Carl Zeiss Jena T 1:6.3 135mm (#6381939)

[André Thomas]

I have a Mentor camera (13x18cm) with a Carl Zeiss Jena T 1:6.3 135mm (#6381939). On the ground glass it seams to cover 5x7". Can anybody tell me the angle of coverage of this lens.

Thank you for your assistance.

André

[Dan Fromm]

According to The Lens Collector's Vade Mecum, f/6.3 Tessars cover 70 degrees when stopped well down. The VM isn't always right and doesn't define "stopped well down" very clearly.

[Don Wilkes]

According to Arne Croell's article in the Jul/Aug 2003 issue of View Camera magazine, the serial number woudl indicate it was made in the early '60s, and the "T" means the lens is coated. Unfortunately, the tables in the article do not mention a 135/6.3, so I can't help with the coverage question. You should probably write directly to Mr. Croell (who corresponds here from time to time) and see if he knows any details on this particular lens.

[Arne Croell]

Yes, Zeiss listed 70° for this lens as well as its 210mm f/6.3 counterpart, which is rather high for a Tessar. The "Vademecum" was correct in this case. With the low maximum aperture Zeiss could apparently tweak it towards more of a wide field - normal Tessars are usally in the 55-62° range. However, 70° with 135mm means a circle of 189mm which still does not quite cover 13x18cm (or 5x7"). It is well known that Tessar types have a much larger circle of illumination than a circle of good definition, so I am not surprised that your corners don't vignette. I would not expect really good definition there, though, as the official 70° is already pushing it for a Tessar and the falloff in sharpness beyond the circle of good definition is normally quite severe for Tessars.
Don, the lens should be listed near the bottom of table 2a in my article -at least thats where it is in my manuscript (I don't have the printed version in front of me).

[André Thomas]

Thank you for your statements! I got an email from a German photographer that found some information about this lens in an East German photo book (Foto Optik Eine Warenkunde..." von Egon Brauer, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig 7. Edition, 1983). The lens should have an image circle of 160mm (stopped down). The lens shold belong to a series of 100 pieces produced since April 1962. The f6.3 seams to be better corrected than Tessars with higher apperature. Unfortunately this lens don't cover 5x7".

Does anybody know what is a good price for this lens - because I don't have a 4x5" camera with shutter to use this lens.

Best wishes,
André

[Arne Croell]

I wonder whether the 160mm image circle you quoted for this lens is right, because that is the exact image circle for the 135mm f/4.5 Tessar (stopped down) in the Zeiss Jena literature, not the f/6.3. Zeiss Jena lists the image circle for the 6.3 version as 189mm in their literature. Of course that still doesn't cover 5x7. Alltogether there were more than 100 made, 300 alone in shuttered version (Compur) according to the Zeiss production files; however, your specific lens might have been made in a batch of 100.

[Arne Croell]

I checked your lens in the (published) Zeiss Jena production files. Your specific lens was one from the last batch produced, a batch of 100 lenses that were finished April 3, 1962. However, the overall production numbers for this lens (designed in 1947) after WWII were 810 lenses in barrel and 350 lenses in shutter.

[André Thomas]

Dear Arne,

Thank you for your effort. Now I got my result of try with a 13x18cm Mentor camera. With no shift and tilt it will cover 5x7" but the corners will be soft. So for 4x5" with some movement it is a good lens. This seams to confirm your information concerning this lens.

Best wishes,
André