Tell me about this Zeiss "Olympia" Sonnar (180mm) I found....

[Corran]

Cruisin' eBay, I accidentally found this interesting lens:

What's interesting is that it is marked simply "JENA," and f=180 1:2.8, with a little "S" and a strange symbol. I immediately recognized it as a Zeiss "Olympia" Sonnar, and photos of similar lenses online confirm this...but it's not marked Zeiss anywhere. I'm aware of the Jena/Opton names and some of the WWII naming conventions with Zeiss, but isn't "Zeiss" still usually on the lens?

Anyway, I ended up making a little bid on it and won it for all of $54, with free shipping! I got it and with some sleuthing figured out it is an Exakta mount. Very small little mount, so I ended up taking an old Nikon body cap and drilling a hole through it, which friction fits over the Exakta mount/barrel and allows it to mount right up to my Nikons. Unfortunately it doesn't hit infinity - it only focuses out to about 30 feet, but then has a bit closer focusing instead.

Anyone know more about this lens? Furthermore, short of totally inventing a new rear section (the entire back half of the lens screws apart), is there an easy way to convert this to F-mount, keeping it somewhat original? Or should I just chop it and go since it cost me almost nothing!

I took it along on my old D700 Saturday, as I was shooting a good friend of mine's son's 5th birthday party. They had a water slide thing and so I grabbed a couple of candids. This guy is ridiculously sharp, even wide-open, with only a trace of spherical aberrations at the largest stop. It soundly beats the bigger and heavier Nikkor 18cm f/2.5 short-mount tele that was supposedly designed based on the Zeiss. I should shoot them out sometime - the Nikon is definitely not even in the same class. Here are a couple images from the Zeiss:

 

[f16sunshine]

That's a hell of a catch. Congrats!

 

[GarageBoy]

What era is that from?
Definitely not an early Olympia Sonnar
They do make Exakta to Canon EOS/FD mounts

 

[santino]

I wonder if it has the same optical formula like the Pentacon 6 version because then it would be one of the finest lenses I've ever used.

 

[santino]

PS: I sold all of my Pentacon gear except for the Jena 2.8 180mm Sonnar, it's really amazing!

 

[BlackXList]

I have to admit that b/w shot coaxed a few swearwords out of me.

Lovely shot!

 

[Peter_Jones]

I'll second what Santino says about the P6 version of this lens - and if the Exacta mount version is the same optically, you'll never want to get rid of it. I think "ridiculously sharp" is an apt description.

 

[Corran]

I'm sure it's a later model. Older ones are chrome and in Contax RF mount, I think?

I assume it's the same formula as the P6 lens. This lens definitely covers a lot of film - I held it in front of some ground glass and I'm almost certain it covers 4x5, and with a bit of work I might be able to get the front section to mount to a Copal #3 shutter! It's only slightly wider than the front mount of the Copal so a simple adapter tube should do it. I could also get it onto my Pentax 67 with some work.

I was honestly not expecting much, so I am quite pleased. Might be the best deal I've gotten on a random eBay auction.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

This is just a guess but could it have been made to go with the Exakta RTL 1000? Also, if the back half screws off, it may be able to take a Pentacon 6 mount, in the same way as the "Zebra" 180mm and 300mm lenses sold in the 'sixties.

I had both the latter in my outfit back then, with the M42 back ends. They were superb on the Pentacon 6 and also worked well on the Praktica 35mm cameras.

 

[Corran]

Also, if the back half screws off, it may be able to take a Pentacon 6 mount

Interesting. I'll post a picture of the two halves later tonight. If it can take some sort of P6 mount, that would be great, as I could then adapt that to Nikon F and not chop up the rear section to fabricate a Nikon mount.

 

[f16sunshine]

It can almost certainly take a P6 mount.
Check out the link below. You'll find lots of info on all the variations of this lens.
Ask Attila if he can help you find tge P6 mount.
He's the Admin there.

http://forum.mflenses.com/

 

[View Range]

Does the lens have a serial number? The numbers are published as to year of manufacture. I suspect it was in the transition period when the Zeiss trademark was awarded to West German Zeiss. I would have expected a CZ Jena marking.

Anyway, the lens head is designed to fit the Flektoskop reflex housing for Contax RF. There were then adapters, big adapters, so the lenses could be used on Exakta, M42, and Pentacon 6. To my knowledge a Nikon F adapter was never made even though production ran past 1959. Unfortunately I believe it will be almost impossible to find a P6 adapter that doesn't have a lens already with it.

 

[View Range]

I made an error. The lens head with the focusing mount part fits on the Flektometer reflex housing. The Flektoskop had a different thread. So the lens can't be used on a Flektoskop.

 

[nikon_sam]

Just out of curiosity does it look like the rear mount could come off and another mount attached to it...it doesn't look like there is anything that actuates the aperture...

 

[raid]

Congrats on this bargain buy. I love my Zeiss Jena 180/2.8 in P mount. I use it sometimes on my Mamiya 645.

 

[Corran]

The serial # is 59434**

Thanks for the further information f16sunshine and View Range! nikon_sam, the lens mount section does in fact have 3 screws that I cannot get out at the moment. I'll have to see what's under there. There is indeed no aperture control at the rear of the lens - it's up near the front element.

 

[tunalegs]

In certain markets Zeiss Jena was not allowed to use the Zeiss name, so lenses were simply marked Jena. They were also barred from using trademarked names like Tessar in some markets, so lenses show up with no identifying marks other than Jena.

 

[veraikon]

as mentioned above - after WWII and the surrender of Jena to the sovjet occupied zone in July 1945 ( it was occupied by american forces in May 1945) there existed two parts of "Carl Zeiss" in Germany Carl Zeiss Jena (russian zone) and Opton (Optische Werke Oberkochen [der Carl Zeiss Stiftung]) in Oberkochen (american zone).
Opton was a split off initiated by the american forces before leaving Jena in June 1945.
On 31st July 1947 the mane was changed „Zeiss-Opton Optische Werke Oberkochen GmbH“ At 1. October 1951 it was remaned in „Carl Zeiss“ Oberkochen.
In 1948 Carl Zeiss Jena became VEB (peoples owned factory) Carl Zeiss Jena.
After this act Opton Oberkochen asked the gouvernent of the state of Württemberg-Baden (Oberkochen was inside this state and the Federal Republic (FRG, West Germany ) wasn´t still founded) to transfer the Carl Zeiss Stiftung (owner of Carl Zeiss und Opton) from Jena to Heidenheim (city near Oberkochen) and the gouvernement accepted it. Opton Oberkochen renamed itself in 1951 in Carl Zeiss Oberkochen.
From 1946 to 1953 there was a collaboration of both Carl Zeiss parts.
In 1953 the gouvernement of the GDR ("East Germany") ordered that VEB Carl Zeiss Jena wasn´t allowed to deal or export in foreign countries- the external trade was centralized to the east german DIA (Deutscher Innen- und Außenhandel) a gouvernemental organisation.
So the collabration between Jena and Oberkochen broke.
From this time there was a rivality between VEB Carl Zeiss Jena and Carl Zeiss Oberkochen concerning the brand name(s) , patents and markets. During the high phase of the cold war in the 50ies and 60ies there were a lot of processes an juristical battles about the name.
In 1971 both parts (VEB Carl Zeiss Jena and Carl Zeiss Oberkochen) signed in England an agreement about the brand "Carl Zeiss" (so called London agreement). The agreement was in fact that every part could use the Carl Zeiss name in his hemisphere free. In the other hemisphere Carl Zeiss Oberkochen was named in his original name "Opton", VEB Carl Zeiss Jena was named in the west "Jenoptik" their brand was "aus Jena" (from Jena). The same procedure was used at the lens brand names Sonnar, Biogon and Tessar, lenses were named in the other hemnisphere as "S" "B" and "T" . The Planar and Distagon brand remained at Oberkochen. Biometar and Flektogon at Jena.
So you own an export modell of the 180mm 2,8 Sonnar from VEB Carl Zeiss Jena

 

[Corran]

Thank you for the detailed historical account! Lots of specifics that I was unaware of.

Seems obvious now that the S stood for Sonnar!

 

[raid]

Your Olympia lens looks very different from my Jena lens.