Kern Switar Lenses (C-Mount)

[Mister X]

Altho I know that my Kern Switar lenses, (16mm and 25mm), have 32mm front threads, I have not found any reference to the exact size of the front threads of my Kern Switar 75mm lens, (nor the identical thread for my Kern Pizar 50mm lens). They appear to be 42mm threads. Can anyone advise me of their exact size?

 

Also, anyone with a Kern Vario-Switar lens may be interested in some auctions of PX1A batteries on eBay, by mdbattery. If you have an OE or POE lens, these are the batteries for your power zoom, (replacing the PC1A, mercury battery). These are available to the U.S. and Canada, with the Buy-It-Now option, at US$3.75 each. Being hard to find, in Canada, and at a cheap price, you may want to get a few while their supply lasts.

[Sam Wells]

Hi, these figures were given to me by a lens/camera tech for the three I own, I have not varified this:

 

10mm Switar RX: 32 mm (older style, not preset)

26mm Macro-Switar RX (preset): 38mm

75mm Switar AR (f 1.9): 40mm (older, not preset)

 

Let us know if this turns out to be correct or not. Hard to find these sizes.

 

-Sam

[Mister X]

Yesterday, I got A.J. Surgenor's "Bolex Guide," (Ninth Edition, 1971), which provides the diameters of the lens hoods for H16 prime lenses, as follows:

 

Kern / Focal Length (mm) / Hood Diameter (mm)

 

Switar / 10 / 33.5

Yvar / 16 / 33.5

Switar / 16 / 33.5

*Switar / 25 / (Not provided by Surgenor; my RX matches the Switar 16mm RX)

Pizar / 25 / 33.5

Pizar / 26 / 33.5

Macro Switar / 26 / (Not provided)

*Pizar / 50 / (Not provided; my RX matches my Switar AR 75mm)

Switar / 50 / 43.4

Yvar / 75 / 33.5

Macro Switar / 75 / (Not provided)

*Switar AR / 75 / (Not Listed; matches my Pizar RX 50mm)

Yvar / 100 / 33.5

Macro Yvar / 150 / (Not provided)

Yvar / 150 / 43.5

 

These 33.5mm diameters apparently correspond to the 32mm front thread.

 

Also, according to Chambless Cine Equipment, the Kern 100 group of zoom lenses, (POE, POE-4, and PTL), have an 85mm front thread.

[Mister X]

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to try fitting some filters onto the front thread of the larger Kern lens. A filter with a 40.5mm thread is a close fit but too small. A filter with a 43mm thread is definitely too big. And, just in case, I found that a series 6 retainer ring did not fit it. Thus, the thread size is somewhere between 40.5 and 43mm.

[Ryan Fleet]

Digging this thread up from way back...

 

I have a Kern Switar 10mm Preset lens with no front cap and I'm trying to purchase one for it. Does anyone know the filter/thread size?

 

I also need a lens cap for my Switar 16mm lens which stated above is 33.5 filter size.

 

When I eBay search for the lens caps I don't see anything near 33.5 the best I can find is a 30mm lens cap. I'm specifically looking for the aluminum ones that say Kern Paillard on them. Just by looking at the 10mm preset next to the 16mm its clearly a lot larger than 33.5mm if thats the correct measurements for the 16mm.

 

Any ideas on where to get these lens caps?

 

Thanks!

[Jean-Louis Seguin]

The filter thread on the Switar 10mm preset is 38mm with a thread pitch of 0.5mm. aka M38x0.5.

I have some lens caps like this. They have the SOM Berthiot logo on them.

They are $15 each plus shipping.

[Timothy Fransky]

Also, anyone with a Kern Vario-Switar lens may be interested in some auctions of PX1A batteries on eBay, by mdbattery. If you have an OE or POE lens, these are the batteries for your power zoom, (replacing the PC1A, mercury battery). These are available to the U.S. and Canada, with the Buy-It-Now option, at US$3.75 each. Being hard to find, in Canada, and at a cheap price, you may want to get a few while their supply lasts.

 

These ship from Buckhorn, ON. https://www.batterybuyer.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=px1a

 

And are way cheaper than the eBay option. I stumbled onto this site looking for a battery for my SLR camera.