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Any body knbow about a Leidolf Wetzler Lordomat?
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:16 am    Post subject: Any body knbow about a Leidolf Wetzler Lordomat? Reply with quote
I've just got one on "The Bay" for $34.00 US. What can I expect?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380405995860?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It should be alright, from what I have read.
I would image it would depend some on the lens They made some interchangeable lenses for it- I have a f1.9 Lordon on mine. I have not put any film through. I have images of mine a few treads below. Will be able to tell you more once I run some film through, Big Dawg.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Kathmandu wrote:
It should be alright, from what I have read.
I would image it would depend some on the lens They made some interchangeable lenses for it- I have a f1.9 Lordon on mine. I have not put any film through. I have images of mine a few treads below. Will be able to tell you more once I run some film through, Big Dawg.


Thanks Kat. Mine is the f/2.8. Would like the 35 and the 90mm lenses but they cost many times what I paid for this camera. Very Happy Very Happy


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Made in the same city as the Leica, I recall reading ages ago that the Leidolf company was set up by an ex-Leitz worker. Wetzlar was something of a centre for camera/lens/binocular manufacture in the 1950s. In fact the optical and precision instruments industries seem to have been spread in cities along the valley of the river Lahn which runs through Wetzlar.

Kathmandu's looks like a later model, and I think bears more than a passing resemblance to an Arette !


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
scsambrook wrote:
Made in the same city as the Leica, I recall reading ages ago that the Leidolf company was set up by an ex-Leitz worker. Wetzlar was something of a centre for camera/lens/binocular manufacture in the 1950s. In fact the optical and precision instruments industries seem to have been spread in cities along the valley of the river Lahn which runs through Wetzlar.

Kathmandu's looks like a later model, and I think bears more than a passing resemblance to an Arette !


My thoughts exactly Stephen. An AKA Arette. Very nice lines.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
scsambrook wrote:
Made in the same city as the Leica, I recall reading ages ago that the Leidolf company was set up by an ex-Leitz worker.


Leidolf originally was a Leitz and Zeiss subcontractor in the microscope production, and made its only brief venture into cameras some forty years after foundation.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sevo wrote:
scsambrook wrote:
Made in the same city as the Leica, I recall reading ages ago that the Leidolf company was set up by an ex-Leitz worker.


Leidolf originally was a Leitz and Zeiss subcontractor in the microscope production, and made its only brief venture into cameras some forty years after foundation.


Yes this I know. Google helped me there. Laughing But what about this camera? How good is it? I bid after seeing the price range in the 100 dollar plus range for most of these. Very little on the web in the way of reviews. How good is the lens. How ergonomic is the handling and controls? What about the picture quality when using it? Since most of these questions are not answered but rather disclaimers of it's relationship or lack thereof to Leitz is featured more often than pertinent information on it's use...I asked here to see if someone has owned or used one. Looks like I'll have to give it a thorough work out and post my own review. Laughing Laughing Laughing


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You won't be disappointed provided a) it works okay and b) you keep in mind that this was a moderately priced camera that was intended to produce moderately sized prints. There were quite a few of these knocking around in the UK in the early 1960s and they turned up regularly in our secondhand stock.

The ergonomics are actually very good - the "reverse stroke" winding lever is particularly neat and the shutter release should be a model of lightness. A sort of "roll-over" trigger action in fact. The lens will certainly be pretty good, but it's not a Sonnar or a Summicron - either a Cooke triplet or a Tessar type.

It's probably not what anyone really wants to hear, but the majority of similar German cameras from this period are pretty much the same in performance. After all, they share shutters from Gauthier or Deckel, use lenses bought in from firms like Schneider (and its subsidiaries) and almost certainly employ body castings from a small number of specialist firms. One or two models did stand out above the others, but generically they were a pretty good, and usually similar, bunch. When they were made, folks made BW prints between postcard and 10x8 inches, slides which they mostly looked at with a hand-held or table viewer, or colour prints of 6x4 inch size. Expectations were less then than now, by a very substantial amount.

It'll be nice, but it won't be a Contax substitute Very Happy


PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Big Dawg wrote:
But what about this camera? How good is it?


Well, it is a budget interchangeable lens rangefinder. That is, it is not good by Leica or Contax standards - it isn't even particularly good compared to a Voigtländer Brilliant, Kodak Retina or other solid brass cameras below Leica level. It has a soft or brittle metal frame (soft aluminium alloy or zinc depending on the model generation), a rather clumsy rangefinder coupling, a behind-the-lens leaf shutter and very a restricted lens choice (35, 50, 90 and 135mm). The lenses were EMO (the company behind the Minox lenses) designed and Enna or Schacht made - so these at least are pretty good.

That said, it is a nice curiosity with a collector base, and yours seems very clean. What's more, you got it for roughly half its value even if it should prove to be stuck and a mere decoration piece - or a fifth, if it should turn out to be not only clean, but working...


PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have the exact same camera & lens. I like it. It's simple in design but well made. The shutter release is not as ergonomic as I'd like (just a little lever beside the lens) but it does the job and the lens is quite good (Tessar type). I love the lens mount.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
scsambrook wrote:
You won't be disappointed provided a) it works okay and b) you keep in mind that this was a moderately priced camera that was intended to produce moderately sized prints. There were quite a few of these knocking around in the UK in the early 1960s and they turned up regularly in our secondhand stock.

The ergonomics are actually very good - the "reverse stroke" winding lever is particularly neat and the shutter release should be a model of lightness. A sort of "roll-over" trigger action in fact. The lens will certainly be pretty good, but it's not a Sonnar or a Summicron - either a Cooke triplet or a Tessar type.

It's probably not what anyone really wants to hear, but the majority of similar German cameras from this period are pretty much the same in performance. After all, they share shutters from Gauthier or Deckel, use lenses bought in from firms like Schneider (and its subsidiaries) and almost certainly employ body castings from a small number of specialist firms. One or two models did stand out above the others, but generically they were a pretty good, and usually similar, bunch. When they were made, folks made BW prints between postcard and 10x8 inches, slides which they mostly looked at with a hand-held or table viewer, or colour prints of 6x4 inch size. Expectations were less then than now, by a very substantial amount.

It'll be nice, but it won't be a Contax substitute Very Happy


Thanks Stephen. Very much what I was looking for!!


PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sevo wrote:
Big Dawg wrote:
But what about this camera? How good is it?


Well, it is a budget interchangeable lens rangefinder. That is, it is not good by Leica or Contax standards - it isn't even particularly good compared to a Voigtländer Brilliant, Kodak Retina or other solid brass cameras below Leica level. It has a soft or brittle metal frame (soft aluminium alloy or zinc depending on the model generation), a rather clumsy rangefinder coupling, a behind-the-lens leaf shutter and very a restricted lens choice (35, 50, 90 and 135mm). The lenses were EMO (the company behind the Minox lenses) designed and Enna or Schacht made - so these at least are pretty good.

That said, it is a nice curiosity with a collector base, and yours seems very clean. What's more, you got it for roughly half its value even if it should prove to be stuck and a mere decoration piece - or a fifth, if it should turn out to be not only clean, but working...


More of what I was looking for. Thank you very much Sevo!!!


PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
dof wrote:
I have the exact same camera & lens. I like it. It's simple in design but well made. The shutter release is not as ergonomic as I'd like (just a little lever beside the lens) but it does the job and the lens is quite good (Tessar type). I love the lens mount.


Thanks my friend. Glad to know it can be likeable. Hope I get to like mine as well. Very Happy
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