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Model history (2)

Specification

Source of data

• Manufacturer's technical data.

Manufacturer description

Most of today's contemporary 28mm lenses are of retrofocus design, meaning long barrels and big front elements. This defeats one fundamental quality of rangefinder cameras: that they should be compact and unobtrusive. This is especially true with the Leica thread mount cameras like the III, which take on unpocketable dimensions when combined with a large 28mm lens.

With a symmetrical design composed of six multicoated lens elements in four groups, the Kobalux 28mm lens is the most compact wideangle lens in production - if not in history. But don't be fooled by its small size. It handles quickly and confidently, with a crescent-shaped focusing that tab makes getting tack-sharp pictures a snap. And its strong all-metal construction inspires confidence.

What do the critics say about the Kobalux 28mm optical formula? Roger Hicks of British Journal of Photography measured 681p/mm at f/3.5 and more than 801p/mm at f/5.6, past the maximum capabilities of most films and certainly better than any output system can carry to finished product. He concluded that "Unbelievably good... flatly superior to the earlier Leica lenses... and while the 28mm [f/3.5] may be slower than the [Leica] Elmarit-M [f/2.8] it is disputable whether its performance is one whit inferior." (November 6, 1996).

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LENS MOUNT: Leica LTM (M39); Leica M via standard LTM adapter.

LENS CONSTRUCTION: 6 elements, 4 groups (symmetrical), multicoated.

APERTURE UNIT: 8 blades, f/3.5 to f/16 in half-stop clicks, grip tabs on ring.

FILTER MOUNT: 43mm x 0.75 (standard).

FOCUSING RANGE: 0.75m to infinity (1/4 turn), rangefinder coupled. Infrared focusing mark.

INCLUDED ACCESSORIES: Caps, metal lens shade.

OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES: brightline finder with parallax correction marks; standard LTM-to-M adapter (28/90 framelines on M6 and M4-P, 90mm framelines on M2, M3, M4 and M4-2).

From the editor

If you read the manufacturer's description, you can see that the M-Series differs from the original Avenon/Kobalux 28/3.5 L by having a focusing tab instead of a focusing lever, half stops on the aperture ring, 8 aperture blades instead of 6, and a closest focusing distance of 0.75m instead of 1m. However (!), we have photographs of all-black and all-chrome M-Series lenses, which have a focusing lever, full stops on the aperture ring, 6 aperture blades, and a closest focusing distance of 1m.

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