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Snorting silver salts
Recently I found a 1943 Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm f4.0 Sonnar LTM lens.
The 135mm f4.0 Sonnar LTM is the founding father of the Jupiter-11 135mm f4.0 LTM lens. I once bought one of those in Prague for spare change and was impressed with it. Later on, I decided to sell it because the price was good and I needed to fund something else, all forgotten now. But I never forgot about that Jupiter-11.
Recently I was pointed toward the existence of a Carl Zeiss 135mm f4.0 Sonnar in LTM and being the happy owner of a 50mm f1.5 Sonnar in LTM already, I was interested straight away. I was amazed to find one for sale online. It was spare change and then a lot more 😉 but I decided I could not do without it 😱.
It came today. The lens has one coating speck, dead center on the front element. But that's all. For the rest, it is flawless, in as-new condition. Coating is spectacular, focusing on my M3 is spot-on at both infinity and closest distance (1.5 mtrs). Focus action is smooth and evenly damped. The barrel is free from scratches. An original front cap came with the lens, rear cap probably non-original but I don't know what the original cap looked like. The leather pouch is original Zeiss, but a bit too short for the 135mm. It might have been made for the 85mm f2.0 Sonnar, also a rare bird in LTM!
I was told that less than a hundred of these were produced. It has a 271xxxx serial number, 1943 production.
Here it is, welcomed in the little family:
The faint coating spot in the middle can be seen in this shot. I'm convinced it will not have any effect on results. I intend to use this lens often, it is my only 135mm. The 50mm f1.5 Sonnar is my main normal lens, too.
Interesting: while modern Sonnars and Jupiter-3 lenses are known to front-focus at minimum distance, I have found this to be far less with my 50mm f1.5 than with any Jupiter-3 I owned. I am eager to see if the 135mm also has less front-focus than other Sonnars. If so, there might be something special with the old Sonnars.
The 135mm f4.0 Sonnar LTM is the founding father of the Jupiter-11 135mm f4.0 LTM lens. I once bought one of those in Prague for spare change and was impressed with it. Later on, I decided to sell it because the price was good and I needed to fund something else, all forgotten now. But I never forgot about that Jupiter-11.
Recently I was pointed toward the existence of a Carl Zeiss 135mm f4.0 Sonnar in LTM and being the happy owner of a 50mm f1.5 Sonnar in LTM already, I was interested straight away. I was amazed to find one for sale online. It was spare change and then a lot more 😉 but I decided I could not do without it 😱.
It came today. The lens has one coating speck, dead center on the front element. But that's all. For the rest, it is flawless, in as-new condition. Coating is spectacular, focusing on my M3 is spot-on at both infinity and closest distance (1.5 mtrs). Focus action is smooth and evenly damped. The barrel is free from scratches. An original front cap came with the lens, rear cap probably non-original but I don't know what the original cap looked like. The leather pouch is original Zeiss, but a bit too short for the 135mm. It might have been made for the 85mm f2.0 Sonnar, also a rare bird in LTM!
I was told that less than a hundred of these were produced. It has a 271xxxx serial number, 1943 production.
Here it is, welcomed in the little family:
The faint coating spot in the middle can be seen in this shot. I'm convinced it will not have any effect on results. I intend to use this lens often, it is my only 135mm. The 50mm f1.5 Sonnar is my main normal lens, too.
Interesting: while modern Sonnars and Jupiter-3 lenses are known to front-focus at minimum distance, I have found this to be far less with my 50mm f1.5 than with any Jupiter-3 I owned. I am eager to see if the 135mm also has less front-focus than other Sonnars. If so, there might be something special with the old Sonnars.
