[rollei_list] Re: Rollei 35S, SE

  • From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:04:27 -0700
----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc James Small" <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 7:23 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Rollei 35S, SE


At 05:17 PM 9/27/2007, Eric Goldstein wrote:
>The modern Cosina/Voitlander Heliar 50/3.5 is purported by at least >one of the test magazines to be one of the best corrected lenses in >all of 35 mm photography. It is supposed to have it's best corrections >wide open... f/3.5 is its true design speed for this format... 

Eric

I believe that this is a "Heliar" in name only,
not by design.  Cosina has so cheapened the
naming traditions as to render them useless.  We
have had a fairly heavy discussion of this lens over on the Leica Users' Group. 

Marc


msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!
It would be interesting to know what this lens is. "Heliar" is just a trade name which has become a generic name for a particular arrangement of elements. As you know it was used by Voigtlander for two different arrangements. Hans Harting's first "Heliar" designs had a negative cemented element facing the outside. Later he turned this around. According to Kingslake the original arrangement was a rather poor lens. The version with positive elements facing out was better. Voigtlander originally called this a Dynar but but liked the name Heliar better so changed it. As I mentioned before not many designers have worked with this basic type. L.B. Booth and Fred Altman patented versions and I have seen the type in some Japanese lenses but other basic arrangements seem to have proven more profitable to designers.
In any case, its hard to know what a "genuine" Heliar is. The trade name probably belongs to whomever Voiglander is now (Zeiss) but in casual use it designates the five element cemented design we are familiar with. A lens can certainly bear a well known generic or commercial name and still be awful. One can certainly find poor examples of Tessar type lenses. 

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
---
Rollei List

- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org 

- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. rollei_list
  3. Archive
  4. 09-2007