Early CZJ 5cm F1.5 Sonnar "T".

[Sonnar Brian]

The lens in the last auction is a 58mm F1.5. These are uncommon, and the origin is not clear.

I have a Zeiss Leather pouch that came with a 5cm F1.5 pre-war lens, was in Contax mount.

 

[menos]

Thanks Brian - I take it, that uncommon = rare = more expensive then.

 

[johannielscom]

I wonder who bought the 300*** series lens in a Cook & Perkins mount last weekend - I was bidding and the system told me my bid was leading (at the final selling price) but I didn't get it - and there was no record of my bid in the bid history (OK, I know ebay stinks, but you have to try).

Anyway, somebody got a mount that is probably worth more than the lens....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270789653377&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Wouldn't necessarily say that, John!

According to Thiele, that lens came from a batch of 600 Contax lenses completed 18.04.47. Well into the Soviet era, it may have been one of the last batches with the CZJ marking to come out of Germany before the Russians started to pack it all up.

Either this once was a Contax lens that was later set into a C&P mount, or it was an optical cell delivered to the UK to be fitted in a C&P mount.

Fair price, sad it's not yours now 🙁

 

[uhoh7]

One thing I find interesting is the difference in OOF rendering between the sonnar 1.5s and the nikon 5cm 1.4s

Just as they got the mount wrong, hehe, they have something in the lens design which makes it stand distinct from the sonnar.

I do love the nikon--I don't have the fancy later one, but mine is very clean and very sharp close in. My sonnar is not in shape yet for a real test, but I suspect the nikon is sharper at 2 meters.

The nikon OOF I am often amazed with--and it's novel to my eye, so I like it. But as you show in your bokeh shot, the sonnar has more symetry in OOF areas.

Or am I mistaken about all this? As you all know OOF varies tremendously between shots with the same lens, so perhaps the sonnar really will do this:

this same lens is poor at infinity

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Nikkor 5cm F1.4 has more harsh Bokeh than any of the Sonnars that I have used. It's inherent in the design- I have several of them, all almost identical in their rendering.

The Nikkor 5cm f1.4 Sonnar formula lens underwent one major revision in the optical formula- at about the time that the Nikon S2 was being designed. The "NKT" and very early Japan lenses are not as harsh as the later F1.4's. The diameter of the optics was increased, as well as the fixtures used to hold them. I learned this when trying to replace the filter ring of a damaged 5005 series lens with one from a 34x lens. The front element passed throught the fixture, all of the threads were different. So- my speculation, when nikon moved to a 24x36 format from the 24x34 format of the Nikon S and M, they had to increase the diameter of the optics to improve vignetting. In doing so- harsh bokeh to optimize for close-up and wide-open performance.

This is with a Nikkor 5cm f1.4, wide-open on the Nikon SP:

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I optimized a collapsible 5cm f2 sonnar, coated post-manufacture, for the Nikon RF's. It was used as an enlarger lens, in a non-focus 39mm mount. I transplanted the glass back to a collapsible fixture. My only collapsible lens for a Nikon RF.

Smooth.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Back to the 1938 CZJ Sonnar 5cm F1.5, wide-open on the M9.

100% crop

This lens does better at infinity than the ZK Sonnar tested yesterday. I have it set up for the helical to go slightly past infinity: positioned the helical a little deeper into the Mount when rebuilding the Jupiter-3 used to convert it.

100% crop of intended focus. Not bad, even better stopped down to F2.8.

 

[gzuiko]

The Nikkor 5cm F1.4 has more harsh Bokeh than any of the Sonnars that I have used. It's inherent in the design- I have several of them, all almost identical in their rendering.

The Nikkor 5cm f1.4 Sonnar formula lens underwent one major revision in the optical formula- at about the time that the Nikon S2 was being designed. The "NKT" and very early Japan lenses are not as harsh as the later F1.4's. The diameter of the optics was increased, as well as the fixtures used to hold them. I learned this when trying to replace the filter ring of a damaged 5005 series lens with one from a 34x lens. The front element passed throught the fixture, all of the threads were different. So- my speculation, when nikon moved to a 24x36 format from the 24x34 format of the Nikon S and M, they had to increase the diameter of the optics to improve vignetting. In doing so- harsh bokeh to optimize for close-up and wide-open performance.

This is with a Nikkor 5cm f1.4, wide-open on the Nikon SP:

My NKT f1.4 has very nice smooth bokeh. It's just post 5005 series, in the 317XXX range. Still my favorite lens of all time. Optimized for close up, great for portraits. Not so hot at infinity.

Jim