Semmar lens

[David Woods]

Hi

I have a 300mm Semmar lens, I cannot find any information about who made it, I am trying to track down filters for it, I have been told it might take a series 7, 57.5 mm filter, it is a screw thread.
Regards
David

[John Kasaian]

Hi

I have a 300mm Semmar lens, I cannot find any information about who made it, I am trying to track down filters for it, I have been told it might take a series 7, 57.5 mm filter, it is a screw thread.
Regards
David

Semmar or Symmar?:confused:

[rdenney]

Can't make it work with "Symmar". The 300mm Symmars have much larger filter threads--82mm--even back in the early versions.

No mention of "Semmar" in the Vade Mecum, either.

Posting a picture will help a lot.

Rick "needing some hints" Denney

[David Woods]

No it says Semmar, I thought it might have been an off shoot of the Symmar name, but I cannot find any info to say it is.

David

[David Woods]

Thanks
I will get an image on tonight

[cdholden]

Great news.
When I enter "semmar lens" into Google, you're the first result!

[Nathan Potter]

Yeah, Isn't Google wonderful! :D :D

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[David Woods]

35807

[dsphotog]

Hmmm, Semmar...... is is made by Snider?;)
Perhaps from the people who bring us Bolex watches

[David Woods]

wonderful, Bolex of Switzerland, I have just sent them an email.

Thanks

[dsphotog]

Great comeback Dave!
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Give that lens a shot, It's likely good,
since it's mounted is a good shutter.

[rdenney]

35807

Ah. Looks like a Commercial Congo, which has been variously marketed under a variety of names.

But wouldn't you know it, the 300/6.3 is absent from the specification list for the Congo line, here (http://www.cosmonet.org/congo/spec_e.htm), though it is included in lists of later Commercial Congo lenses. The 250/6.4 uses a 55mm filter thread, and the 360/6.3 uses a 67mm filter thread, and both are mounted in Copal #3 shutters, like yours. They are made by Yamasaki, who has made Congo lenses since the 30's. The Commercial Congo is the modern product--the sort of lens that would be mounted in a Copal shutter and sport good coatings, as yours does. If so, it's a copy of a Kodak Commercial Ektar, which is a high-quality tessar design. If you remove the front cell and open the shutter, if the glass in the rear cell when looking through the shutter is very slightly negative, and if the rear cell has very little power, then it's a tessar.

If it's a modern Commercial Congo as I suspect, I would bet the filter thread is standard like recent Congo lenses. Maybe 58mm, which is a conventional size between 55 and 67, and close to yours. Have you tried a 58mm filter? Maybe it's just got snug threads. Don't force anything, of course. Commercial Ektar and similar Caltar 12" (305mm) f/6.3 lenses used Series VIII filters, which are larger than your measurement. Maybe yours is series 7.5, if 58mm threads are just too big. Series 7.5 was apparently 57mm. But I bet it's a more modern lens just because of the coatings and shutter, and will take a standard filter size.

Rick "going with the percentages" Denney

[Kirk Fry]

It looks identical to my Commercial Congo 300mm f6.3. The shutter is a perfect example of a Copal 3 which is really a Copal 3s. My meter stick says 56mm plus or minus maybe a mm for the fillter thread. 58mm would not work. My guess for the date based on the shutter would be mid 70's. Mine is single coated. KFry

[rdenney]

It looks identical to my Commercial Congo 300mm f6.3. The shutter is a perfect example of a Copal 3 which is really a Copal 3s. My meter stick says 56mm plus or minus maybe a mm for the fillter thread. 58mm would not work. My guess for the date based on the shutter would be mid 70's. Mine is single coated. KFry

Do you have a 55mm thread you could try on the lens? That would likely work for the OP as well. The Congo specification link I provided shows 55mm filter threads for the 250/6.3, and maybe they used the same thread for the 300/6.3. All the threads on their modern lenses, though, are conventional sizes. But if the lens dates from the 70's, that comes right at the end of the Series filter sizes, so maybe it's possible.

Rick "who has a Series VIII adapter for 67mm filters on his 12" Caltar" Denney

[David Woods]

Do you have a 55mm thread you could try on the lens? That would likely work for the OP as well. The Congo specification link I provided shows 55mm filter threads for the 250/6.3, and maybe they used the same thread for the 300/6.3. All the threads on their modern lenses, though, are conventional sizes. But if the lens dates from the 70's, that comes right at the end of the Series filter sizes, so maybe it's possible.

Rick "who has a Series VIII adapter for 67mm filters on his 12" Caltar" Denney

[David Woods]

thanks for the link, on the congo site it is down as tele congo and it says a 52mm filter, I have tried a 55mm it sits inside and a 58 sits right on top, but does not screw on, I thought maybe a series 7.5 at 57.5 mm, I know Leica used to have one to that size

[rdenney]

thanks for the link, on the congo site it is down as tele congo and it says a 52mm filter, I have tried a 55mm it sits inside and a 58 sits right on top, but does not screw on, I thought maybe a series 7.5 at 57.5 mm, I know Leica used to have one to that size

A Series VIII slip-on adapter might work. I'll measure mine when I get home, and you can compare it to the barrel of your lens.

But this is not a tele-Congo, which is an f/8 lens mounted in a much smaller shutter. If it's a Congo, and it sure seems to me that it must be, it's a Commercial Congo. Even though it doesn't appear on Congo's current specification list, it used to.

You could also have Grimes make a slip-on adapter to step up to 67mm or some larger filter size. They would need to know the barrel diameter, accurately measured with calipers.

Rick "betting it's a decent lens" Denney

[Robert A. Zeichner]

Hi

I have a 300mm Semmar lens, I cannot find any information about who made it, I am trying to track down filters for it, I have been told it might take a series 7, 57.5 mm filter, it is a screw thread.
Regards
David

Series 7 is 54mm. If you measure the outer diameter of the front very carefully and post that dimension in mm.s or fractions of an inch, I might have a slip on adapter ring i can sell you.

[aduncanson]

If you remove the front cell and open the shutter, if the glass in the rear cell when looking through the shutter is very slightly negative, and if the rear cell has very little power, then it's a tessar.



Rick, I think you mean that a the front cell is negative. The rear will form an image at roughly 2/3rds of the nominal focal length. (At least that is how my handy 210 Xenar works.)

- Alan

[rdenney]

Rick, I think you mean that a the front cell is negative. The rear will form an image at roughly 2/3rds of the nominal focal length. (At least that is how my handy 210 Xenar works.)

- Alan

What he said.

Rick "who can't tell his back from his front" Denney

[David Woods]

To what I am lead to beleive a series 7.5 is 57.5mm, but I am only new to the LF game, and in Australia there is really not a lot of people who have the LF knowledge, I can use a Cokin p series with it's grub screws if I need to, But I would prefer to try to get a proper screw on for it if I can.

Thanks
David

[rdenney]

To what I am lead to beleive a series 7.5 is 57.5mm, but I am only new to the LF game, and in Australia there is really not a lot of people who have the LF knowledge, I can use a Cokin p series with it's grub screws if I need to, But I would prefer to try to get a proper screw on for it if I can.

Can you carefully measure the outside diameter of the barrel? I can compare that with my slip-on Series VIII adapter.

As I understand it, many of the lenses that used Series filter were designed for slip-on filter, not threaded filters, so getting a threaded filter might be a bridge too far.

Rick "http://www.skgrimes.com/slipon/index.htm" Denney

[David Woods]

Thanks I will be home in about 6 hours I will email you then.

David

[Chauncey Walden]

David, the series filter diameter refers to the diameter of the plain metal rimmed glass filter which slips into the adapter which may be of most any appropriate size in slip on, slip on with set screws, or a few screw in. You will have the best luck finding a series VIII (8) slip on of the appropriate diameter (outside lens barrel + or - .5 mm) or more likely one that may be slightly oversized but with set screws. With a seies VIII adapter you will be able to use common 67mm filters directly. FWIW, I have probably looked through old bins at hundreds (maybe thousands) of series filters and adapters through the years and while I can recall some .5 in smaller sizes, I can't recall running across any 7.5.

[David Woods]

Can you carefully measure the outside diameter of the barrel? I can compare that with my slip-on Series VIII adapter.

As I understand it, many of the lenses that used Series filter were designed for slip-on filter, not threaded filters, so getting a threaded filter might be a bridge too far.

Rick "http://www.skgrimes.com/slipon/index.htm" Denney

[David Woods]

Hi Rick

outside diameter is 60.09mm or 2.365 inch.

David

[rdenney]

Hi Rick

outside diameter is 60.09mm or 2.365 inch.

David

No luck. Mine is larger, at 2.454". But I also discovered I was mis-remembering the adapter. It is a threaded adapter with an M60 thread, and it is a grade B fit in the Series VIII threads. But given that I use the 67mm threads of the adapter for filters, the fit is acceptable.

I've never seen a Series 7.5 filter, and you are guessing from one entry in Wikipedia (the only place I found it even mentioned) that it really exists. Series VII is too small, and Series VIII is too big--though both are still available by order from B+W and Helipan. I can't find anything in between 58mm and 55mm, no matter how it's labeled.

I think you may need to consult the folks at S. K. Grimes for a slip-on adapter, or go with a Cokin or Lee design.

Rick "who would prefer the slip-on adapter" Denney