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

Carl Zeiss M39 lenses
Hi Tom,

It says so in Thieles Fabrikationsbuch Photooptik II Carl Zeiss Jena.

First lenses to have a number 276xxxx was a batch of 500 Biotar 2.0/58mm lenses for the 24x36mm Exakta, it was completed June 11th, 1941. Part of that batch was in M40 Praktiflex mount.

The 279xxxx batches of lenses all were completed by the end of the war, in various mounts and a whole slew of different lens designs, Biogons, Tessars, Triplet, Triotar. But, we have seen that the Leica mount Sonnars with 279xxxx numbers were manufactured towards the end of 1945, probably because that is when unfinished product was brought to completion. Many of those lenses were delivered to the US Army and their personnel and brought home to the States, right?

The 281xxxx series of lenses did not start until July 12th 1945, when a batch of 1,000 3.5/37mm Tessar lenses for the Robot was completed. So 284xxxx and later definitely were post-war, although they likely have been compiled from pre-war and wartime stock, at least in part.

I don't think that the 284xxxx and later series could have been manufactured during wartime already and that this was not recorded in the production ledger: a 200 pieces batch of Leica mount Sonnar 2.0/50mm lenses with the 280xxxx serial range was produced in 1947 and the ledger neatly records that so it is unlikely that other odd series or dates miraculously were left out of that same ledger.

Therefor, 276xxxx is wartime, 279xxxx is a few months postwar and 284xxxx is definitely postwar, Soviet production.
 
Seems logical, but it would not be the first time that Zeiss did not attribute serial numbers in chronological order.
 
I just purchased a Leica IIIc (1950) to go with the lens so i really hope to find a correct yeas of manufacture for it so i can see how close they match. Still three weeks till i get home to check the back of the lens... I hate being patient.
 
Are the filter rings really 40.5mm on these older lenses? I have the newer C-Sonnar 1.5 on my M3 and it's 46mm.
 
Wow, that's just tiny. I have a lens on my Crown Graphic with the same size ring. I just thought it was bigger.
 
I first thought that the currency was Japanese Yen. It is in Dollars. Still, is it Hongkong or US $?
 
Could be either currency but anyway, that price was waaay off the chart.

The Cook & Perkins conversions were discussed here (in the Leica LTM forum IIRC) a few weeks ago when one surfaced on eBay and sold. But, for nowhere near that asking price!

Apparently the conversion was performed more often at the C&P factory during WWII since there was no supply for Leica LTM lenses from Germany.
 
Hey now this is some fast info here ;-)

The asking price is in HKD - 9800 HKD is ~ 820 GBP
Considering the initial asking price from the seller on the HK forum though it is slightly cheeky (mildly put).

So these have been conversions made form Contax lenses into a (I assume by the looks of it) brass + chrome focussing mount?

How are the chances that such lenses are around with hacked components?
 
Dirk,

Little chance that these lenses contain amything other than true Zeiss optics and a true Cook & Perkins mount.

First, both do not resemble Russian lenses. The prewar Contax stuff is either uncoated, or nickel, or both. The Cook & Perkins mount is indeed made from brass and has very fine engravings, thats not easily copied either.

Second, a mount like this (and a prewar Zeiss cell too?) is not that easily found so there's little chance someone used one to mount a Russian optical block in it.

Raid, that thread seems still-born, conversions were discussed here as well, although the difference between real and fake Sonnars was more of a focus point.
 
Ok, so I finally got home last night and got to hold my "new" Sonnar in my hands. Today I ran a roll of plain old Fujicolor C-41 200 ISO film through the IIIc with this lens and had it developed at a local pharmacy. Did the scans myself. Looking at the front of the glass it has a multi coating. Looking at the rear element I see some bubbles in the glass. Not a good first impression. Upon viewing the film, it's really not good. I need to know if I can get it rebuilt with a different rear element put into it, or if the lens is a total loss. I'm pretty sure I got suckered on buying this one, but if it's repairable, it would be worth it.

Here are scans from today at a car show:

lens_test_2_by_christophersacry-d6hp6to.jpg


a20d96c03b2394f0937ac6add47d12d1-d6hp6e1.jpg
 
Are they all like that Pirate? The only time I've seen something like this before ot was a lightleak in the shutter! Bubbles normally don't have this result...
 
Hmmm... It's possibly the shutter curtain. That thought did not even cross my mind. One of the curtains is wrinkled but did not look to be leaking - but of course I can't see through it because it's not an M with a back door.

And Yes, every frame is like this.

I'm going to get the curtains replaced and retest it. If I had my digi here I'd take pics of the curtain and the bubbles in the lens, but it's loaned to a friend for a while.

Thanks johanniels!
 
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