Carl Zeiss 135mm F3.5 T* Lens

[LH1H17]

I just spotted this lens being offered at a used camera store in town and it's a beauty! I'm relative new to 4x5 large format (just got a Ebony 45SU last month) and I am considering adding this lens to my collection. Anyone have any idea how much is a fair price for such a specimen circa May 2007? I tried forum searches but didn't find any information since several years ago!

[Jan Pedersen]

Are you sure this lens is a LF format lens? It sounds like a lens for either a Hasselblad or a Rollei MF camera.
The T* smells like an older Hasselblad lens and in case it is, will not cover 4x5
If you can get a little more information it will be easier to pinpoint the nature of this lens.

[Oren Grad]

Jan, there most definitely is a Zeiss 135/3.5 T*. There was a short run of these lenses with the T* coating, I think in the early '80s. My recollection is that they tend to be fairly pricey.

It's really something of a special-purpose lens, for those who want to take advantage of the f/3.5 aperture or otherwise have a preference for its particular optical signature. Other modern 135s offer greater coverage in a smaller, much less expensive package.

[William Barnett-Lewis]

Oren, do you have any idea what formula CZ used? I'd presume it's a symetrical lens, but, unlike some of the others, one never can be sure about Zeiss and that's part of why I love them so.

(Tessars and Sonnars, oh my ... )

William

[Oren Grad]

There are other folks here who know much more than I do about this lens. The T* version was its last gasp in the market, but it was produced for quite a while in single coated versions. I recall the design as being different from that of the Symmar and other contemporaneous plasmats, but I don't remember exactly what it was.

I hope one of the experts can jump in with the full story or a pointer to same.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Like the single-coated Planars and the Schneider Xenotar it is a pretty standard five element/four group Gauss design.

There are, as I recall, some details about the T* lenses on Kerry Thalmann's website. I handled one of these in Japan, it was a really beautiful lens. I would have love to purchase it, but the price (roughly $3500) was way beyond my ability to rationalize.

Oren, do you have any idea what formula CZ used? I'd presume it's a symetrical lens, but, unlike some of the others, one never can be sure about Zeiss and that's part of why I love them so.

(Tessars and Sonnars, oh my ... )

William

[LH1H17]

It definitely is a large format lens, in compur 1 shutter with speeds 1 thru 500 and T. My situation is that I am consolidating my Nikon 35mm collection from 20+ lenses to only 7, and moving up to large format. I wouldn't mind paying a lot good lenses (e.g. I've owned and enjoyed such classics as the 58mm noct nikkor) but I want to make sure that I won't lose half of my money when I resell it

[Jan Pedersen]

Interesting, if the price is right it may be a good oportunity to grab this one.
But 3500$ is about what a Cooke cost, would it really have that much of a signature?

[Sheldon N]

This is the first one I've heard of or read of for sale since Kerry sold his. If you can get it for under $3,000 you are getting a fair price. If they don't know what they have, then you make be able to get quite a good deal.

If I were selling one, I probably wouldn't let it go for less than $4k. Here's some information on Kerry's site...

http://www.thalmann.com/largeformat/future.htm

Lucky you!

[Frank Petronio]

Used wide open I bet it is beautiful.