So...why did I win this Sonnar so cheaply?

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squirrel$$$bandit

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This one here. $73 for a 50/1.5 that is "free of scratches, seperation, fungus, mildew, fog or dirt." Cleaning marks and tiny bubbles don't strike me as serious issues. Is it the odd reflection in the glass? I'm inclined to think I got a good deal (and it would have been even better if somebody--one of you no doubt--hadn't bid it up in the last 10 minutes), but maybe I'm missing something.
 

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The photograph could have put some people off. It is probably the angle that acted as a prism, and is NOT coating damage.

It is a post-war Carl Zeiss Jena in Contax mount. You got a great price. I've gotten lucky and won lenses such as a Nikkor 5cm F1.4 in S-Mount for $88 and for $95 in LTM. Right place, right time.
 
Hmm...a single mediocre photo, plus rather poor feedback for the seller. Offsets a lot of the cost of the adapter, John! Good find.
 
Great price congrats! Curious what you think of the adapter. Mine is an old one that is really slow and heavy to turn. Love the Opton 1.5/50 but don't use it often because of the mentioned acrapter.
 
definitely the poor feedback

definitely the poor feedback

4 negatives in the last 6 months. Bugs me that I completely missed the auction :bang: but I wouldn't have stayed in past $50 or so, with this seller.

Hope your experience will be positive and if so, congrats!
 
I got rid of my Sonnar Opton 1.5 because of flare-I took some pix while in Melbourne and they were disappointing. Maybe a hood whould have been with me, but I on't get that sort of flare with an Inustar!
 
just get a Kiev camera body and you will be all set with that Opton Sonnar lens.

IMG_1251.jpg
 
I usually shoot the Sonnar at f/2 if I'm looking for limited DOF, as there is flare at f/1.5. This can be useful depending on the subject. Mine is an Opton Sonnar.

Here is a comparison I did between the two f/stops. Move the mouse over the image.
 
Sunday auction close....

Sunday auction close....

Sunday auction sales slump greatly for prices... It's my buy day and has been for a few years for cameras and equipment.

The negative feedback score is 3% less than my minimum requirement.... 99% even on such a high transaction count. This guy is a loser, if you actually read the feedback. I place much more of my decision on negative feedback. It's far to easy for people to give positive feedback than negative. So, this seller is probably worse than the negative feedback would appear to indicate. I generally check the feedback of the people who leave negative to make sure how good they are. Without exception, the negatives left for this person for over a year now have ALL been left by people with 100%. This puts this seller in my "NAFC will I buy here" category.

So, those things worked for you. Good luck.
 
I've never shot wil the post-war Carl Zeiss Jena F1.5 lens, but have with the post-war F2 lens. The F2 lens has larger diameter optics than it's predecessor. The CZO also changed, and I have two versions of that lens. No way to tell the difference until you take them apart.
 
FWIW, I wrote to the seller and asked about the repeated use of the photo. He says that's the actual lens. (The exact and complete wording of his response was "Yes is." Seems a little slow.) I think what happened is that he previously sold the lens as "EX++" to somebody looking for a mint copy and it got returned to him because of the cleaning marks. And so he relisted it with "cleaning marks" added.

Fine by me.
 
OK, I got the lens, and it looks pretty good! Cleaning marks are negligible. There are 6-8 very tiny bubbles in the rear elements--not sure if this is significant for a Sonnar but the internet seems to be suggesting it isn't. The body is a little tarnished, what should I use to polish it up?

The main problem is I have nothing to shoot it with! My adapter isn't here yet. Will report!
 
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