65mm f/2.8 Flektogon Zeiss Jena

[naren]

This lens is an interesting topic. I bought a Pentacon (DDR or Soviet post-war 120 slr) system on eBay. I spent a long time getting it together and I think ultimately saw 1 of these lenses on there. Mine was purchased through a great store I used to frequent years ago (I must put a plug here for Pro Camera of Charlottelville, VA for CLA's).

The lens looks to be in excellent condition, although looking through it just now I wonder if there is some fungus... and it's always had a musty old smell since I got it. The curious thing about the lens though is that there is a thumbprint smack dab in the middle of one of the lens elements. I sent it back to the shop to see if they'd take it apart and clean it, but they told me that couldn't be done and it shouldn't affect the image quality (now that is hard to believe!)

A gentleman who used to work at the darkroom where I printed for years always urged me to stay away from the Pentacons (by the way the lenses also fit some 120 rangefinders camera by Kiev I bet?). In fact they were a bear to use for a long time- I felt there was a huge learning curve with these cameras... But getting back to the lens, he said as well as the cameras they were made by "Russians" paid with vodka! He said the joke was that such a fingerprint was their stamp of approval. I am still shocked that it is there and it does make me look a little less fondly upon this lens. The serial number by the way is 6372705 and if anyone can tell me more about it that would be great. Thanks.

 

[Mark Wood]

There's a lot of Praktisix/Pentacon Six information (and lens tests - including the Flektogon 65/2.8) at:

http://www.pentaconsix.com/

 

[rxmd]

The Carl Zeiss Jena lenses certainly weren't made by Russians, inebriated or otherwise, and a fingerprint is unpleasant on any lens, whether it's East German, West German, Japanese or from the Moon. You can't really attribute it to the manufacturer, anyone can take a lens apart. The problem with the Flektogons is that they are easily decentered during reassembly, so if it was taken apart by a, well, semi-professional who leaves fingerprints, chances are the centering is off as well.

That said, the Flektogons are generally quite decent wideangles. I only have the 50/f4. The 65/f2.8 in medium format is said to be a bit of an ugly stepchild; it's a fairly early lens, available only with old single coating which makes it susceptible to flare. The "Mother of Lens Tests" says that it "deserved to be discontinued". It's also the source of many lens hoods mistakenly used by Flektogon 50/4 users who then complain about vignetting.

The Russians built a modified copy, the 65/f3.5 Mir-3, probably for the Kiev 6C. Those still pop up every now and then at auctions for a song, and Arax sells a multi-coated version; the lens is decent and very well built, but half a stop slower. Later they dropped that and produced the completely different and significantly more compact 65/f3.5 Mir-36 instead, which I would recommend getting if you want to use a 65mm lens on the Pentacon Six or Kiev. I've used both, they are decent regarding optical quality, but I'd get the later Mir-36, it's smaller, sharper and I like the tonal rendering better.

Philipp

 

[naren]

thanks for the info. I know firsthand the flare problems you speak of. I started using the lens before acquiring the hard to find hood, but even with the hood I think you can't even shoot in the direction of the sun without someone flagging you, because the front element is just so massive. It is a pretty cool looking lens though for the bookshelf, which is where the pentacons are headed. I'd like to have a medium format system in the future for b&w film but I am in no rush. I'm pretty sure it will be a Mamiya 7.