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

[jarski]

joining club of happy pre-war Sonnar users, on LTM 🙂

last summer I put 6 rolls of HP5+ through Leica II and Sonnar 50/f1.5 on it, on a motorbike tour in some European countries (Canon G9 was main camera, and film camera for experimenting and different "looks"). here's some recent scans, no post process other than resize.

(Peenemunde rocket museum)

(Berlin)

 

[jarski]

(Leica shop in Fasanen street, Berlin)

(tourist crowds in Prague old town)

(Auschwitz museum)

 

[johannielscom]

Allright, I posted this in another thread today as well, but it fits in here too:

Shot with 1958 Jupiter-3, so presumably a Post-Sonnar Jupiter. Still, the Russians had not yet forgotten how to build them, it seems.

Next time when shooting with a background this distant, I will close up to 2.8. There's too many donuts in the rear for my liking.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I'll be working with about 10 models too this next weekend....male models in 1940 Army uniforms, ha-ha.

As I will be rather limited to camera-bag-space I've not decided if I want to put the J-3 on my IIIc or my R-D1 for this occasion. I do need to test my IIIc now that it's been cleaned (I'm need to know if the low-shutter-speed-dial light leak is there or not)

Congratulations on acquiring yours, Johan.

And I'm interested to see your indoor photo's, Tom

 

[Sonnar2]

AFAIK Carl Zeiss Jena wartime Sonnars in LTM were produced in very small numbers (about a few hundreds to 2,000). Very few of them may have survived the war. Horse sense make it obvious to me that they aren't for sale for 100-200 bucks anywhere, but in particular not from Russian sources.

But what I've seen in ebay and photo forums in the last couple of years, Carl Zeiss Jena must have build 100,000s of them and each S/N in the production batch used at least 50x.

I wonder what's so bad about having a excellent maintenanced Russian lens, which, after all, is exactly the same lens design as the original. Except from the fact (what may be bad for some collectors) that it's cheap.

 

[hans voralberg]

Problem is, as Brian said, Russian lens vary so much in focusing accuracy.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Quality control is definitely a worry when it comes to certain FSU items......I just tried to screw my J-3 on my IIIc and the threads go tight about 2mm before the base of the lens touches the body. I never bothered to check if FSU LTM lenses fit on Leica lenses.... Never had that with any of my other LTM lenses, so I didn't dare force anything any further, so I guess the J-3 will stay on my R-D1 a little longer 🙁

 

[Sonnar2]

What's all in the US are Russian made Sonnars, because the industry sold them there.

I wait till the moment 2 or more people finding together in the web having a wartime Sonnar lens with the same S/N of that famous wartime LTM Sonnar batch... it will happen sooner or later, even if some people try to avoid it by altering their pictures and hide their S/N (whilest asking others for theirs) 🙄

I like Russian J-8 / J-3's as well for their photographing capabilities (when proper maintenance is applied) but I dislike them with Carl Zeiss Jena beauty rings. Someday a true J-3's in LTM cost more because so few are left... 😉

cheers...

 

[Sonnar Brian]

5cm F2 "T" Sonnar, wartime, converted to LTM using a chrome J-8 mount.

Something about the color rendition. Very much like a Nikkor 5cm F2, maybe warmer and less contrast.

I have two German made F1.5 Sonnars that started out as LTM and three other F1.5 Sonnars that are NOW LTM, plus two F2 Sonnars that are converted to LTM. The mount is much different from a J-3. I have a 1949 J-3 coming in, and it will be fun to take apart. I'm looking to see where the changes in design popped up.

 

[enasniearth]

zeiss wartime lenses

zeiss wartime lenses

if you have examined the real thing you can spot the differances after that .
the postwar jena lenses have some obvious differences in appearance . i have had several wartime biogons in contax mount and the postwar variety . you are safer in buying a contax mount lens as a fake is not worth the top money that a leica screwmount one is .haveing said that i am sure fakes exist . in most cases the color of the lens coating is the differance --- most wartime production items had a light lavender coating --- both leitz and zeiss . there were earlier experimental coatings and i have not seen them in my experiance. at the time of production the wartime 50mm zeiss sonnar and 35mm zeiss biogon in t
coated form were the top of the game in the 1940's at this point the lenses that survived a world war are widely dispersed . many have been modified from thier original production form as the aluminum barrels in most cases just wore out . the optics are still high quality , however many have cleaning marks ( some quite bad ) and some haze . the aperature mechanisms were stopgap and not high quality thin brass or coated steel some appear to be synthetic material .
i have had some nice ones , recently i have sold the last and best of my zeiss .at times i am still looking.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It looks good to my eyes!

These are great lenses, unique. I just cannot justify getting a modern one after liking these so much.

 

[johannielscom]

😱spectacular shots, Endustry!

That first one is as poppy as any modern lens, while the second one has the Sonnar look.

You've got yourself a winner, still convinced that lens and you belong together!

 

[jarski]

That little red flare spot in the lower left hand corner is something that concerns me...

if you look carefully, both of the pics have it. upper one just not so obvious. looks to me a leak of some sort, but if this is MP, its even harder to understand 😕 did you change/take off the lens while film was in camera, and, does this happen with all lenses ?

 

[john neal]

OK Tom,

I promised some more shots from my wartime Sonnar - here's a couple from last weekend with my grandson. MP with Fuji 200

 

[john neal]

....and for comparison, a couple of my granddaughters taken 2 days later - same camera & film, but now with a 1971 J3

The colour cast is due to the overcast conditions and taking the shots under a carport

None of these have been manipulated, other than rotated to vertical. There may be a touch of camera shake on the last shot....

I think these two look like genuine 1970's pics - might be worth converting to B&W for the full effect

 

[johannielscom]

Lovely shots John, I'm sure they'll look the seventies all over when converted to B&W.

I have shot my Jup-3 on the M8 and converted to B&W, I'll post one here (only one Tom 🙂 )

I have a shoot planned September 5th and will certainly use the Jup-3, this time probably on Fomapan 100 or 200

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Forgot this roll in a Canon P, shot this past Spring with the "mint-Glass" wartime Sonnar original LTM. As opposed to my converted lenses.

This lens is sharp.

Fujicolor 200, in the Canon P. Exposure via Polaroid CDS meter that came with the Model 180.
Took 6 hours to rebuild this lens. The repair shop that did it before me forgot to tighten the inner retaining rings and the optics were loose. It's better now.

 

[john neal]

Brian,

I screwed up my courage and flood cleaned the blades on mine with good results. Not sure I'm up to tackling the helical though!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

On the Helical: be sure to scribe some marks BEFORE taking apart! It is easily misthreaded on re-assembly. The scribe marks will let you know when it is on correctly.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I had a similar problem on the 2nd Wartime LTM Sonnar that i rebuilt. Their was too much play between the parts of the heilcal and the RF Cam was not rock-solid. I made a sleeve that sits inside the solid portion of the lens mount for the helical to keep steady. An "ultimate hack".

http://ziforums.com/showthread.php?t=143

I have better luck with my converted Sonnars using the J-3. The J-3 focus mount is more thought out than the Zeiss lens. Less to go wrong on it.