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Lot Essay
Condition: 3(ii)
Cosmetic: Light signs of wear.
Lenses: Clean and clear, minor handling marks.
Stereo Elmar lenses with the numbers 567062 and 567073 have previously been offered at Christie's.
One of the rarest of all Leica accessories and described by Hasbroeck as 'by far the most original and effective contribution of Leitz's towards stereo photography'. As early as 1926 Leitz were manufacturing accessories to allow Leica camera users to make stereo pairs, firstly by physically moving the camera along a fixed bar (the FIATE) and secondly by the attaching a stereo prism (the Stereoly) to the front of the camera's standard lens. Further ideas involved developing a stereo camera, whih never entered production, and by pairing cameras on to a special mounting bar. These methods all had their drawbacks.
Wilhelm Albert, the successor to Oskar Barnack as chief designer at Leitz, between 1937 and 1942 designed paired lenses held in a common focusing mount. These produced a pair of images 24 x 18mm., within the standard 24 x 36mm. format. This became the OWENO for the Elmar and the OVUTO for the Stemar lens, they were probably issued in the early 1940s. A single scale controlled the two diaphragms and focusing was by a single lever.
Production was very limited and certainly fewer than one hundred examples in two serial number batches for both the Elmar and Stemar versions. Hasbroeck and Lager both quote different serial number ranges: 541,053-541,098/567,050-567,081 and 541,051-541,000/567,051-567,100, respectively. All stereo production was stopped shortly after commencing and it was not until 1954 that the Stemar was re-introduced as a 3.3mm. lens.
Cosmetic: Light signs of wear.
Lenses: Clean and clear, minor handling marks.
Stereo Elmar lenses with the numbers 567062 and 567073 have previously been offered at Christie's.
One of the rarest of all Leica accessories and described by Hasbroeck as 'by far the most original and effective contribution of Leitz's towards stereo photography'. As early as 1926 Leitz were manufacturing accessories to allow Leica camera users to make stereo pairs, firstly by physically moving the camera along a fixed bar (the FIATE) and secondly by the attaching a stereo prism (the Stereoly) to the front of the camera's standard lens. Further ideas involved developing a stereo camera, whih never entered production, and by pairing cameras on to a special mounting bar. These methods all had their drawbacks.
Wilhelm Albert, the successor to Oskar Barnack as chief designer at Leitz, between 1937 and 1942 designed paired lenses held in a common focusing mount. These produced a pair of images 24 x 18mm., within the standard 24 x 36mm. format. This became the OWENO for the Elmar and the OVUTO for the Stemar lens, they were probably issued in the early 1940s. A single scale controlled the two diaphragms and focusing was by a single lever.
Production was very limited and certainly fewer than one hundred examples in two serial number batches for both the Elmar and Stemar versions. Hasbroeck and Lager both quote different serial number ranges: 541,053-541,098/567,050-567,081 and 541,051-541,000/567,051-567,100, respectively. All stereo production was stopped shortly after commencing and it was not until 1954 that the Stemar was re-introduced as a 3.3mm. lens.