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Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f1.5 question

 

Hello,

Would anyone be able to date an uncoated Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f1.5, serial number 2037239?

Thank you very much for your help!
Raj
 

Dear Raj,

according to Thiele it was produced in the batch of 2000 Sonnars (1000 of which for Contaflex) ? that was completed ?in 06.03.37

cheers
Dima



"rajmohan fotograf icanhearmusik@... [ZICG]" schrieb am 21:38 Mittwoch, 9.Dezember 2015:


?
Hello,

Would anyone be able to date an uncoated Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f1.5, serial number 2037239?

Thank you very much for your help!
Raj
 

Dear Dima,
Thank you very much. ?Do you think that it would be worth purchasing? ?I have a coated Jupiter 3 (a clone of the Sonnar) that absolutely amazed me with its performance on a Kiev 4. ?So I've been after the real thing for my Contax IIa. ?I realize that this lens is uncoated, but will that be a major problem if I use a hood?
Many thanks for your help!
Raj
 

Dear Raj

I consider uncoated pre war Sonnars excellent ?lenses. I shoot in BW so the coating plays no much role if I use the shade or coated modern filter. ?The main problem of such old lenses is that the oil from aperture blades migrates to the glass surface that causes loss in image contrast. At the same time this lens fog is much more easy to remove from the uncoated lenses. ?So if you can overhaul the lens and calibrate it properly you will not be disappointed. ?

By the way the clean uncoated Zeiss lenses should work with color as well, There is nice Zeiss Ikon leaflet on color photography with Contax dated back to 1939 "Contax Schnappsch¨¹sse in Farben" by Christof Croeber with astonishing color photos.

with best regards
Dima




"icanhearmusik@... [ZICG]" schrieb am 21:51 Mittwoch, 9.Dezember 2015:


?
Dear Dima,
Thank you very much. ?Do you think that it would be worth purchasing? ?I have a coated Jupiter 3 (a clone of the Sonnar) that absolutely amazed me with its performance on a Kiev 4. ?So I've been after the real thing for my Contax IIa. ?I realize that this lens is uncoated, but will that be a major problem if I use a hood?
Many thanks for your help!
Raj
 

Hello Dima
Thank you for your detailed impressions of this lens - your opinion is similar to some others I've read, but it's always nice to hear it from a member of this group!
I'm going to take the plunge on this lens (which is at a nice price compared to the many coated versions I've been able to find)!
Many thanks,
Raj
 

This is a wartime lens and might well be coated even if not so marked.? And, yes, the use of a hood will go a long way to eliminate poor resolution.

I have a variety of these lenses in CRF and LTM, along with several Jupiter-3's.? All are fine lenses but my personal favorite is a very late Jupiter-3, one of the few made in a matte black finish.? All do well with both color and black and white emulsions.

Bertele saw this lens as his triumph until he designed the later Biogon.? One of the Zeiss Ikon ads for the Contax RF shows a designer seated on a four foot stack of paper representing the work which went into the wider version of the Sonnar.

Marc
 

Hello Marc,

Thank you for your note. I was first sold on the qualities of this lens by the impressive performance of a relatively modern (1970s) Jupiter 3 on a Kiev 4A - even the test roll with cheap film yielded great results.

The details about the design are fascinating!

Thanks again,
Raj

On Dec 10, 2015, at 5:25, Marc James Small marcsmall@... [ZICG] <ZICG@...> wrote:

This is a wartime lens and might well be coated even if not so marked. And, yes, the use of a hood will go a long way to eliminate poor resolution.

I have a variety of these lenses in CRF and LTM, along with several Jupiter-3's. All are fine lenses but my personal favorite is a very late Jupiter-3, one of the few made in a matte black finish. All do well with both color and black and white emulsions.

Bertele saw this lens as his triumph until he designed the later Biogon. One of the Zeiss Ikon ads for the Contax RF shows a designer seated on a four foot stack of paper representing the work which went into the wider version of the Sonnar.

Marc

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