Need some information about Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm F3.5

[goliathus]

I have a plan to write a review for Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm F3.5.
I know that the rigid tessar is super sharp, only 7,500 lenses were made. Does anyone have some more information regarding this lens? every informaiton will be welcomed 🙂

Thanks in advance.

 

[dexdog]

According to John Keesing's book, Contax Rangefinder Lenses 1932-1962, the first 1500 of a batch of 3000 made in 1951 were marked Zeiss-Opton, while the following 1500 were marked Carl Zeiss. Another series of 3000 lenses were made in 1953, all marked Carl Zeiss. Serial numbers for the Carl Zeiss lenses are greater than 1,003,501

 

[johannielscom]

is this Contax mount, or also LTM?

I might have the optical lay-out in a vintage lens brochure somewhere

 

[ZeissFan]

The postwar West German Zeiss-Opton and Carl Zeiss lenses were only made in Contax mount. I think the Tessar formula has undergone very little change through the decades.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I'd like one of these, myself...I am sort of semi on the lookout for one. Looking forward to your review.

 

[warehouse]

I only have the 1936 collapsible version.

Here are few shots I took with it after rebuilding the shutter tapes and freeing the slow-speed shutter mechanism. The rangefinder is still accurate after only 72 years.

Comet rollercoaster

 

[goliathus]

dexdog, I added your information in the review : ) It was very helpful.
warehouse, your photos are so good. I can feel the vintage looking on your photos!

Thank you everyone : )

 

[weihsuan]

Sorry for reviving an old thread... I tried google but couldn't find much information about the CZ 50mm f3.5 rigid.

I've just acquired a set with the original caps, bubble case, zeiss filters, and a worn out 40.5 hood.

May I know which is the right hood for it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ronald M]

I was first introduced to Zeiss optics when a friends father projected slides from a Contaflex and again when as a college freshman (1961) I saw some more European slides one instructor did.

Both made the Nikor 2.0 I had on my Waltz Envoy look pale in comparison. I have been a fan for German optics ever since.

 

[furcafe]

I don't have my catalogs w/me, but I don't believe there was a separate hood for the Tessar, so any of the of the post-WWII hoods for 50mm lenses (S1119 for 40.5mm screw-in, A1115 for 42mm slip-on) is "right".

Sorry for reviving an old thread... I tried google but couldn't find much information about the CZ 50mm f3.5 rigid.

I've just acquired a set with the original caps, bubble case, zeiss filters, and a worn out 40.5 hood.

May I know which is the right hood for it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[weihsuan]

Thanks furcafe for the reply.

Reason I asked was that the S1119 hood (which is the worn out hood it came with) is huge compared to the lens. So I wondered if there's a smaller hood made for this lens.

Cant wait to testing the lens out! Also bought the post war 85 sonnar and both lenses work well with the Amedeo adapter.

 

[Dralowid]

With a bit of luck you may be able to find a small hood that fits one of the inner rings...

 

[furcafe]

Yes, the S1119 is huge, which is why I used mine only briefly 🙂 & sold it off to a collector years ago. But the official Carl Zeiss/Zeiss Ikon hoods for all of the post-WWII Contax-mount 50mms were the same size (so the A1115 is just as big as the S1119). For practical use, any of the vintage 40.5mm Walz or Hoya vented hoods work fine, as well as the modern copies & the tilted Leica-style screw-ins (they work better on the Leica M bodies, etc. w/higher VFs & framelines). With the Tessars, you could also probably get away w/a shallow, wide-angle generic 40.5.

Thanks furcafe for the reply.

Reason I asked was that the S1119 hood (which is the worn out hood it came with) is huge compared to the lens. So I wondered if there's a smaller hood made for this lens.

Cant wait to testing the lens out! Also bought the post war 85 sonnar and both lenses work well with the Amedeo adapter.

 

[weihsuan]

Thank you. Just tested the lenses out.

Almost a brickwall shot 🙂
50mm Tessar Rigid, TriX @ 800

 

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

just as an information, I have a rigid-mount Tessar 50/3,5. It's marked Zeiss Opton and its serial number is 1003428.

It's a very sharp lens indeed, in the best tradition of the Tessar scheme.

Another 50/3,5 Tessar (but signed "Carl Zeiss Jena") is mounted on my postwar Contaprox-I. Also this one is an extremely fine lens. The serial no. is 1840444.

Best wishes,

Enzo (E.L.)

 

[Dralowid]

My solution to the Tessar hood problem

IMG_1627 by dralowid, on Flickr

Cheap and small!

 

[furcafe]

Like the OP, weihsuan has the post-WWII, rigid, version of the Tessar. No inner ring, same basic barrel as the Sonnars.

My solution to the Tessar hood problem

Cheap and small!

 

[Dralowid]

Like the OP, weihsuan has the post-WWII, rigid, version of the Tessar. No inner ring, same basic barrel as the Sonnars.

Ah Ha! My apologies, I missed that bit, I am unfamiliar with the post war lenses...

Michael

 

[Gregm61]

I believe the Zeiss post-war hoods are all the larger chrome-types. I have a Modern Photography magazine from 1987 with an article by Bob Schwalberg, listing his five favorite classic cameras, one of which was a Contax IIA that had a rigid, post-war 50mm f3.5 Tessar mounted, and he had some smaller black hood mounted, which I would guess was a third-party hood option and looks a lot like the one mounted on the Pre-war Tessar shown earlier in this thread. I'll take a look this evening and maybe scan a copy of the page with an image of the set. Maybe it has some name or logo attached we can see.

Henry Scherrer has 2 of these post-war rigid 50mm f3.5 Tessars for sale, virtually mint, serviced and ready to go, but they are not cheap at $575 each. One early Zeiss-Opton and one later Carl Zeiss.

 

[weihsuan]

In the end, I ended up using a 40.5mm generic vented hood - minimal viewfinder blockage. Good news is its also usable on the 50mm 1.5 sonnar in the same mount.

Also, from the package came a 35mm Zeiss external finder and a deep rear cap. Tempted to find a 35mm 2.8 biogon to "complete" the set.. GAS...

How is the biogon compared to say.. the Leitz 35mm 3.5 summaron or Nikon 35mm f2.5? Thanks again all..