Leica M5 “Expedition” set with 3 lenses for sale
We offer our customers an exciting opportunity to purchase a matching set of Leica M5 camera and 3 rangefinder lenses from a private collection.
The set includes:
Leica M5 with a leather case and strap
26mm f/6 Omnar
50mm f/1.5 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar with hood
85mm f/2 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar with filter and hood
All lenses come with front and rear caps and will be shipped in a complementary waterproof hard case.
The set was painted by Camerakote in bronzium/burnt sienna finish. The colour-changing cerakote appears green to bronze depending on the angle of the light.
The optics of the lenses in the set are very good to excellent. We chose these specimens to match to the M5 not for their absolute optical pristine condition but because they were the sharpest/ highest contrast samples of the lenses we could find. The 50mm and 85mm Sonnars have very good-excellent condition glass, but their optical condition is not flawless (in-fact, very few Zeiss Jena lenses these days are).
These two Sonnars have some coating marks, and both their aperture assemblies have some tiny oil residue. Their apertures are about 95% oil free. For various reasons, many older Zeiss Jena lenses can’t have their aperture blades fully cleaned without inducing an extremely expensive and time-consuming process.
Both sonnars were completely restored, ultrasonically cleaned and re-centred, with new greases added and calibrated for Leica. They have custom engraving and font work. They both come with custom finished ventilated hoods.
The 85mm Sonnar triggers the 90mm frame lines. The CN26-6 triggers the 28mm frame lines, but on this M5, the very edge of the visible window can be used for framing. 50mm Sonnar triggers 50mm frame lines of, course.
NOTE: the set has been lightly used and is slightly worn.
Leica M5
The camera was serviced and restored, it has a battery compartment modification to use modern batteries and a new front UV IR glass window. The Ruby coated glass truncates all non-visible light wavelengths, so only the visible spectrum is now transmitting through the main viewfinder glass. These coatings provide an Ultraviolet and Infrared cut-off functions. This new glass has made the viewfinder much higher in contrast compared to stock M5’s. When looking through the viewfinder now, we can not tell any difference between the actual scene and the scene view thru the finder. The contrast, colour and sharpness is the same.
We did some flare resistance tests, and the M5 rangefinder system is about equal with Leica M9 and M240 cameras. It’s certainly better than the M4, M6 and other Leica film cameras we have. At angles and reflections the window gives off a Ruby AR coating reflection from the outside, something that looks quite cool on the camera. Looking head on and through the glass, it’s neutral and very clear. This new window glass is also slightly thinner than the old glass and allows the further edges of the viewfinder to become more visible. The outer edges of the viewfinder correspond to about a 26mm focal length lens (there is no 28mm frame line trigger inside the M5), thus when using the CN26-6 lens the entire visible window is used as the frame.
The lenses
26mm is one of the original CN26 Omnar lenses. It has pretty much mint optics. More information about this lens can be found here:
https://omnarlenses.com/product/omnar-cn26-6/
50mm sonnar used prototype Omnar mechanics to facilitate the conversion. It has a small nick on the filter ring where the paint has come off (see images).
85mm sonnar is one of only 600 native LTM versions ever made and is converted to Leica M with 6-bit coding.
Price: £7200
This is a sale from a private collection, so will not appear on our store. If you’re interested or have any questions, please contact us via email info@skyllaney.com.
