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

[dexdog]

Tom,I've already revisited that eBay seller several weeks ago, but no cap to be seen. I guess somebody snatched it already... bummer. Currently I cannot even recall what seller it was, so scouring eBay to find another seems the only viable approach...

Yeah, those plain ZEISS caps are hard to find. I have 5 that were attached to lenses that I bought on eBay. I had no idea that they were apparently WW2-era caps until a couple of years ago. They all seem to be kinda beat-up- I only have one that is in good condition without any scratches, dent or heavy wear. The only one I have seen on eBay recently was attached to a Contax mount 13.5cm/4 lens with a 271 serial number.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...XcQsbO4%3D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEDWX:IT

So the "transition Sonnar" went for $565!

I have one that is almost a twin of it, rebuilt it twice for RFF'rs that wanted to use it, but could never get the helical "smooth". I liked it, and traded one of my uncoated Sonnars made into LTM for it. The machining on these "immediate Post-War" lenses is not always the highest quality. The one I now have was bizarre: the surface of the front triplet was not polished. I replaced it, and the lens delivered great results afterwards. But the focus- still not smooth like the wartime lenses.

Wow, they are going through the roof.

 

[johannielscom]

An observation on the wartime Biogon 35/2.8 lens

An observation on the wartime Biogon 35/2.8 lens

Today my Biogon 35/2.8 lens arrived in the mail. I was happy (it looks great!) but it came without caps and that got me a bit jumpy, given the fact that the rear end is one huge glass element 😱

After consulting Tom, I cut down a Kodak film canister to fix me a rear cap (works like a charm, thanks Tom!) but how to protect the front of the lens? Some fitting of push-on plastic lens caps resulted in a lot of caps too small or too big, but none that actually fitted nicely... I decided to turn to a 40.5mm filter for the time being.

As you may be aware, the aperture ring of the Biogon (and Jupiter-clone) is receeded in the front of the lens. It has a filter thread there, but when focused at infinity, this thread is covered by the optical block assembly and it takes no filter anymore.
BUT: when first setting the aperture and then setting the preferred distance of 4 meters or closer, enough of the filter thread remains uncovered to fit a filter.


This fact allows it to function as a point-and-shoot lens quite nicely: first set the aperture to desired value, then set the lens to the desired distance, screw the filter on, turn the focus a bit further away (millimeters on the barrel), tighten the filter a bit more and then return to the desired distance on the lens. The filter will then grip both the aperture ring and the filter threads and both aperture and focus are fixed.

You can have the lens set at 3 meters and f8.0 and it will be a perfect pount-and-shoot that is well-protected by the filter and will not shift that easily. It will be hyper-focal from almost infinity down to 2 meters.

 

[dexdog]

This rear cap came attached to my 284 series Biogon. It is made of aluminum, acid treated or something to give it color. It looks like it was made by a combination of spinning and stamping. Holds quite securely, and the bulging lens element does not bottom out in the end of the cap. The cap has no markings, and I am guessing that it is Soviet made, but I have no idea where it came from. I typically just use a KMZ bakelite LTM rear cap that I bought on eBay for $6, and have a similar bakelite cap with FED markings. The bakelite caps works well, but the aluminum one is more elegant.

 

[L David Tomei]

Actually I was watching that lens on eBay. The listing was withdrawn because the lens had been sold...? This was odd or did I miss something?

 

[raid]

Maybe it is OK for sellers to accept bids and stop the auction? I don't know.

 

[raid]

Not every "Zeiss labeled" lens was made by Zeiss.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I'm working on one now that is marked "ZK"- but is a J-3 with a replaced namering. The other lens that came with it is a transition Sonnar. Easy to replace a namering, much more difficult to machine an entire optics mount.

 

[ferider]

I think I was lucky this morning. Always wanted one of those again ...

50/1.5 ZK (1950).

We'll see 🙂

 

[dexdog]

Lucky you Roland! Wished that I had seen that. Looks like it may be a real one, with the big screw for aperture control on the focusing wheel. Let us know if it is a real one.

 

[raid]

Congrats, Roland. I have one like it.

 

[OlliL]

Hey guys,

Just a quick question.
I saw a lens on ebay today and it's offered as

Sonnar 1,5/58 mm M39, Nr. 1407159

Auction number: 200587851415

Real or fake?

Thanks

 

[OlliL]

Nevermind. Found Buzzardkid's threat on that lens.

Still interesting though.

 

[dexdog]

ZK 5cm/1.5

ZK 5cm/1.5

I just took a chance on a 1949 ZK 50/1.5 on eBay. I think that this has a good chance of being a genuine article, given the ears on the aperture ring and the two screws on the focus ring, both very similar to WW2 era Zeiss Sonnars in LTM. This lens also appears to have a grub screw in the lower part of the barrel to hold the optics module in place- I think that Brian Sweeney has seen such screws on ZK lenses. Only time will tell- I will unscrew the optics module when I receive it. Wish me luck!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...I%3D&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME:L:COSI:US:1123

 

[raid]

I got lucky with ZK, Mark, so why not you!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It looks real- has the focus stop screw in the focus ring. Some of these are a mix of wartime parts and parts made to fill in for the missing ones.

 

[raid]

For some reason, people get more excited about a 50% CZJ (or ZK) than a CZJ Sonnar!

 

[johannielscom]

Gotta say, there's some nice Charlie Barringer gear for sale in this auction too.

The man had quite the collection and some of the finest stuff from it is on sale now.

Better have a close look Tom, one of the lenses you wish for is in there as well I guess!? Sending you a PM!

 

[bfffer]

Hey all,

I bought a uncoated sonnar 1,5 in contax mount.
can you guys teach me how identify if its a real or a fake?

1, its serial number is 2517xxx
2, I can see six serial mark on the rear side of the lens.
3, chrome exterior with black colour brass for the inside.
4, number of aperture blade is 12.
5, two ears at aperture.

thanks

 

[dexdog]

yes, it is real, and not a Soviet version because the USSR made very few, if any, postwar lenses like the J-3 in chrome mounts. Serial number was part of a batch of 3000 5cm/1.5 lenses completed in February, 1939.