Carl Zeiss Jena Large format Lenses (tessar)

[akfreak]

Where is the best resource to find information on CZJ large format lenses. Specifically the Tessar . I have a CZJ 300m f4.5 1Q it has N88 on the aperture adjustment ring. I see them in that say DDR ( I assume Germany) I am interested in the Jena Tessar large format lenses? All I can seem to find is dslr lenses Like a Tessar T, Contax, been to captjack Carl Zeiss Jena Exakta Lenses page. Am I missing something, Obviously I am. I want to know more about my exact lens and was does 1Q and N88 mean? Seems Jena is made for every camera. Zeiss Tessar is a popular design. I gave only a few dollars for this lens from Bulgaria. I hope 24" of draw will focus this puppy, lol

My lens
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5142/5789698058_b571396171_z.jpg

[Arne Croell]

You can find some information in the article I wrote on CZJ lenses some years ago, in the article section on my web site: http://www.arnecroell.com/articles

[Dan Fromm]

<expletives deleted> http://www.google.com/search?q=tessar&hl=en&num=100&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=

Searching before asking is always a good idea. Search some more, look for Zeiss company history and the like. Having a copy of A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum would help you feed yourself better, Dan Colucci, who posts here as ccharrison, sells is. Spent the fifteen bucks or so it costs and then read it.

"N88" isn't obvious and may be hard to find information about. It should be the mounting threads' diameter in mm. Measure to check, I could be mistaken.

Likewise for "Q1." It means "export grade."

Google DDR, also BRD. You might as well learn what both mean. I take it you were hatched after the wall came down. Sorry, if that's the case you won't know which wall. Berlin wall. Google "Carl Zeiss Jena" too.

And don't type "lol." Makes you look like a giggling idiot drowning in his own slobber. Unless, of course, that's how you want us to see you.

[Dan Fromm]

You can find some information in the article I wrote on CZJ lenses some years ago, in the article section on my web site: http://www.arnecroell.com/articles
Arne, you are too kind.

[Arne Croell]

RE: N88 - The "N" stands for Normalfassung, i.e. a barrel mount, and the thread is 88mm.

[Nathan Potter]

Arne, you are too kind.

Dan, you are too unkind; but I understand your angle. :D

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

I hope 24" of draw will focus this puppy, lol

It's a 300mm lens. So, you will need approximately 300mm (a little under 12") to focus at infinity. With 24" of bellows, you could even do 1:1 close ups.

Kerry

[akfreak]

The lens came from a “Globic" camera as referenced in the Link (arnecroell.com/czj1.pdf) Thanks Dan Fromm for the link.

In the future I will try to feed myself, that is if I can get the spoon to my mouth without first filling it with slobber. A man cannot live on slobber alone. Wait, maybe I was supposed to address the reference, "Idiot", I am confused, correction my pea brain just comprehended, I am an Idiot who slobbers. Perception is reality they say.

I never imagined three little letters would elicit a such a response. View me as you will, I did try and research. I guess I better utilize all available information in the future before coming here, even if it requires me to purchase materials, drive to a library, contact a museum, or just PM nice people who dont view me an a slobbering Idiot.

I am new to Large format, I am still cutting my teeth so to speak. I was just curious about the specific lens and after numerous searches on Google, DogPile, Yahoo, ectt. I thought it safe to ask the question here.

Why in forums do the new guys get looked down upon by some senior members. I am no cherry to forum boards. Believe it for not I am respected at more than a few. I even help people that are trying to understand. I also do it in a friendly manor or I dont bother to respond at all.

You know, this type of thing is what causes some people to refrain from ever being an active member. They lurk and leave. I was a lurker for quite some time here. It's a good think I am not so sensitive or I might go slobber by myself. One thing for sure, I wont ever LOL here again. LOL!:p

[Dan Fromm]

Well, brother LOL, since you asked I'll try to reply. Some of us old curmudgeons read sprawling questions such as the one that started this thread as evidence the questioner hasn't tried to find answers itself. Sometimes we're right, sometimes we're not. If I was mistaken about you, I regret any inconvenience ...

You say "after numerous searches ..." Is that so? In other words, I doubt you. I searched and found, have trouble imagining that you searched and didn't find. Google treats everyone pretty much the same.

To keep us old coots from, um, sniping at you, simply say "I searched and couldn't find a good answer to this question" when asking a question. That'll convince us that you're a serious person, not a young bird begging to be stuffed with partially digested bugs and worms.

I recommended you buy a book on old lenses because if you're going to chase the fool things its a much better guide than you'll get by asking poorly posed questions. In general a good book contains more information than posts on a bulletin board. And a good book is a much safer source of information for people who haven't yet learned to tell excrement from shoe polish than posts on a bulletin board. If you can afford a big Tessar you should be able to find $15 for Mr. Colucci.

Globus or Globic camera?

ROTFLPIP,

Dan

[Lynn Jones]

And Nate Potter, since I'm in the same town with you, you are welcome to email me at ACC Photo Technology.

lynn@austincc.edu

Lynn

[IanG]

You can find some information in the article I wrote on CZJ lenses some years ago, in the article section on my web site: http://www.arnecroell.com/articles

There's still some gaps, the article on post WWII Tessars etc on this LFPI website is outdated and really it need updating by your later work, that you've given the link for above.

Ian

[akfreak]

@ Dan I will be sure to be more through and place a search history of where I went looking to find information before I pose a question here, Truth be told I had tried to post the question several times, the first of which was more detailed with information in where I looked for information. However I never finished the post before I got sidetracked and closed the browser. This last thread was quick and dirty for LFF standards it seems, and will be the last time I try to do that.

I do not want to be viewed as some mindless bird waiting to be fed by mommy and daddy!

Now as to your Google is the same as my Google, not really but OK. They target your search habits and hit you with stuff you like to search for. I am a Canon guy so I dont get a lot of Nikon ads if you know what I mean.

Now a broad search for Tessar will bring a million pages of information, it is a very popular design, So is Jena, so I thought I would be more specific. I thought Hey, why not search my exact lens. How baby bird like of me, LOL!~ (AKf<- being a little punkish, sorry) Guess this is not the right way to look for information on a lens.

If you do a seach specflilly on my lens it comes back with almost nothing excapt ebay listings, and Now this thread (on the top), See for yourself here is my search very specific CZJ Carl Zeiss Tessar 1Q 300mm F4.5 large format lens N88 (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=CZJ+Carl+Zeiss+Tessar+1Q+300mm+F4.5+large+format+lens+N88)

Now here is the great thing, Google indexes information so the latest and greatest info rises to the top. SEO aint it grand. Now if a person like myself is in the need of good information on this lens. He need look no further the links and link backs will bring this to the top of the pile. That is until ebayer's bury the good info again.

So see the lesson should of been how to use broad terms while doing Google searches, then pester the Gurus after you have evidence you have given more than simple effort to find the info yourself. Only then will they (the Guru's) openly hand over what information you may or may not be looking for.

All kidding aside, thanks fellas. I appreciate the history lesson, Zeiss is a huge company and has made tons and tons of optics. I really wanted to know more about my exact lens. My thread title was the main cause of this confusion, it should of been more specfic. Thanks again, Tom

[edp]

a broad search for Tessar will bring a million pages of information, it is a very popular design, So is Jena

Jena is the town in eastern Germany famous for optics and glass making. It is not the name of a lens design.

[Dan Fromm]

akfreak, buy this http://cgi.ebay.com/Lens-Collectors-Vade-Mecum-Book-Download-1-000-pages-/220793703474?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368548c32 now. It will give you hours of entertainment. I'm not Dan Colucci and am at best slightly acquainted with him.

Ole Tjugen will shortly step in to remind us that the VM is incoherent, incomplete, inconsistent, sometimes incorrect, often infuriating, but, all in all, invaluable. You can't imagine the interesting trouble it has got me into.

You might also want to visit my friend and co-author Eric Beltrando's site www.dioptrique.info. He doesn't say it explicitly, but there's a reason why most of the lenses whose prescriptions he shows and performance he calculates have focal lengths around 100 mm. That's the standard used in prescriptions. Other focal lengths are designed, given the prescription, by scaling all dimensions -- elements' diameters, radii, thickness, and inter-element spacing -- by focal length. If you know one f/4.5 Tessar (of the same design, that one was recalculated from time to time), you know all f/4.5 Tessars.

No laughter or smirks this time,

Dan

p.s. Its appalling that an old fart like me should have better search skills than a youngster like you. Contrary to the folklore too. On the other hand, most skills improve with practice and I may have had the opportunity to practice longer than you have.

[Ole Tjugen]

... Ole Tjugen will shortly step in to remind us that the VM is incoherent, incomplete, inconsistent, sometimes incorrect, often infuriating, but, all in all, invaluable. You can't imagine the interesting trouble it has got me into. ...

As said, the VM is invaluable but not infallible. In addition to that I have a good selection of German books, both photography and optics, from much of the 20th century. I use these to cross-check what I find in the VM, but there is no reason for everyone to have all these books. Where the VM is insufficient, one of us will step in with any corrections. ;)

[akfreak]

Dan with 3,000 posts you know you way around LF gear way more then I. If you want to talk about guns, motion graphics, 3d animations, walk cycles, match moving, coding, plug-in development, media rich content creation, I may be able to hang. Seaching for 1Q N88 300mm f4.5 CZJ's you got me. And thanks to you and everyone else for taking time to help, or just to give me a hard time

[Dan Fromm]

Akfreak, number of posts has no meaning. I'm sure you've come across clueless idiots who post compulsively. The best that can be said of me is that I know more than some, less than others.

Guns? I do remember "this is my rifle, this is my gun" from basic training. Even now men don't say much in public about their, um, guns.

I used to be somewhat of a Fortranner's Fortranner. Centuries ago. Did mainstream data processing most of my life. In recent years, making sense of billions of records, terabytes of data in near real time. Not much interest in the modern stuff, have found that simply using off-the-shelf applications a better use of my time than writing my own. In the bad old days I wrote my own 'cos I had no choice.

Enjoy your bit Tessar. I've been meaning to ask, what are you going to use for a shutter with it?

[akfreak]

Shutter, I haven't decided. I may make an electronic one and run it from a pocket wizard. I have been designing a shutter system in my head that will attach via a broken filter screwed on the back of the lens, and a servo motor that will turn a flat plate with a hole in it at a set speed. The filter will have a short barrel attached and the end will have some sort of felt to seal for light leaks. I may just use a cap, or do the Jim Galli dark slide trick, as of yet I am still working it out.