Carl Zeiss LTM Finally! ~ I bought a "wartime" 1943 CZJ Sonnar T f1.5/50 in LTM

[dexdog]

The 5cm/f1.5 lens with 285 series serial number in the aluminum barrel may be a CZJ lens, but looks to be re-mounted at least in part in a Jupiter-3 barrel, as judged by the upper case 'M' on the focusing ring, and the lack of 'ears' on the aperture ring. Serial number corresponds to CZJ production records of December 1945 or so; I am not near my copy of Thiele's book of CZJ lenses, or I could look it up for you. I have a lens with a very close serial number, and it is a real CZJ product, with serial number stamped on the rear element, lower case 'm', ears on the aperture ring and internal parts numbers that match. The chrome lens in the first picture looks to be a well-made custom remount of an uncoated f2 lens produced in 1936 or so.

Best way to check out the f1.5 lens is unscrew the lens, and check for the last six digits of the serial number stamped on the rear element- this is usually a reliable indicator, although not dispositive in and of itself.

 

[Membedeep]

The 1.5 lens is gone, several years ago. But no matter what it was, I took some great pictures with it...

The 2/50 Sonnar in brass looks to be factory modified. And that's because it also has the metering markings. I took some pictures with it on my M1 - no rangefinder. It was not that great, but from only a single roll for testing, is not that bad. Especially from a crappy Fuji film scanned in an ordinary Film Center.

 

[Membedeep]

Your lens Sr.No. 2230604 could be a modified Contax lens .
5,000 5cm f2 Sonnars (Sr.Nos 2227201-2232200) in Contax mount completed 28.02.38 (some lenses in Contaflex twin lens mount).
Strange that you say that is in an aluminium mount at this date 1938.They are usually in chromed brass pre-war mounts.Could be that the 1938 beauty ring has been fitted to a post-war aluminium mount reparation lens in the early post-war years to try to make it look like a pre-war lens and increase its commercial value?.

No, I said that this one is in chromed brass 🙂 The 1.5/50 was in aluminum.

 

[johannielscom]

I sold off my Sonnars recently because I did not shoot them enough and needed to invest the money in lenses that would get shot. Figured out pretty quick that I should hang on to the Jupiter-9. Too few people would recognize it for what it is and I did not want to let it go for petty cash. Today, I'm again happy I kept it, and will continue to do so!

 

[dexdog]

I sold off my Sonnars recently...

Those are very sad words, Johan 😀. I seem to keep buying the things- it's almost an addiction.

 

[johannielscom]

Those are very sad words, Johan 😀. I seem to keep buying the things- it's almost an addiction.

The addictiveness of the Sonnars I have fully fathomed, but the wallet got in distress as I was considering the purchase of other lenses I wanted to shoot with and keeping the Sonnars... It was too much of a financial burden so they had to go.

For shooting I've replaced them with a Leica II (first batch of 1,000 from 1932), an unnumbered, uncoated, nickel, 11 o'clock Elmar 50/3.5 and the uncoated 1939 Elmar 90/4.0 I once bought from Tom, which pointed out that sharp and specific uncoated-prewar-lens look to me in the first place.

I will not be posting a shot of the camera and lenses in this Sonnar thread for obvious reasons. There's a shot of this kit in my Flickr set Gear and such. There's even some shots of the Sonnar lenses in there!

 

[johannielscom]

That 1943 50/1.5 Sonnar may have been a Navy lens, I've never seen one with such a corroded aluminium barrel. Might have been exposed to salt air a lot to make it end up like this.

Would be nice if it ended up here somewhere indeed.

 

[Austro]

Hello,
I am new here so please don't be angry if I will post some dumb questions.

I have been offered a CZJ Sonnar 1.5/5 cm in LTM. The glass seems to be original Zeiss glass but I am not sure about the mount. I have not yet seen the lens in person but the seller has sent me photos.

The photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75447208@N08/?saved=1

The serial No. is 2790229. The front ring was damaged by some hit but the ring with the script on it and the glass are okay.

Could somebody here please tell me if it could be an original CZJ lens in LTM?

Thanks, Georg

 

[uhoh7]

a couple from my 1937 50/1.5

 

[S.H.]

Well, I looked at this thread from time to time but I never got into the Leica/Zeiss wartime stuff : a bit too costly for my taste, and hard to find (I'm not in the US). But I'm looking for those lenses in the "original" (contax 😉) mount. Bodies are cheap compared to Leicas.

Don't worry, those guys will come back. Is is perhaps a bit out of fashion right now, that's all.
I also heard Brian Sweeney is not here anymore (why?). I does not help.

 

[bowieknife]

I got a '47 made IIIc that came with a wartime ( ca 1943) coated 50mm 1.5 Sonnar. Camera & lens both in very nice condition, but the lens distance index is a bit off center when mounted on the camera. Also recently got a 135mm CZJ Triotar in LTM.

 

[john neal]

Well Tom, you know my K project has gone to a new home, but I still have one of my 392xxx bodies somewhere around - it's from the same batch in 1945 that my other two came from, - but has always needed new curtains, plus I still have a genuine 1943 CZ Sonnar.

Just haven't had the time or funds lately to do much about new gear, and prices seem to have gone up somewhat. Incidentally, where on earth have all these red-curtain bodies surfaced from lately? Seems to be a dozen or more every week on that auction site, mostly in FSU countries too - they can't all be copies, surely?

I really must get that stepper out and get it fixed one day soon - I miss not having a IIIc to use.

 

[johannielscom]

When reading these posts I get these bouts of nostalgia, but still I think I did the right thing selling my wartime Sonnars and Biogon. I simply wasn't shooting them enough.

In the end it got me a real nice 1932 Leica II from the first 1,000 made, with two uncoated Elmars 50 & 90 and two Canon Serenars 28 & 35, five KASAM cassettes and a minifinder. So I really can't complain! 😉

 

[CameraQuest]

this thread is back per LeicaTom's request.

Stephen

 

[dexdog]

CQ, thanks for re-posting this thread. Johan, thanks for persevering.

 

[raid]

I enjoy reading about Sonnar like any RF enthusiast here.
Good move.
Thanks.

 

[johannielscom]

Hi Tom!

Thanks for putting the request in! Much obliged! Now, let's talk Sonnar indeed!

I've been scrounging cash (still got things on sale :angel🙂 to pay for an early Summilux but when seeing those Sonnars I sometimes wonder why on earth I thought I had to sell mine some time ago...

Not too late to change my game in the future I guess😱


Somebody got really lucky with the 135/4.0 indeed! That is a killer price for a killer lens!

 

[raid]

I saw a nice looking ZK 5cm 2.0 for $200 on ebay a week ago. I could have bought it.

 

[raid]

The ZK lenses are hard to find. They were lenses that used German optics, and this was before the J3 was made. I already have a nice looking ZK.

 

[johannielscom]

That sure was a nice Biogon, Tom!

I had one that consisted of two wartime parts, both with the numbers correct: the lens was 272xxxx and the rear element had a later 284xxxx number. It was likely assembled just after the war, 1945.

Sold mine too, although it was nice and sharp, and low contrast too, and I do shoot a lot of 35mm.

Lately I vind myself shooting high-quality work on MF with the Rolleiflexes and using the Leica M2 as a reportage camera with the Summilux 35/1.4 that I managed to buy after selling most of my other gear, including the Sonnars and Biogon.

A 85/2.0 Jupiter-9 with the Zeiss-assembled optics cell is the only one I have left and I will not sell that since I will have to persuade heaven and earth on it being a true Zeiss lens, or lose money selling it. It is stellar so it's a keeper. I'll post some pictures with it soon.