the first "black lens" ?

[Sonnar2]

In the early 50's lenses were made of chromed brass. Within a few years - 1955-1960- the big Japanese camera makers swicthed their whole offering to a "professional looking" black. German Zeiss and Leitz still preferred the heavier "chrome" look well into the 1960's...
Due to CANON camera museum, there was the "art-deco" zebra-styled 2.8/50m as early as Jan. 1955, when their first black lens is the 1.8/50mm ser. II (Feb. 1956)
In September 1956 the fastest standard lens of the world was the black Canon 1.2/50mm
The first Pentax black SLR lens dates 1957.
Nikon brought a black 1.8/35 in April 1956 and switched the 2/85 to black in 1956 as well.. the 1.1/5cm came out 1957. The 2.4/105 was released 1954 due to some sources but no exact date - in black already?

Which was the first true black (anodized alloy) lens at the market? I think it's a matter rather of months than of years!

cheers, Frank
http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras

 

[Pherdinand]

are they really anodized or just painted black matte?

 

[Pherdinand]

as to first black, -the earliest zeiss lenses for the contax I were more or less black
http://cameraquest.com/zconrf1.htm

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Nikkor 8.5cm F1.5 was probably Nikon's first regular production black lens. In my Nikon S manual, it is the only black lens surrounded by all chrome lenses. Others were painted black on request to match black body cameras. These were not regular production. The 10.5cm F2.5 was intoduced in Black. First version had studs for a bayonet mount sunshade, later version took only the 52mm mount sunshade.

 

[Sonnar2]

Black paint was used long before WWII by many if not most optical companies. It was a surface inferior to chromed brass (and cheaper).
The black enamel (like on my Nikkor LTM 2.5/105) is more durable than brass. This particular lens has a very heavy feeling. I guess no alloy here. The surface of the 1.5/85 (issued 1953?, I've never seen a chrome one) very much looks the same. It could be found out very easy by weighting both versions of the RF 2/85 (chrome vs. black) to see if there is a difference. My chrome LTM 2/85 is about 502g.
The black surface of the black Canon RF and Pentax SLR lenses looking less shiny (anodized alloy) than the mid' 1950's Nikkor brass enamel.

First version had studs for a bayonet mount sunshade, later version took only the 52mm mount sunshade.

that's good to know. My LTM 2.5/105 has the studs and also the old "Nippon Kogaku" cap. So it looks to me that the 1.5/85 (1953) and 2.5/105 (1954) were indeed the first black (non-painted) lenses. From 1956 on Nikon started to switch the chrome offering to black as well as Canon did. Pentax joined the club one year later.

cheers, Frank

 

[FPjohn]

Chrome age

Chrome age

Hello:

You mean black anodized lenses, but black must have followed brass-enamel as the trendy finish only to reemerge after the age of chrome. 50s era Biogons came in both versions.

yours
Frank

 

[Sonnar2]

Western Zeiss Biogons? I have seen dozens of eroded alloy lenses of Carl Zeiss Jena including valuable 1.5/75 Biotars. If they had been anodized, they would look much better a couple of years after they leave the factory.

 

[FPjohn]

jena, black anodized, no corrosion, exacta mount and looks good on an Exa-I'm no jena expert.