Biometar 35mm 2.8??

[Philipp]

Hello,

today I was offered a Zeiss Biometar 35/2.8 lens in contax-mount. I have never heard of this lens and I could find next to nothing about it on the internet. As I read on the internet, it was build after the second world war by the east-german part of zeiss. That is all I know. What would be a fair price for this lens in good condition? Can anybody tell me something about this lens?

Regards,
Philipp

 

[batterytypehah!]

This is what Stephen Gandy has to say about it:

"35/2.8 Biometer, East German, will fit post war IIa / IIIa"

(It's misspelled, so you may not have found this yet.)

One completed listing on ebay. "Excellent" condition, went for GBP 325...

 

[Honu-Hugger]

The Biometar is similar in design to the 35/3.5 Planar (5 element Gauss) and is a nice lens to both use and for the collection. Zeiss designed the lens before the war as a less expensive alternative to the 35/2.8 Biogon (Sonnar design, expensive to manufacture). It was put into production post war by Carl Zeiss Jena and along with the Planar both lenses did not sell well. Contax buyers apparently were not interested in less expensive lenses for their high priced cameras, the35/2.8 Biogon sold very well.

Because of the scarceness both the Biometar and the Planar have a relatively high value (Biometar more than the Planar). Both are also nice lenses to use (I have both) but the Biometar is not finished as nice as the Zeiss-Opton lenses (mine has poor quality plating on the mounting ring and a light alloy barrel). All in all, a nice piece of Zeiss history and a very useable, collectible lens.