raid
Dad Photographer
There are numerous websites that list the serial numbers of Zeiss Jena lenses with the matching years during which these lenses were produced. There are some numbers that are skipped, though. For example:
1,930,150-2,219,775 1937
2,267,991-2,527,984 1938
Are there lenses with serial numbers from 2,219,776-2,267,990?
I have two lenses with serial numbers starting with 223, placing them in 1937. They are heavy, so I know they are not FSU lenses. One of them is a 5cm 2.0 ltm. Marc Small once wrote me that it was one out of 200 such lenses that were sent to Norway as a trade for iron ore.
1,930,150-2,219,775 1937
2,267,991-2,527,984 1938
Are there lenses with serial numbers from 2,219,776-2,267,990?
I have two lenses with serial numbers starting with 223, placing them in 1937. They are heavy, so I know they are not FSU lenses. One of them is a 5cm 2.0 ltm. Marc Small once wrote me that it was one out of 200 such lenses that were sent to Norway as a trade for iron ore.
raid
Dad Photographer
Many years ago it was an interesting investigation to try to figure out if we had bought a fake
Zeiss Jena or one of the rare genuine Zeiss ltm 5cm lenses. Then there was also a possibility of getting a lens that Leica or some individuals had modified into ltm.
The amazing thing is how great such old lenses are for photography.
Zeiss Jena or one of the rare genuine Zeiss ltm 5cm lenses. Then there was also a possibility of getting a lens that Leica or some individuals had modified into ltm.
The amazing thing is how great such old lenses are for photography.
Raid- Lenses within those Serial Number blocks are documented in my 2002 edition of Thiele book on Carl Zeiss Jena lenses. No mystery!
> 2,219,776-2,267,990?
Not many Contax mount lenses in this range, movie cameras and other?
> 2,219,776-2,267,990?
Not many Contax mount lenses in this range, movie cameras and other?
raid
Dad Photographer
Thanks Brian. Why don't "regular" lists of Zeiss Jena serial numbers mention this range of numbers? I was starting to doubt the existence of my 2 lenses, but I have them!
View Range
Well-known
Raid, the better question is how Thiele is able to do such a superb job documenting the German photographic industry. Patton's 3rd Army entered Jena in April of 1945. Army G2 (Intel) removed significant material from Carl Zeiss before handing Jena over to the Soviets in July. (There are pre-war German magazines in the US Library of Congress that are clearly marked as belonging to the Carl Zeiss Jena library.)
raid
Dad Photographer
This is very interesting. It must have been a very time consuming task to do such a documentation.