dexdog
Veteran
Two pics wide open at about one meter, and one pic at f4 about 20 meters. Lens acts like a Sonnar
Carl Zeiss Jena Prototypes, Experimental, and Transition Lenses,
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dexdog
Veteran
Overall, the level of craftsmanship on this lens is very good, quality machining, no crunchy threading and everything fits together tightly. Black market or not, this is a well-made lens
"Irregular Production" seems to fit these lenses. Cobbled together, in a time after the war where people did what they needed to do to survive.
Miles.
Beamsplitter
Extremely Rare Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar f/1.5 58mm Red T M39 LTM mount Leica | eBay
Extremely Rare Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar f/1.5 58mm lens m39 LTM mount for Leica. Lens was checked and works good. The glass has a lot of cleaning marks, air bubbles and dots. They don’t impact on images quality. No deep scratches, no cracks, no haze, no blemishes. Aperture works excellent...
www.ebay.com
I'd love to buy this for $300!
It's worth $300- maybe as high as $500. Not $2,200. That's 1.5x what I paid for my Nikkor-SC 5cm F1.5, and it has a Canon III attached to it.
Räuber
Well-known
This seller did get this lens for 250 bugs and now sells it for 10 times as much.
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 1,5/5,8 T ( red T ) Lens M39 Screw Mount | eBay
Gut erhalten, mit äußerlichen Gebrauchsspuren. Funktionen sind einwandfrei. mit Rechnung!
www.ebay.de
TenEleven
Well-known
The "Sturzvisier" Sonnars are beautiful lenses when they work well and if you get a sharp copy.Extremely Rare Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar f/1.5 58mm Red T M39 LTM mount Leica | eBay
Extremely Rare Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar f/1.5 58mm lens m39 LTM mount for Leica. Lens was checked and works good. The glass has a lot of cleaning marks, air bubbles and dots. They don’t impact on images quality. No deep scratches, no cracks, no haze, no blemishes. Aperture works excellent...www.ebay.com
I'd love to buy this for $300!
BUT they are not worth what's being asked by this scalper. Maybe, as Brian said $500.
The problem is that these lenses were made to be bomb sights, that means the optics and - more importantly - the QA are to that standard. It has to work as a bomb sight. It did not have to be a great photographic lens with very high resolving power. In accordance with this, I have seen a wide gamut (more than usual for CZJ) for the optical quality among these lenses.
And I don't think it's all down to the guys who refitted these lenses into Leica and Contax mounts...
Miles.
Beamsplitter
Here’s a recent acquisition that has some fun features: CZJ 5cm F1.5 #1,754,646
- Serial # indicates the end of v2 formula, but I don’t know how to confirm.
- Both front and rear elements are coated showing mostly a purple hue
- The lens is marked “Made in Germany twice — I haven’t seen the engraving on the back like that with many examples, but that’s probably because it’s always hidden 😄
- Serial # indicates the end of v2 formula, but I don’t know how to confirm.
- Both front and rear elements are coated showing mostly a purple hue
- The lens is marked “Made in Germany twice — I haven’t seen the engraving on the back like that with many examples, but that’s probably because it’s always hidden 😄
It is a V3 Sonnar, I have one from the same batch and have worked on more. Mine, and one other in the batch both have coated front elements. These were made after the Vaccum deposition equipment was installed- and could be some "let's see what this thing does" lenses.
Miles.
Beamsplitter
Good to know! Are "all" the 175 batch lenses likely v3?
Maybe we should rename this thread to "let's see what this thing does"...
Miles.
Beamsplitter
Same optics but the mount housing is different: the rear collar covers much more of the optics on the #175 but the knurling is taller on the #182.
I believe they are. I bought the 166xxxx Sonnar to take apart- and it is a V3.
My 175xxxx is the first Sonnar that I converted to LTM using a J-3. The focal length of my 5cm F1.5 is close enough to the Leica standard that is is accurate at F1.5 from close-up to infinity.
Wide-Open on my Bessa R2, long gone.
Last edited:
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Is there much difference between the prewar, wartime and postwar Sonnars, optically?
Miles.
Beamsplitter
Erik, you should check out @TenEleven very helpful guide:
TenEleven's Zeiss Contax (I, II, IIa) Lens Compendium
I have had the luck to be able to extensively shoot and sample most of Zeiss' fantastic lens line-up for the classic Contax system. The question "Which lens should I buy next?" is a common one and thus I decided to crib the style from the head-bartender and write a few lines for each of the...
rangefinderforum.com
Yes- big changes from the v2 (early, as you know), v3 (pre-war), and v4 (wartime, postwar). There is also a v5 revised version of the West German Sonnar. I need to look at the latter, early and late post-war West German lenses.
TenEleven
Well-known
Here's an interesting one I just stumbled upon. Exacta mount.
A 6cm f/1.5 Sonnar in Exacta mount. Labelled Carl Zeiss Jena... Serial Number of 2.9million. So, post war and likely made under USSR occupation.
The 6cm makes sense here since it would need the extra flange-back to clear the flipping mirror.
According to my Thiele the serial number belongs to a batch of 28mm f/8 Tessars for Contax made in 1946. Strange...
Also interesting. Not sure what I make of it, yet.
More pictures at the listing:
A 6cm f/1.5 Sonnar in Exacta mount. Labelled Carl Zeiss Jena... Serial Number of 2.9million. So, post war and likely made under USSR occupation.
The 6cm makes sense here since it would need the extra flange-back to clear the flipping mirror.
According to my Thiele the serial number belongs to a batch of 28mm f/8 Tessars for Contax made in 1946. Strange...
Also interesting. Not sure what I make of it, yet.
More pictures at the listing:
Pardon Our Interruption...
www.ebay.com
Miles.
Beamsplitter
I saw that lens awhile back.. very odd.
Part of me wonders if it's the same glass as the 58mm & 60mm Sonnars and someone went, "can you make one for my Exakta?"
TenEleven
Well-known
That's what I thought, too but the rear lens group housing is very different from these "Sturzvisier" Sonnars. The timing would however fit. Also the rear group has a weird constriction in its optical path that I do not think is entirely down to balsam failure. Which again would be different.
I sadly do not know enough about Exacta from that period to say whether the design of the lens mount itself is odd or not. The knurling seems to fit. However the "skirt" which has the mount around the rear of the lens is odd and feels home-made. However that may be either due to wear and/or it being made after a devastating war where it was not easy to make stuff to the level of fit and finish of before.
Räuber
Well-known
Don't be fooled by the serial number. All the engravings have been made by someone other than Carl Zeiss Jena. No Soviet copy but German black market craftsman. The serial belongs to a Contax Tessar 2,8cm f8 from 1946. So no valid Zeiss lens in any way. To date such a lens is difficult. I haven't seen such kid of body yet. It differs from all other 6cm, 5,8cm Sonnars. I'm only sure that it was build after the war in Germany (and not by Carl Zeiss Jena).
TenEleven
Well-known
Reading my first post (very carefully) one will find that I pretty much already wrote that. 😉
No offense taken, though!
I do find it interesting that the aperture engraving is a line akin to the wartime LTM (and Contax mount) Sonnars though. Most likely an (ex) Zeiss worker who took on some extra projects to get food for himself or his family.
Still does not explain where the lens comes from though. Again the rear section is quite different from the 5.8cm and 6.0cm "Leica" Sonnar lenses I have seen so far.