistlevel finder is "interesting" to use = reversed image! And the direct view (no glass) eye-level finder was only of marginal use, and so I got the clip-in pentaprism which was better but not great. Soon parted it for a Practika V which was similar but had a built-in pentaprism and leverwind - and then parted that for the VB version which had an instant return mirror (the other 2 don't, so you have to wind on before the mirror returns).

[lytrytyr]

The waistlevel finder is "interesting" to use = reversed image!

I had one of those for my Pentax LX.
Used to use it for shots like over the heads of people in a crowd,
where we can now use live view on our DSLRs.