15mm f 3.5 SMC PENTAX - Leica R or Canon EOS / digital

 15mm f 3.5 SMC PENTAX - Leica R or Canon EOS /digital

This extreme rectilinear (NOT fish-eye) wide-angle lens is in excellent condition, no blemishes on the optic and solid metal barrel. Some very minor user marks are evident on the knurled aperture ring and focus ring, however, nothing serious. This particular example has been (permanently) adapted to Leica R mount, the aperture diaphragm is no longer automatic.  This has 4 built in filters and is complete with an original box (incl. packing materials) and front cap.

The history of the design of this lens is somewhat intriguing. Pentax collaborated with Zeiss during the 1970s to perfect the concept of multicoating to enable greater light transmission, because of reduced reflections of lens surfaces. Why? Because of the increasing opportunities for designing lenses with a higher number of elements as found in wide ranging zoom lenses and complex wide angles, such as this. So, at the same time as perfecting Super Multi Coating (or T* coating, as Zeiss called it) both Pentax and Zeiss designed (jointly) their 15mm f3.5 lenses, for Zeiss this was the 15mm f3.5 Distagon, for Pentax the SMC Pentax 15mm f3.5. Now, as enlightened Leica R users know, the Leica Super Elmar-R 15mm f3.5 was a re-badged Zeiss lens sold by Leica and so we can ask ourselves, 'How different is the Pentax lens to the Zeiss?'
'Not at all!', might be the answer. They both have exactly the same designs (do the research...) and both are made to extremely high standards. The glass might be sourced from slightly different sources, Corning or Hoya but essentially they will be the same indices to make the lens work as it needs to. So, if you want a 15mm lens for your Leica R, or fancy mounting this onto a Canon EOS (film or digital) then this sells for around a third of the price of the Leica branded lens!

CONDITION:
Cosmetically - 9.5
Mechanically - 10
Optically - 10
Electronically -

Postage and packing: £15 in UK, Europe £25, Worldwide £50

Paypal, UK cheques, postal orders, banker's drafts and International Money Orders (IMOs) drawn on a UK bank in UKP are accepted.

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This trading is undertaken by
The Real Camera Co.
Sevendale House
5-7 Dale Street
MANCHESTER
M1 1JA
(United Kingdom)

0161 907 3236
 

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