raid
Dad Photographer
Cool. Is the lens mount made from brass?
TenEleven
Well-known
To my knowledge they did not introduce the 'T' mark until 2.4million - however they started experimentally coating lenses way before that.
I have found these blue coatings in several never before opened lenses - and not just Contax or LTM mount either. I've seen large format Zeiss lenses and medium format lenses with the same color of coating as well. Always the 1.8~2.1million serial number range. Thereafter it stops and most lenses seem to go back to being un-coated. Then around 2.4million or shortly thereafter they rolled out their second-generation, now 'T' branded coating, which is much harder and more durable on top of being optically better.
The coating seems to be most commonly found on Biogons in that range, which again, makes sense as they would benefit the most from it due to their relatively high air-space and element-count.
You mean the optical mounts?
Yes. Strangely enough the fit and finish of the f2 lens-optical units is higher than the f1.5 lenses for some reason.
raid
Dad Photographer
My lens has serial number over 2.2 million and it has a blue coating.
james.liam
Well-known
I've been offered a copy with a professionally converted mount (to M) and a particularly sharp sample at that. What do you think such a lens should be going for?
raid
Dad Photographer
A CZJ 5cm 2 in M mount: maybe $300~$450?
A CZJ 5cm 1.5 in M mount: maybe $600+ ?
At skyllaney in Scotland:
Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm f/1.5 ‘Un-coated’ Sonnar – All Brass – Leica RF conversion
£1,500.00 .............................. Out of stock
raid
Dad Photographer
My CZJ 5cm 2 is quite heavy for a small lens. Not having to use an adapter would be nicer. Having the lens adapted to ltm or M would be cool.
steveyork
Well-known
I'm always surprised in a good way with those pre-war Zeiss optics. I've used a number of those 50 1.5's or 2.0's and they've all been excellent, even those with a good deal of cleaning marks. A lot of them have a bit of haze though.
raid
Dad Photographer
The Jupiter “clones”, J8 and J3 are excellent lenses but the J3 often are found in need of shimming for proper focus.
james.liam
Well-known
Actually, single-coated and 1936 (!!). Their impending Bertele Sonnar is an intriguing development, with modern coatings and modern glass.
They're also selling a 1.5 Opton with a beat-up front element in a bespoke M-mount for £900, if anyone is interested.
raid
Dad Photographer
I hope that one day I will shop at skyllaney. They seem to have cool lenses.
james.liam
Well-known
Raid, how do you collapse the lens and does it interfere with the inner workings of modern M lenses when collapsed?
TenEleven
Well-known
I have at least four Sonnars and six other single coated 1936 optics from Zeiss - there really isn't anything that spectacular about it. That's when they started doing coatings. One of them is a 1.5 Sonnar that handily out-resolves my 36megapixel digital camera in the center at wide open (generates moire patterns of fine detail). I paid about 100 bucks for it because it came on a dead Contax III that someone was trying to be rid of. I know Brian has one of that batch, too. It's really nothing that super rare in my view.
Skyllaney is practicing good salesmanship that's all. Good on them.
TenEleven
Well-known
I don't know about Raids setup specifically but the CZJ f2 collapses only a little.
If you can collapse the Elmar on your camera then this is absolutely safe to collapse. No problem!
raid
Dad Photographer
I don’t deliberate collapse the lens in order not to damage the sensor:
raid
Dad Photographer
I use the collapsible lens with the M9 and M10. I never collapse any lens into a digital Leica. Into a Barnack? Yes.
james.liam
Well-known
How about into an M3/4/6?
raid
Dad Photographer
Should be similar to a standard Leica. I would try it very carefully.
james.liam
Well-known
I've had several Sonnars from 1936, gone through maybe 10 or so. Only one from that year is coated. I'm not sure of the percentages of coated optics before the "T" designation. I know first hand the inner coating of the 1936 lens I have is hard-coated, stood up to cleaning a lot of haze out of it. There is sample-to-sample variation in the Sonnars, and several small changes made in the optics. Right now- I have been cherry picking for almost 20 years, so have some really good ones. I've converted 50 5cm F1.5 Sonnars to Leica mount, handled more than that.
james.liam
Well-known
Do you feel the ƒ/1.5 to be superior to the ƒ/2 versions? Sounds like TenEleven hasn't any good things to say about the Contax Sonnar altogether.