Coated 1936 5cm F1.5 CZJ Sonnar, SN 190xxxx

Sonnar Brian

Sonnar Brian

Product of the Fifties
Staff member
Local time
8:45 AM
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
19,625
This Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5cm F1.5 is a bit of a mystery. Bought off of Ebay, SN190xxxx block. It arrived with a lot of oil on the blades, internal haze, no signs of ever being opened. The namering of these Sonnars is held in place with black paint on the filter threads, usually makes getting the ring off fairly difficult. It’s easy to tell when one has been worked on- marks in the paint and on the namering. My lightweight spanner was no match for the paint, and out came the heavy duty spanner- got the ring off with a lot of resistance. Same with the front triplet, retaining ring firmly in place. Cleaned the glass and realized all of the surfaces were coated. Some light cleaning marks on the front element and rear surface, but nothing bad. All the haze cleaned off, flood cleaned the blades, took the aperture ring off to get out the original grease. This was running, and is the source of oil on the blades. Relubed with a little vacuum pump grease.

Tested the lens on the Olympus EP2 using a contax to M-Mount, and M-Mount to u-43.

At F1.5:



100% crop:



FOR COMPARISON, an Uncoated SN207xxxxx lens with near perfect glass, also CLA’d.





Back to the Coated lens:

At F1.5:



100% crop:



At F4:



100% crop



The earliest Sonnar "T" that I have is a SN255xxxx block. This one is a surprise, bit of a mystery. I have a Sonnar that was coated after manufacture, and it is easy to find the signs that it had been disassembled, coated, and put back together. This lens shows no signs of ever being worked on. Zeiss started coating lenses in the mid 1930s, this lens has a serial number that dates it to 1936.

"Could Be" one of the earliest of the coated Sonnars.
 
A Web of Mystery...

At F1.5





At F1.5, "Flare test",



I'm happy. This lens will be converted to LTM, a reversible process. I keep the original shim in the Contax mount- can put it back when i want.
 
The uncoated one is very nice. I love it. Real softish, yet detailed look. The coated one is totally different. Both fine lenses for sure.
 
The Uncoated lens at F1.5, on the EP2.



The colors are more muted. The lens coating really changes the rendering of the lens. I will do a test of coated/uncoated Sonnars on the Leica soon. I have two uncoated pre-war Sonnars, two fully coated pre-war Sonnars, and one prewar Sonnar with a coated front element.
 
Thankyou for that information- that makes a lot of sense. The new process had to be tested, and these lenses were too valuable to just sit in a cabinet in the lab.
 
I suddenly feel the urge to report back to Zeiss on the successful life-cycle testing of their coated optics...
 
Congrats Brian - what a great find!! If you could send me the full serial number, I would like to pass it on to be included in the Zeiss Historica Files (ex Charlie Barringer). I could also find out if there were others coated ones that age in return.

The shots are great stuff indeed!!
 
Wow, beautiful imagery.

Thank you for re-igniting my enthusiasm for this lens.

I have one, that I use far far too infrequently.

Vick
 
One has to wonder if this is the famous fine grain oxidation and it's dichroic filter effect which inspired coatings---as I recently learned, hehe. Since the lens was never opened, nobody had a chance to mess with it :)
 
Its time to buy a Contax 50 F1.5 Sonnar!!!! I have put it off too long!!! Thanks for the information Brian, and the amazing images. I really do love Ziess glass and Ziess copies, cant get enough! Kievman
 
uhoh7 said:
One has to wonder if this is the famous fine grain oxidation and it's dichroic filter effect which inspired coatings---as I recently learned, hehe. Since the lens was never opened, nobody had a chance to mess with it :)
Click to expand...

No- this lens is from the test batch of coated Sonnars. "Bloom" on a lens tends to be uneven. It acts as a coating. Now, my pre-war 9cm F4 Elmar has a Bloom on it that is almost as good as a Coated lens.

Bloom acts like an anti-reflection coating, and does not act as a dichroic coating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-reflection_coating

Dichroic filters use thin-film technology to allow a specified band of light to pass through, and to reflect others. The Hot Mirror Filter/ IR reflecting filter used for the M8 is an example of a dichroic filter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichroic_filter

You work around optical engineers for over 30 years, you pick up a few things.
 
Last edited:
Looks like a good lens Brian. So interesting to see your daughter grow up through all of these test photos!
 
And this is with the Carl Zeiss 50mm F1.5, wide-open on the M9 using an Amedeo Adapter-





That Dexdog will be receiving.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom