Don’t talk rubbish! Lincoln saved the United States! He ended the absolute antebellum hypocrisy and nonsense of American liberty and freedom only if your skin color was white. Blacks living in America were only fit to be slaves and bought and sold as property. Going to civil war to preserve slavery was the ultimate American disgrace and shame! Safeguarding states’ rights were a bogus fig leaf to justify the evil of the Confederate existence.

I’m tired of all this China-bashing about technology theft by them. The West ‘stole’ silk-making and gunpowder technology from them. The USA copied British railroad and textile manufacturing techniques in the early 19th Century. The Swiss sold fake American pocket watches when the UStA led the world in making high quality watches at good prices. The USA printed Charles Dickens’ novels in America without respecting British copyright rules. The Soviet atomic bomb is a direct copy of the US bomb.

Nations have been stealing ‘secrets’ from one another since the beginning of history. No one wants to re-invent the wheel!

Hell Bob,

I also have this Soviet lens. They are good optically, but suffer from defects in metal technology and assembly. I once had a 1000mm f11 Soviet-made M42 fit mirror lens (later stolen) with the lettering ‘Made in USSR’ applied crookedly. Typically their lenses need re-tightening of screws and cosmetic touch-up of painted areas, in addition to checking their mechanical functioning. All these measures must be taken prior to shooting pictures with them.

Don’t be racists! US manufacturers moved production to China for lower costs and more money in their pockets, to the detriment of American workers! We need more American capitalists who love their country more than their bottom line!

Hello Bob,

What’s a Soviet Zorki 50mm f2 lens doing mounted on your Leica IIIf body? We have ways to make you talk! Just kidding.

Best Regards.

John

I have two Kodak Ektra camera bodies, both with spotty shutter action. I am more pleased to own 35mm, 50mm, 90mm, and 135mm Ektra Ektar lenses. All function flawlessly on my Sony A7R body. I am further happy with my British SRB Griturn made lens adapter for the vintage lenses. This company was able to produce a superb complicated adapter following my custom specifications and utilizing my contribution for cannibalization of a Canon-Sony NEX adapter. I also have an adapter available on EBay for this lens, but it is a much inferior product, both in design and execution.

I am very happy to have resurrected my Kodak Ektra rangefinder lenses for use on my Sony A7R digital mirrorless camera body. These lenses, American-made, represented the highest optical achievements of Eastman Kodak in 1940 for use on their very sophisticated 35mm Ektra Camera. It cost the price of an new automobile then to acquire the camera with lens. My lenses were heavy paperweights until the advent of mirrorless digital cameras. Using a custom-made English lens adapter on my Sony has proven to be a really pleasant activity to once again take good pictures with Ektar lenses made 80 years ago!

If the choice is between an older or a new Summicron, it would be hard to notice the improvement with the new lens. My advice is always to use the supplied lens hood, whether old or new. The 50mm f2 Summicron, regardless of vintage, is always a superb lens.

I would choose the Leica Summicron, as I have a soft spot for the Leica brand. The 50mm f2 Summicron is a wonderful lens, regardless of age. If the lens is in excellent shape cosmetically and functionally, you find find that it will hold its value, unlike almost any other brand. You can consider the Leica (almost all its models) to be like the Rolex watch in its resale attraction. Other optical products, except for maybe Zeiss, simply cannot match the quality and reputation of Leitz goods.

What about Italians eating cheese infested with maggots? There is no accounting for human tastes and cultural norms!

Unfortunately your English is slipping! The plural of comma is commas. To use comma’s is wrong to indicate the plural. It is also incorrect to talk about the Anderson’s. The correct usage is the Andersons ( note absence of an apostrophe). It is used to indicate possession and not the plural condition. Another common grammatical error is to write or say ‘for him and I’. It is correctly ‘for him and ME’. ‘For’ is a preposition and takes the objective case which is ME and not I. One would never say that a friend gave a present ‘for I’. Finally, the words are his, her, and ITS, not his, her, and IT’S. This is the instance where the apostrophe indicates the contraction for ‘it is’, and not for any possession.

Use ebay. I have purchased many adapters made in China at very attractive prices. I have rarely been disappointed with their quality and useablity.

I'm sick and tired of all this China-bashing. If you pay the money, Chinese quality is quite good. If you pay a garbage price, what do you expect --- Rolls-Royce quality, if not actually garbage in return! Why don't people look carefully at the origin of their products (many well-made in China) and not just mindlessly follow the present American vogue for trashing China on almost everything. Remember China and America were stalwart allies in the Second World War and China certainly did not attack Pearl Harbor. The Flying Tigers' role in defending her against the Japanese are gratefully and fondly acknowledged in present day China.

I would consider used Carl Zeiss Jena binoculars from the former East Germany. Optically they are first-rate but cosmetically they are not quite as nice as the former West German Carl Zeiss binoculars. The East German ones were the postwar continuation of the Carl Zeiss Jena binoculars made in pre-WWII Germany.

Please get your history facts right. Japan WAS involved in the First World War on the Allied side. Being opportunists, the Japanese defeated the German presence in China, protected the British interests in East Asia, and even steamed Japanese warships into the Mediterannean to help Britain and France. And, if I am not mistaken, Japan acquired islands in the South Pacific from defeated Germany, the site of much fighting with the USA in World War II.