5cm 3.5 Zeiss Tessar: First look

[raid]

Leigh was kind enough to send me this lens for a lens project I have.
I took the lens also for a spin by itself and outside the lens comparisons.

The mix of vintage lens with Reala 100 film is great.

 

[benmacphoto]

Great shot, what year was the Tessar from?

 

[Krosya]

Great photo and looks like lens performs very nice!

 

[dexdog]

Raid, which 50mm Tessar was the picture taken with - the pre-WW2 Tessar, the post WW2 CZJ, or the ZO/CZ 3.5?
In any case, it looks like coated lens

 

[raid]

I mailed off the lens yesterday. I think, it is a rigid post WWII CZJ 5cm 3.5 Tessar. I don't know the year in which this lens was made.

Leigh referred to this lens as the last lens by Zeiss.

 

[raid]

 

[raid]

excuse the file size, but I want you to see the details.

 

[dexdog]

Really sharp, medium contrast, guessing that it is the ZO-CZ rigid lens. A beautiful lens, regardless.

 

[raid]

Really sharp, medium contrast, guessing that it is the ZO-CZ rigid lens. A beautiful lens, regardless.

Mark,

So the rigid lens is the Zeiss Opton? It is an awesome lens regardless of its age. I now see why it has such a good reputation. Zeiss can take a 3.5 max aperture lens design and perfect it.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Very nice, thanks, Raid! Yet another lens to lust after...

 

[ZeissFan]

If it was a post-war lens, then it should be the noncollapsible West German Zeiss-Opton f/3.5 Tessar. As I recall, the East German operation in Jena didn't make any 50mm Tessar for the Contax rangefinder.

I've toyed buying one of these lenses from time to time, and I like the look of the Tessar.

 

[raid]

I have had the older Tessar 5cm 2.8, but sold it here. The 3.5 version seems to be sharper.

 

[raid]

Is the Exakta mount 5cm 3.5 CZJ similar in optical properties to the Post WWII rigid 5cm 3.5?

 

[Elmar Lang]

The post-war Zeiss-Opton tessar 50/3,5 is quite rare to find.

Its quality is doubtless, giving sharp, not excessively contrasted pictures. This, from what I've been told from colleagues.

I have it in the Contax-II outfit bought at the end of the past year, but haven't yet had the chance to try it...

Enzo

 

[raid]

You have a good find, Enzo. I wondered how much of a difference in optical quality (and not in rarity) is there between a CZJ (for Exakta) and a Tessar for the Conatx.

 

[furcafe]

Actually, I think CZJ made a collapsible, T-coated 5cm/3.5 right at the end of the war & into the early post-war period. I know I have 1 from c.1945.

As I recall, the East German operation in Jena didn't make any 50mm Tessar for the Contax rangefinder.

 

[Gareth Rees]

I like the images.
I too have a rigid Tessar 50mm f:3.5 on my 111a. Not sure when it was made.
Can anyone help?
The no is 1003550.

 

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

to know if the Jena plants made any 3,5 Tessar with the Contax mount after 1945, I'd better check in Kuc's "Auf den Spuren der Contax" vol. II.

Inherited from my father, I have a Contax-S SLR with both the CZJ Biotar 2/58 and the Tessar 3,5/50. It's years since I've used both lenses for the last time, but I remember that the Tessar gave very fine results, kind of sharper than the also very fine Biotar.

I've called today a friend of mine who uses a western Zeiss-Opton Tessar 3,5/50 with his RF Contax: he confirms that it gives excellent results and he likes it a lot, besides its already mentioned, relative rarity (but this latter aspect is more interesting to collectors than to users like us). I need to shoot a film with my one, as soon as possible.

Best wishes,

Enzo

 

[S.H.]

Hello,

to know if the Jena plants made any 3,5 Tessar with the Contax mount after 1945, I'd better check in Kuc's "Auf den Spuren der Contax" vol. II.

Inherited from my father, I have a Contax-S SLR with both the CZJ Biotar 2/58 and the Tessar 3,5/50. It's years since I've used both lenses for the last time, but I remember that the Tessar gave very fine results, kind of sharper than the also very fine Biotar.

I've called today a friend of mine who uses a western Zeiss-Opton Tessar 3,5/50 with his RF Contax: he confirms that it gives excellent results and he likes it a lot, besides its already mentioned, relative rarity (but this latter aspect is more interesting to collectors than to users like us). I need to shoot a film with my one, as soon as possible.

Best wishes,

Enzo

Some coated collapsible tessars were made by Zeiss Jena (with serials > 300000 ) after 1945. I just lost an eBay auction for one this morning 🙁. But I won a prewar collapsible sonnar, hopefully with clean lenses 🙂. Unscratched Contax lenses can be hard to find.