Some of you may know that I wrote 2 articles on Carl Zeiss Jena lenses and Docter Optic lenses for View Camera (2003), as well as a shorter previous online article on largeformatphotography.info.

The one information that eluded me so far are the production numbers for the lenses produced by Docter in the 5 years between the time Bernhard Docter bought the Zeiss Jena plant (August 1991) and the stop of production after the bankruptcy (some time in 1995/1996). The Zeiss Jena numbers until mid-1991 are known, but not the Docter numbers. For an update of the online article I’d like to have that information and ask for your help:

Docters serial number system followed the model of Zeiss Jena after 1980, where each lens type had its own numbering sequence starting with 1001. Therefore it is possible to deduce the production number from the highest serial number.

I would be glad if everybody who owns a Docter lens could send me the type, shutter type (or indicate barrel), and the serial number. I am not asking you to do that publicly on this site, e-mail it to me at:

docter_lens_query@web.de

I promise to not give the numbers to anybody else; I will only use them to estimate the highest number rounded up to the nearest 10, 50, or 100 (whatever appears most reasonable), and will post the results of this query here.

The lenses in question are: Apo-Germinar (240, 300, 360, 450, 600, 750, 1000mm); Apo-Germinar W (150, 210, 240mm); Doctar WA 65mm;Germinar W (150, 210, 240, 305, 360mm); Germinar S (270, 600mm); Tessar/Doctar lenses for 4x5 and up (135, 180, 210, 250, 300, 360mm).

In addition to lenses marked “Docter Optic Wetzlar” please include also lenses marked “Carl Zeiss Jena” but only those that came in a modern Copal, Compur, or Prontor shutter.

Again, I am looking for type, shutter type (or barrel), and the serial number. If you have several lenses of the same type, the highest number is of course sufficient.
Thanks in advance,

Arne Croell

This text will be crossposted on the forums on largeformatphotography.info, photo.net, apug.org, rec.photo.equipment.large-format