What is this, and how is it used?

[skucera]

Digging through my dad's photo stuff, I found a puzzling little Zeiss accessory in its original box, but I have no idea what it is. The part number on the bottom of the box, and on the top of the outer barrel is "5520/6," and a quick Google search shows that it is a focusing screen adapter. Here's a picture of one like it, but with the numbers in a slightly different location:

Can anyone tell me how it is used?

When I was little, in the mid-Sixties, my dad had a Zeiss enlarger in his darkroom in the basement, but this may have belonged to one of his cameras. He switched from Zeiss to Konica cameras in the Seventies, so I think this is the only relic left from his equipment that he had when I was little, aside from his Gossen LunaPro that I use with my Leica M3.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[sevo]

Digging through my dad's photo stuff, I found a puzzling little Zeiss accessory in its original box, but I have no idea what it is. The part number on the bottom of the box, and on the top of the outer barrel is "5520/6," and a quick Google search shows that it is a focusing screen adapter. Here's a picture of one like it, but with the numbers in a slightly different location:

That is the focus aid for Contax macro/micro rigs - it has a Contax outer bayonet mount (like a camera body) and the ground glass at the same register distance as a Contax. It is to be mounted to extension tubes, bellows or a Contax microscope attachment to focus on the ground glass. I suspect that most of them might have been sold bundled with Zeiss microscopes, as there are quite a lot of them around, more than bellows and extension tubes.

Personally I occasionally use it to test lenses...

 

[skucera]

Now that you mention it, I do remember my dad clipping it to the backs of his lenses to frame a shot and get the focus right before clipping the lens to the camera. That desire to look through the lens is why he bought an SLR later.

Thanks for jogging my memory. And thanks for the info about uses with microscopes. Way back in college, I remember seeing camera adapters on microscopes in the lab, but nobody ever used them except for one Polaroid camera that got lots of use.

Thanks!

Scott