Olympia original

[afildes]

Just acquired an original Zeiss 1936 Olympia - one of two hundred produced in that year and only 300 in total in direct Contax mount (pre- Flektoscop), Opened a case in my store and looked in wonder at three regular pre-War Zeiss, a few accessories, no camera and this beast lurking at the bottom. Never thought I'd ever see one. So being a photog I bought a couple of adapters for Contax RF. And being a retired History teacher among other things, I set about researching the thing. Strewth. What a history it is. I set up a web page for it if you want to see.

Antique and Veteran Photography - Melbourne (South) - Olympia Sonnar 18cm 1936

The firts modern sports lens - mader by Nazi

www.soultheft.com

There may be Zeiss nuts here who will find fault with a few points here - I'd love to hear from you but remember I'm more interested in the drama than the exact formulation of the glass in the rear element of the third decile of the second run! 🙂

 

[JeffS7444]

Just acquired an original Zeiss 1936 Olympia - one of two hundred produced in that year and only 300 in total in direct Contax mount (pre- Flektoscop), Opened a case in my store and looked in wonder at three regular pre-War Zeiss, a few accessories, no camera and this beast lurking at the bottom. Never thought I'd ever see one.

It looks like a remarkable specimen, but given that the distance scale is marked in feet, not meters, I wonder if yours was an official export product, rather than war booty?

 

[afildes]

Now that is interesting.
Actually I cheated here and I forgot. This was an image of number 162 that I found online when I first started research and writing. I used it as a placeholder as it is a better pic than my own poor first efforts (I was more interested in shooting WITH it!) and I forgot/haven't had time to reshoot and swap it out as I was waiting until I got my replacement hood right. Mine, No.123, is below - the tripod ring is in poorer condition and I didn't get that nice image of the glass. But it does have the focus scale in feet only as well. A real surprise. Time to have another go - I have to shoot my new Robot Royal 36 anyway (got one at last!)
So that's two examples of the third batch of 100 from late in 1936, some months after the Olympics in July, that have focus in Imperial. Could it be that this third batch was designed for export, perhaps after the international press had seen the lens at the Olympics? Obviously my speculation that it was post-war booty is incorrect. It made it to Australia by more conventional means. Damn - I liked that touch of drama.

 

[afildes]

Modified my web page to reflect your valuable observation and yes, it was I think almost certainly an official export given the focus scale. I'm now assuming that so many visiting photogs attending the games saw the beast in action and expressed enough interest to make an export run viable - for the UK and USA.

 

[JeffS7444]

Modified my web page to reflect your valuable observation and yes, it was I think almost certainly an official export given the focus scale. I'm now assuming that so many visiting photogs attending the games saw the beast in action and expressed enough interest to make an export run viable - for the UK and USA.

Microsoft's AI says that Australia blocked import of German goods starting in 1939, so it seems possible that a few might have trickled into the country via official channels before then. But is reality always so cut-and-dried? I can imagine scenarios of German dealers selling export versions to cater to foreign visitors, and some of those goods winding up in local hands. Especially if there was a cost savings, or the goods were scarce enough that folks were willing to grab any version which was immediately available.

 

[JakobN]

Modified my web page to reflect your valuable observation and yes, it was I think almost certainly an official export given the focus scale. I'm now assuming that so many visiting photogs attending the games saw the beast in action and expressed enough interest to make an export run viable - for the UK and USA.

Congratulations on your Sonnar, one of only 200 made in direct Contax mount. For 20 years I have been recording serial numbers of these lenses (produced before 1945) and they all fit in the known number series. That is why I can say that the 3 productions 1503, 1874 and 1998 are in direct mount and 1844 is the first in Flektoskop. The thing is, the records of Carl Zeiss Jena's production of photographic lenses were not lost, and they are readily available in printed form published by Hartmut Thiele in Munich. "My" total is 1130 copies maybe including some in Exacta mount, but I haven't seen any of those. For a shorter period I also noted what distance scale was used and feet-scales were not uncommon. I have seen the first lens no.1503701 and according to the description it has a feet-scale (couldn't see the scale myself). The US market was clearly important.
There can be no doubt that regular production started in February 1936, and that Lothar Rübelt used a prototype at the winter olympics, it differs a little from the production version. His lens or a "twin" is described in Kùc: On the Trail of the Contax vol.1.
The designer Ludwig Bertele was a regular employee of Zeiss-Ikon in the thirties but a contractor to the new Zeiss West after the war.