Any CZJ Experts Here !

[David Murphy]

I obtained a Carl Zeiss Jena Collapsible Sonnar for Zeiss Contax last summer for a modest price and I am now just getting around to trying it with film. It's on my Kiev 4 since I'm not so lucky as to own a real Contax.

Does anyone know anything about these, what coatings they have (if any), how rare they are, or what they are really worth ? I've seen some on eBay at high prices, others at low prices -- sometimes with peddled with various verbiage about their uniqueness etc., other times not ! Are they all pre-war Contax and if so what really are the ramifications of that ?

Mine has a ton of cleaning scratches and light oil on the blades, but on the whole the glass is very clear. It fits nicely on to my Kiev and the rangefinder coupling even looks accurate. I am film testing it this week.

 

[furcafe]

They're pretty common as they were the standard lens that came w/most Contax II's & III's before WWII. Almost all are uncoated, as is yours (no red "T" marking for Zeiss coatings, or tell-tale blue color for those coated in the aftermarket).

I obtained a Carl Zeiss Jena Collapsible Sonnar for Zeiss Contax last summer for a modest price and I am now just getting around to trying it with film. It's on my Kiev 4 since I'm not so lucky as to own a real Contax.

Does anyone know anything about these, what coatings they have (if any), how rare they are, or what they are really worth ? I've seen some on eBay at high prices, others at low prices -- sometimes with peddled with various verbiage about their uniqueness etc., other times not ! Are they all pre-war Contax and if so what really are the ramifications of that ?

Mine has a ton of cleaning scratches and light oil on the blades, but on the whole the glass is very clear. It fits nicely on to my Kiev and the rangefinder coupling even looks accurate. I am film testing it this week.

 

[FrankS]

Right. My understanding is that the the collapsible f2 Sonnar was the most common pre-war 50mm Sonnar version.

I'll get around to using it (and other versions) once my Contax returns from Henry Scherer.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=34457&cat=5085

 

[ZeissFan]

To add to the other comments, the one thing that you'll find on many of the uncoated lenses is cleaning marks. That applies to lenses from all manufacturers, not just the Sonnar.

I can see the cleaning marks that you mention. Hopefully, they won't degrade the image quality too much. You might notice some lowering of contrast in the center of the image. But it's one of those things that you need to test.

Wide open, it's an OK performer, but I don't think as good as the postwar f/2.0 Sonnar. When stopped down, I think you'll be plenty impressed by it, but that's true of most high-quality lenses in that they generally benefit from being shot while stopped down.

The collapsible Sonnar is not rare. I wouldn't pay more than $75 for one, and I wouldn't buy one without a guarantee that it is free of cleaning marks. The prices charged on eBay for some of this stuff are just as ridiculous as the claims.

Near the end of WWII, some of the coated Sonnars were produced in a light allow mount and converted to the Leica thread mount. These seem to be less common, which means people ask prices that are higher than normal. And because it will fit a Leica, someone generally will be willing to pay more for it than it's really worth.

One of the better deals in this focal length is the East German rigid coated f/2.0 Sonnar. And one of the all-time best 50mm lenses is the West German coated f/1.5 Sonnar. The West German rigid f/2.0 Sonnar also is an excellent lens, and you often can find one for around $125.

 

[David Murphy]

Well gentlemen thanks for that learned information. It seems then that my Sonnar is a humble little lens compared to the 5cm F1.5 coated mentioned above, but at least it's pretty. I paid $51 shipped for it, so I can't complain. I am midway through a roll of film and I'll post some samples on this thread in a few days.

I was once a skeptic of collapsible lenses till I used a Leica Summitar -- it's image quality made me a believer (and a believer that Leica adoration actually had some foundation in reality). Even though the Summitar has some sort of interference when collapsed on my Bessa R, I like the concept of collapsible lenses, and the Sonnar is especially compact when collapsed.