Steinheil Quinon 50mm f/2

Steinheil Quinon 50mm f/2

Quinon was the trade name C. A. Steinheil Söhne of Munich applied to its faster normal lenses, sitting above the company's more modest Cassar triplets and four-element Culminar Tessar types in the lineup [1]. This 50mm f/2 carries that Quinon designation in Leica thread mount (LTM/M39), making it one of the less common third-party screw-mount normal lenses from a German optical house better known to most photographers for its Exakta, M42 and Leica-fit Quinar, Quinaron and Quinon lenses of the 1950s and 1960s [1]. Documentation specific to this exact 50mm f/2 LTM version is limited, and much of what can be stated reliably concerns the maker and the Quinon family rather than detailed reviews of this individual lens.

The optical layout is a seven-element design in three groups, a construction consistent with a fast double-Gauss-class normal lens rather than the simpler Tessar formula Steinheil used for its slower Culminar normals [1]. The lens is built in chrome with a ten-blade aperture and accepts 41mm filters, focusing down to about 0.6 m. As recorded here it is not rangefinder coupled, so on a Leica or other rangefinder body it would be used by setting distance on the barrel scale rather than coupling to the camera's rangefinder. The screw mount allows fitting to LTM bodies and, with a thread-to-bayonet adapter, to Leica M cameras and to mirrorless cameras via further adapters.

Steinheil applied the Quinon name to more than one lens, most notably the Auto Quinon 55mm f/1.9 offered in Exakta, Leica M and M42 fittings, so the Quinon label alone does not identify a single product and buyers should confirm the engraved focal length, aperture and mount when identifying a given example [1]. The company itself passed through several owners during the period its photographic lenses were sold, being distributed in the United States by Ponder & Best in the early 1960s before American firm Elgeet Optical Company acquired a controlling stake in 1962, after which the business shifted increasingly toward aviation and defense optics [1].

Optical qualities

Rendering Reliable, lens-specific rendering data for the Quinon 50mm f/2 in LTM is scarce, and no well-documented review consensus could be confirmed for this version during research. As a fast seven-element normal of its era it would be expected to show the general behavior of double-Gauss designs of the 1950s, but specific claims about its sharpness, contrast, bokeh, flare resistance, distortion or digital performance cannot be supported from confirmed sources and are therefore not made here.

History

Development and Launch C. A. Steinheil Söhne was a long-established Munich optical firm, founded in 1855 by physicist and astronomer Carl August von Steinheil and active in camera lenses from the 19th century into at least the 1970s [1]. In the late 1940s Steinheil developed an advanced interchangeable-lens 35mm camera, the Casca, and through the 1950s it supplied a range of camera lenses under trade names including Cassar, Culminar, Quinar and Quinon, the last reserved for its faster normal optics [1]. The Quinon 50mm f/2 in Leica thread mount belongs to this postwar normal-lens activity.

Production Evolution Steinheil's corporate history is well documented even where individual lens variants are not. The firm became a stock company in the 1930s, was distributed in the US by Ponder & Best in the early 1960s, and in 1962 was largely acquired by the Elgeet Optical Company of Rochester, New York [1]. In 1964 it was sold to Lear Siegler and reoriented toward aviation optics as Steinheil-Lear Siegler, later passing to British Aerospace and becoming Steinheil Optronic before the business was broken up in 1995; the Steinheil trademark itself expired in 1994 and was not renewed [1]. Detailed coating, barrel and serial-number variations specific to the Quinon 50mm f/2 LTM are not documented in confirmed sources.

Collector Notes The most common point of confusion is the Quinon name itself, which Steinheil also used for the Auto Quinon 55mm f/1.9 offered in several mounts; buyers should read the engraving carefully to confirm the 50mm focal length, f/2 aperture and the M39 screw thread before purchase [1]. Because the lens as recorded is not rangefinder coupled, prospective users should plan on scale or adapter-based focusing rather than expecting it to track a body's rangefinder. As with any chrome lens of this age, condition checks for internal haze, cleaning marks and smooth aperture and focus action are sensible, and matching period caps and a 41mm filter where present is worth verifying.

Sources

• [1] Camera-wiki.org. Steinheil. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Steinheil