From 1952, a little known Japanese lens maker produced this super nice Leica screw mount telephoto lens. The Arco Colinar 13.5cm f/3.8 short telephoto.
It was one of the first lenses produced by this start-up company. The serial number, No. 27559 gives a clue as to when it was made. The ’27’ is the Showa year and when converted to our Western calendar is 1952 (27 + 25 = 52). The remaining numbers would indicate the number made up to that point. In this case, it is the 559th made.
I believe it is a chromed brass bodied lens as it weighs 615 grams. Lots of brass and glass in a small package.
Test image from about 10 feet at f/11.
Test image from about 15 feet at f/11.
The lens is designed for 35mm rangefinder cameras that use the Leica LTM/L39 screw mount – Leica, Nicca, Canon, Leotax to name just a few.
The lens was mounted on my Fujifilm X-A10 mirrorless digital camera using a Fotodiox M39-FX adapter. I’m very happy with the performance of this classic and a rather rare lens that’s still going strong after 68 years of service.
Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day! – Chris
Be sure to visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com – lots of new old stuff added this week – check it out.
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Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 