Interesting- lens elements for Rolleiflex from China

Just saw these on Ebay-



Front lens element for 2.8 Planar and Xenotar. New parts.

Are we entering a period of quick one-off optical element replacements?

(I do know that the front element of the Planar has at least two sizes, having tried to move this piece from one lens to another, so this is one limitation.))

Wow, that's truly amazing. Now if they'd only produce a kit to fix those light meters....

Dan, you repair Rolleis? Are you going to get one and try it?

$200 for a single element? Yes, I guess there could be sufficient market incentive to manufacture that.

Considering the price difference between a Rolleiflex 2.8C/D/E with good front element and with a scratched front element, there seems to be enough incentive to reproduce the front element. There used to be services to polish and re-coat the front element.

blee1996 said:

There used to be services to polish and re-coat the front element.

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I did see something (here?) of an outfit in Ukraine that would polish and recoat for $100. Maybe it was on FB. If I find it I’ll post the info.

Cool!!!

If this is bonefide what an amazing thing .

Mao Tse Zeiss!

They even made a f/3.5 Planar lens block for Seagull, Mamiya 6, Yashica 124G and other leaf shutter camera

MsLing said:

They even made a f/3.5 Planar lens block for Seagull, Mamiya 6, Yashica 124G and other leaf shutter camera

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Awesome!

This thing is what I mentioned. It's about $85.5 in China. Front lens element for Rollei 2.8 is about $83.5. Some shop even manufactured or costumed Hasselblad Zeiss CF80's rear element and Canon Lsm 50/1.8's cemented lens.

Very interesting. Shows a path to preserving old cameras and possible production of new cameras and lenses. With new technologies and AI it's conceivable that replacement optics could be made for all sorts of applications.

mshchem said:

Very interesting. Shows a path to preserving old cameras and possible production of new cameras and lenses. With new technologies and AI it's conceivable that replacement optics could be made for all sorts of applications.

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Not sure what AI has to do with this. The technology and know-how to determine lens formulas has been around for some time. Small-scale manufacturing is expanding based on assorted CNC and other technologies that don't use AI, and most likely made dumber by most AI systems at this point in time

It is an interesting development and as you say could open up lots of camera and lens restoration work.

I might order one to see. Then again, I don't have a scratched up lens! I did have a problem installing a Planar group from one lens into another because of slight variations in mounting. This could be a big problem with this item, or maybe my problem was unusual. For me, it was external retaining ring issue, not internal group spacing or such.

Well, there are subtle variations in many Rollei parts over the years even when they look similar. Most likely sub-contractors varying specs slightly. I doubt that Zeiss had any concern if a lens made in 1958 and one in 1964 were going to be fully interchangeable down to the 1/100mm tolerance. They just wanted each batch to work on its own. This might be the biggest problem with one-off replacement parts, lenses or other parts, finding that things are not as standardized over a production run as one might hope for.

MsLing said:

This thing is what I mentioned. It's about $85.5 in China.

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I'd heard about this 75 Planar recently - how obtainable is it outside of China?

Lachlan Young said:

I'd heard about this 75 Planar recently - how obtainable is it outside of China?

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I don't really know about that, but you can check Light Lens Lab's site. However, it seems that their retailers in EU haven't sold this lens. Only one I found on AliExpress, $180.

Where can be located inside China? I have a contact there and it might be worthy to try it.

Alex Varas said:

Where can be located inside China? I have a contact there and it might be worthy to try it.

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You can tell him to search "海鸥(Seagull) Planar" on https://www.taobao.com or in Xianyu APP. The text in parentheses is the English translation.

Thx, Ms Ling!