Period 100mm+ M42 lens to go with my Edixa

Muggins

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Just curious... I occasionally need to collimate a lens a la Rick Oleson, and I use my Nikon F3 & a 135mm lens as I can take the prism off. However I do have an SLR with a WLF, and one day when I'm feeling flush I'm thinking maybe I could get a period lens that would look good on it* that I could also use for the collimation job.

Any suggestions? Here's the beast it would go on: Waist level finder 2 by gray1720, on Flickr

*Hey, it's no worth than buying a Leica for show :)
 
Love those Edixas! Yours looks very nice! One of the last vintage cameras I would ponder purchasing but the prices are too high now. Lusting after a Reflex B. Good luck finding period a lens.
 
The Edixa of course is not an Exakta mount camera, but most everything that appeared in Exakta mount showed up in M42 too. I was able to put together a collection of Edixa SLRs over the years when they had a reputation for being crap (the later ones are admittedly pretty crap though). For the prices asked today I wouldn't have done it.
 
Just curious... I occasionally need to collimate a lens a la Rick Oleson, and I use my Nikon F3 & a 135mm lens as I can take the prism off. However I do have an SLR with a WLF, and one day when I'm feeling flush I'm thinking maybe I could get a period lens that would look good on it* that I could also use for the collimation job.

Any suggestions? Here's the beast it would go on: Waist level finder 2 by gray1720, on Flickr

*Hey, it's no worth than buying a Leica for show :)
Some of the 135mm Schacht Travenons are wonderful looking lenses. I haven't used one, personally but a friend wrote some words about them years ago. Actually, re-reading his report I think I'd like one myself...anyway, take a look at Rick's photos, and see what you think.
Cheers,
Brett
https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/4...on-ulm-street/
 
Wonderful. I forgot to plug in my line power for my computer so I could drain the battery, and I didn't see it notify me before it quit. So I won't make a long post like I had before that.

I had a 135mm Sun lens I gave away several years ago. It shouldn't have been so sharp but it was. I also have a Sun 35mm lens that is quite sharp. Other M42 lenses, such as the Yashinon (not Yashikors), Fujinon, and of course, M42 Pentax lenses were all rated lower in magazines (except Pentax perhaps because of Herb Kepler) mostly because they weren't bayonet mount like the pros used. I don't think all pros got free cameras and lenses, but many seem to have, and somehow they seemed to get published more. Go figure.

Anyway, unless you are stuck with the idea of a same brand name lens, I think you can a get lot of lenses you might not have thought of, that are surprisingly sharp. You might want experiment a bit.
 
Here are some possibilities. Prices correct at time of going to press. Interesting that Edixa seem to have employed a 5 letter catalogue code similar to Leica.

DSC_6018(2).jpg
 
That's a good find, Malcolm - where is it from? The Blue Book?

Incidentally, the current lens is a 50mm Steinheil Cassar - I can't help thinking that it was named to sound just enough unlike a Tessar to keep the lawyers happy!
 
That's a good find, Malcolm - where is it from? The Blue Book?

Incidentally, the current lens is a 50mm Steinheil Cassar - I can't help thinking that it was named to sound just enough unlike a Tessar to keep the lawyers happy!

It's from a September '58 Amateur Photographer. I have a contemporary supplement to the Blue Book, but it only lists Edixa cameras, not lenses.
 
Ooh, I bet that's a good read. I wonder how many Wyronars they sold as Uncle Google just brings up "wyron ar" which is Welsh for "grandchildren on"!
 
This one, if you can find it in M42. (first pic)
BTW, it the lens on your camera is the Edixa-Reflex Xenar 50/2.8, it is a relatively rare 5 element Xenar, aks "Super Xenar".
 

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The Edixa of course is not an Exakta mount camera, but most everything that appeared in Exakta mount showed up in M42 too. I was able to put together a collection of Edixa SLRs over the years when they had a reputation for being crap (the later ones are admittedly pretty crap though). For the prices asked today I wouldn't have done it.

This is mostly true, with one exception. This Edixa Flex B-V (bayonet) has a native Exakta mount.

Here we have an Edixa Flex B-V (bayonet), featuring a factory Exakta mount. by Mike Novak, on Flickr
 
This one, if you can find it in M42. (first pic)
BTW, it the lens on your camera is the Edixa-Reflex Xenar 50/2.8, it is a relatively rare 5 element Xenar, aks "Super Xenar".

It's not, sadly, it's a three-element Steinheil Cassar. Thanks for the other suggestion, though.
 
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