Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm 1.5 LTM. How much is it worth it?

[tomperson]

I found an old leica III with a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm 1.5 lens on a local flea market. The seller seems to be an antiques collector, so he probably doesn't really know what he has. He probably thinks that because the camera says "Leica", his stuff is worth money. I'm pretty sure he's had it for weeks without actually selling it. Not much people care for old cameras where I live.

He wants $160 for the combo.

The camera seems to be stuck or something, but I'm not really interested in it. I fancy having a fast Sonnar lens for portraits though. As far as I could see, it was in an "OK" state (given its age), the lettering where it says carl zeiss jena is falling apart, what do you think would be a reasonable price to pay for it? I offered him $40 (the coating of the lens seems a bit old, and it seems like there's fungus in there, and it could well be some of the russian lenses disguised as zeiss) but he acted like if the offer had been an offense or something.

Anyway, what do you think I should look for next time? How much would it be a reasonable price to pay for a lens like this that clearly shows its age?

Thanks!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I would have bought it for that. The lens is worth the price.

http://ziforums.com/showthread.php?t=143

I paid $170 for the beat-up Sonnar, took hours to get it working well.

And if the lens was original to the camera, it is a wartime Leica- worth more than average.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Hmm, for $160 I'd take the combo too!
Say, if your only interested in the lens, I'm willing to sponsor you for 1/3rd of the price if you ship me the body 😉

 

[tomperson]

OK, here's the info. The lens serial number is 2869410. It has meters marking with lowercase "m" instead of "M", the red arrow seems to be small. But it has aperture numbers in "5,6" form instead of "5.6". A dog??? What's your take?

The leica serial number is 486238.

 

[raid]

Just the opposite;using "M" in place of "m" is a sign that it is a FSU fake Leica. Germans use a comma "," and not a decimal point ".".

 

[Al Kaplan]

Using 5,6 instead of 5.6 was the way a lot of older German stuff was marked. Compared to us they transposed the "," and the ".".

 

[LeicaTom]

Small m, commas and a small red triangle is only part of the test, there should be two screws through the focus ring and well you don`t know what`s inside till it comes apart......I say it`s a Russian
"cross over" lens, built with real CZJ parts but postwar issued to Russian Forces......also due to it`s late number. ~ The Leica is a Sharkskin" era IIIC ca. late 1948 to mid 1949.

Tom

 

[rxmd]

To be honest, even if it is Russian, which I doubt, in terms of picture quality it will easily be worth $170 or so, more so with a Leica attached.

 

[tomperson]

Guys, thanks for your QUICK replies. My post was made late in the night, that's why it probably came across a bit messy. So, to clarify, it's my understanding that "real" zeiss jena sonnar lenses have lowercase "m", small red arrow, and numbers in "5.6" format. This one seems to have characteristics of both a "real" zeiss jena ("m", small red arrow) and a russian fake ("5,6" instead of "5.6") as far as I can tell.

According to this page http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Zeiss_Fakes.html "," instead of "." denotes a fake. It seems what Tom says may be spot on...some kind of crossover lens...What's the value of such a lens?

Thanks for your kind help guys!

 

[raid]

Just buy the set and let us know how much you love it.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

OK, here's the info. The lens serial number is 2869410. It has meters marking with lowercase "m" instead of "M", the red arrow seems to be small. But it has aperture numbers in "5,6" form instead of "5.6". A dog??? What's your take?

The leica serial number is 486238.

Buy it. Well worth it. Sounds real enough to me, whether assembled in Germany during the war or of German parts after the war.

If you do not like it, PM me. You will not lose any money on the deal.

 

[ZeissFan]

These "how much is it worth?" questions are always difficult to answer. This is even more difficult without seeing a photo of the lens in question.

However, I would tend to agree that it's probably worth more than what the seller wants -- the body and lens each are probably worth more than what the seller is asking, so I would buy it with the proviso that you win some and lose some.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I just finished rebuilding a 5cm F1.5 lens.

Looking at the Rear, it looks like 2726739, a Wartime LTM Sonnar.

Looking at the front, it is a genuine Zk Sonnar.

German parts, assembled in Russia. Now collimated and ready to go!

 

[photovdz]

I remember buying a IIIc + CZJ sonnar T 1,5 on ebay for 120$ in the usa... and when I took the lens off it was a red curtain ;-)
but that happens once in a lifetime...

 

[LeicaTom]

I remember buying a IIIc + CZJ sonnar T 1,5 on ebay for 120$ in the usa... and when I took the lens off it was a red curtain ;-)
but that happens once in a lifetime...

Hahahhahaaha that may have been the FIRST vintage Leica I almost bought in 1989 hahahahahah! I was in Nuremberg, Germany and I was offered the very same camera, and me being like a novice then knowing NOTHING about WW2 era cameras, took one look at it and said, ohh well the Curtain`s kool, but who the hell would put a Zeiss lens on a Leica???????

I bought a Mint- Minus 1939 IIIa with a Summitar and case and a vintage black ring filter set, instead......

The IIIC/CZJ Sonnar combo was "the one that got away" 😛

Tom

 

[photovdz]

after discussion with the owner... it was his father's leica... the father being a high ranking officer at the end of the war...
and by the way the IIIc was factory modified to use with the rare flash synch bottom...

It's rebuild now... and the lens is optically perfect although the body is a bit dull...