Collapsible Tessars for Contax

The Sonnar 5cm F1.5 dropped the black trim at about SN175xxxx. I have seen lenses on Ebay in that range with the black trim on the mount, my SN175 block lens does not have it. Makes sense that the black trim was dropped at about the time the formula changed on the F2.8 lens.

Were the later Sonnar lenses with a chrome rim? I never paid attention to this. The "Dresden" Tessar lenses had a distinct look. I use a clamp on lens hood with my Tessar.
 
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The Sonnar 5cm F1.5 dropped the black trim at about SN175xxxx. I have seen lenses on Ebay in that range with the black trim on the mount, my SN175 block lens does not have it. Makes sense that the black trim was dropped at about the time the formula changed on the F2.8 lens.

Not sure when the black rim was dropped. I have a 165 series 5cm/2 Sonnar that has the black trim, and a 166 series 5cm/1.5 Sonnar that is all chrome.
 
The latest Ebay find- 5cm f1.5 Sonnar, Black trim, and marked "Made In Germany".

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The before picture. Some corrosion on the metal, but cleaned up nicely with silver polish. The glass looks very clean now.
 
Raid- The Tessar 5cm F2.8 was recomputed a couple of times throughout it's run with Zeiss. It was recomputer ~1960 using the more modern glass. I suspect mention of Lanthanum glass was in regard to that time-frame. I have that lens on a dead Contaflex, should convert it to LTM or u43.
 
I have bad news about the recently purchased lens. I used the on the EP-2, and I noticed today (on the white sand images) a greyish looking smudge on all images. I then took a 10x lupe,and I inspected the lens by a light source. There is a small black spot behind a lens element. It is small, and I cannot make out whether it is fungus or some other object.

Is this something that should make me send back the lens, or should I ask for a discount, or what
 
If it took a 10x loupe to see it, should not have any affect.

Bubbles in the glass often look like a black spot.

Fungus- looks like a pider web, or a snow flake. It is big enough to see with your eye.
 
I have bad news about the recently purchased lens. I used the on the EP-2, and I noticed today (on the white sand images) a greyish looking smudge on all images. I then took a 10x lupe,and I inspected the lens by a light source. There is a small black spot behind a lens element. It is small, and I cannot make out whether it is fungus or some other object.

Is this something that should make me send back the lens, or should I ask for a discount, or what

Most likely dust on your sensor, see if it changes in size with different apertures. Dust on the sensor will be most apparent at a small aperture f16
Nik
 
If it took a 10x loupe to see it, should not have any affect.

Bubbles in the glass often look like a black spot.

Fungus- looks like a pider web, or a snow flake. It is big enough to see with your eye.

I saw the smudge on the images. It does not show up in images with a darker background. A cleaning may do the job. The seller is offering me to send the lens back for a full refund or he gives me a partial refund and I keep the lens. I may go the latter route since the lens looks very clean from the outside and the price was relatively low.
 
Most likely dust on your sensor, see if it changes in size with different apertures. Dust on the sensor will be most apparent at a small aperture f16
Nik

I thought that too at first, but I switched lenses, and there was no smudge.

edited: I went up this thread to the three posted images by me at f 2.8. The first image has a light top background, and there is no smudge. Maybe there are two confounded problems .... maybe the f 16 aperture lets the smudge been seen ..
 
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