STEINHEIL Cassaron 40mm f3.5 what mount?

darinwc · Sep 23, 2018

Hello all ! I have this little lens but I do not know what camera it fits. I am thinking maybe a Paxette?

shutterfinger · Sep 24, 2018

Its a Triplet from mid 1950's.
Exakta. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50678983@N00/179216574/in/pool-camerapedia/

AgX · Sep 24, 2018

To be more precise: not from, but for.

shutterfinger · Sep 24, 2018

AgX said:
To be more precise: not from, but for.

A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum shows it as 1956.
Digging on Cameriapedia for Exakta as that is what the Vade shows most Steinheil lens were made for is where I found the linked image of the mount. It was a latter edit to that post.

jimjm · Sep 24, 2018

Looks like Exakta mount.

AgX · Sep 24, 2018

I see...

Anyway, congratulations for recognizing the mount. For me that all is a nightmare. I am happy to recognize 3-4 mounts... And even there I came across one with that slight variations that one nearly needs a caliper.

Marco Gilardetti · Sep 26, 2018

Well, same problem here... Which is why I am nostalgic of the M42 universal mount.

Ian Grant · Sep 26, 2018

jimjm said:
Looks like Exakta mount.

The other bayonet mount Steinheil made lenses for is Praktina but that's an Exacta mount.

Ian

anfenglin · Sep 26, 2018

No, no, Praktina has nothing to do with Exakta.
Exaktas were made by Ihagee, Praktinas were made by KW, Kamerawerkstätten Niedersedlitz near Dresden, KW later was incorporated into the monster VEB Pentacon.
The Praktica or its predecessor, the Praktiflex, was originally made by KW, the Praktiflex came first in M40, then in M42, then came the Praktiflex that looked like the Praktica FX, then came the Praktica FX2, the nova, the IV and so on up until the B of the 80s.

Ihagee had the Exakta mount, first introduced in the Kine Exakta before the war, it died out with the Exakta RTL 1000 which in fact was a Praktica L body with Exakta mount an a left and a right release button.
Some western makers made lenses in Exakta mount like Steinheil München, Enna and Schacht in Ulm, those were mainly for the Edixas by Wirgin which also came in Exakta mount and / or M42.

The later Exaktas also were exported into the west under the guise of "Elbaflex", but these also came with Zeiss Jena, Meyer, Feinmess or Ludwig lenses.

It's rather complicated but there are great sites on the internet, sadly, a lot of it is in German.
I can offer translations.

zeissikonveb.de
dresdner-kameras.de

Ian Grant · Sep 27, 2018

anfenglin said:
No, no, Praktina has nothing to do with Exakta.

I do know the difference between Exakta and Praktina, I have 3 Exaktas and 2 Praktinas as well as a couple of Patent Etuis. I was pointing out that Steinheil lenses were also available with a Prakina bayonet mount and that included the 40mm f3.5 Cassar.

When it came to lenses there were many available with Praktina or Exacta bayonet or M42 mounts from the same 10 major German and French (one) manufacturers. So it's important to realise the differences between the two bayonet mounts.

Ian

anfenglin · Sep 27, 2018

Ian Grant said:
I do know the difference between Exakta and Praktina, I have 3 Exaktas and 2 Praktinas as well as a couple of Patent Etuis. I was pointing out that Steinheil lenses were also available with a Prakina bayonet mount and that included the 40mm f3.5 Cassar.

When it came to lenses there were many available with Praktina or Exacta bayonet or M42 mounts from the same 10 major German and French (one) manufacturers. So it's important to realise the differences between the two bayonet mounts.

Ian

Yes, I see it now, I must have misread you. Apologies!

Ian Grant · Sep 27, 2018

anfenglin said:
Yes, I see it now, I must have misread you. Apologies!

I maybe should have added that the two bayonet mounts are quite different the Praktina's is significantly larger it's a breech lock mount so doesn't have the locking pin that's need on the Exakta lenses.

I was lucky to pick up my 2nd Praktina last Autumn with a near mint 58mm f2 Biotar, personally I think they were the best made German 35mm SLR cameras after WWII, far superior build quality compared to Exaktas.

Ian

AgX · Sep 27, 2018

And not to forget: the Praktina was the first System-SLR ever.

Ian Grant · Sep 27, 2018

AgX said:
And not to forget: the Praktina was the first System-SLR ever.

Well Exakta was a full system SLR earlier, however Praktina was the first Professional SLR system with two motor drives, bulk film back etc, and far better build quality. A pedanyic arguement

Ian

darinwc · Sep 28, 2018

Well I dug out my Exakta Varex iia and the mount is totally different. The lens is way too small for that mount.

AgX · Sep 29, 2018

There are different Exakta mounts. See here:
http://www.exakta.org/orgarticles/lensmount/lensmount.html

Varex II got a double-bayonet.

Ian Grant · Sep 29, 2018

Alpa also used a bayonet mount, but the illustrations I have in a 1957 book indicate it's larger than the Exakta. If it's definitely not Exacta fit then it would be worth looking in a copy of H.S. Newcombe's 35mm, photo technique, , I think that's the correct title, as there's a number of short lived German and other SLR camera manufacturers in the late 1940's to mid 1950's.

The Voigtlander Prominent uses a quick acting bayonet, so does the Retina reflex I've no idea if the lens would fit them. There's also Rectaflex with a bayonet mount, Recta Futura however used a screw fit.

Ian

AgX · Sep 29, 2018

In any case the respective lens was indeed made in Exakta standard mount too

STEINHEIL Cassaron 40mm f3.5 what mount?

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