Fed Zorki f. M39, 5cm/1,5 SK 1948 lens????

[Bill58]

Is this a good lens? Is this the fabled Sonnar copy? How about $140 for it?

Thanks,

 

[Nickfed]

Could be. It could also be a tarted-up J-3, so look closely.

 

[Bill58]

Maybe, but it's in the inventory of a good dealer. Also, what about the year? Does this mean it could have been made from actual Zeiss parts?

 

[rxmd]

It could. If the lens is genuine, I would almost with certainty expect at least the glass to be German.

See attached the section from p. 144 of Princelle on the Jupiter-3 variants from KMZ:

Princelle is not an exhaustive source, but he lists two ZK variants, one for the FED-Zorki with a distinct shape of the focusing ring, and another with "ears" on the aperture ring. Maybe someone with more FSU collecting experience could chime in here if they have or have seen other variants as well? Then again, the fact that something doesn't look as in Princelle doesn't mean by far that it never existed.

It could also be a fake. Reputable dealers are sometimes also fooled by fakes.

 

[Nickfed]

Maybe, but it's in the inventory of a good dealer. Also, what about the year? Does this mean it could have been made from actual Zeiss parts?

The year is right, see rxmd, and the earliest version may be distinctive enough to require more than merely faking the inner retaining ring. I imagine only the glass is actual Zeiss, after all, not many Zeiss lenses found their way onto Leicas. In the light of that, and Soviet glass being the strength of Soviet lenses, the Zeiss glass is not so much a criterion for greatness. The main asset of a 3K is its curiosity interest.

 

[Bill58]

Many thanks, guys. I think I'll take the plunge and pray a lot. Perhaps the reference to "SK" is a typo and they really meant "ZK"?

At least I'm NOT buying from photoarsenal!!!!!!!!!

Bill

 

[rxmd]

Many thanks, guys. I think I'll take the plunge and pray a lot.

Good luck 🙂

Perhaps the reference to "SK" is a typo and they really meant "ZK"?

Oh, the "S" stands for Sonnar. The S-sound in "Sonnar" is voiced in Russian just as it is in German, and Russian has its own letter for that; hence "Зоннар Красногорский" ("Sonnar from Krasnogorsk"), short "ЗК", transliterated ZK.

Philipp