Zeiss makes Large Format Lenses???

[Dan Fromm]

1969 or so

[Mikael Tran]

Kerry,
Thanks for the educational and informative reply; may i ask what is your thought on the Docter Wezlar 180mm/f4.5 lens in copal 3? Is it a good performer in term of sharpness and coverage? How much would this lens worth if it's in new condition?

Also, what is so special about the 75mm f4.5 Biogon lens that many are willing to pay thousands of dollars for such a rediculously hefty lens? Thanks!

[Arne Croell]

Can any of you Zeiss-o-philes point me to a source for serial
number vs. date of manufacture for Zeiss lenses (would also help date my Planar T*).

Kerry.
There is a recent compilation by Hartmut Thiele that might supply some new information about Zeiss Oberkochen serial numbers.
The book is self-published by the author, you can get it from the usual zeiss-o-phile places, including : Lindemanns bookstore in Stuttgart.
Fabrikationsbuch Photooptik III. Carl Zeiss Oberkochen 1948 bis 1996.
Photoobjektive und Fertigungsnummern, Fertigungszeiten, ..., Thiele, Hartmut, München 2005__

I have that book. According to the author the original manufacturing data from 1948 to 1965 (about 4 million serial no.) are quite spotty, but the later data are better. Thiele does not list the coating type, but he does list the date of the optical design, the serial numbers and occasionally the manufacturing dates. For the 135mm f/3.5 Planar there were 2 designs, one from October 18, 1956 and one from October 3, 1969. The former, older one, usually has a 58mm filter size and the newer one a 67mm one. According to Thiele, Zeiss made 1484 lenses of the 1969 design up to 1996. The T* version is based on the 1969 design, just with a different coating. As far as I know, T* coating was introduced 1979 (can somebody confirm or correct that?). Zeiss Oberkochen made 600 units of the 1969 lens in 1971 and 1975, 200 units in 1980, and 684 units after that, the last batch in 1992. Whether the 200 lenses from 1980 (serial nos. 6293258-6293457) are T*-coated or not, I don't know. I have seen a T* of the first batch after 1980 (6578427-6578726), so we can deduce that there are at least 684 T* Planars in existence, maybe 884. Consequently, they made at least 600 single coated lenses of the same type before the introduction of the T* coating, maybe 800.

[Steve Hamley]

ernest,

There is no "best" lens. The "best lens" is a myth in search of a believer (and it doesn't have to search much, people flock to the myth). There are bad, good, and better lenses for a given purpose.

If you need fast, I have a Zeiss 165mm f:2.8 that fills the bill, but it's also huge and very soft wide open. if you want fast and sharp wide open, the 135mm Planar, Biogons, and the Sonnars are reportedly good - but relatively large and little or no coverage. Schneider also made f:3.5 Tessars in this general focal length although they're probably old enough to be uncoated.

The Apo Lanthar is a good lens. It's reasonably fast at f:4.5, sharp, and has an out of focus transition (bokeh) that many people like very much. They also have a pronounced yellow color cast when shooting color as many have reported and my 150mm Apo Lanthar does, compared to the much more neutral cousin, the Heliar. If I had only one 150mm lens, the Apo Lanthar would not be it.

Like the Repro Claron, early ones used thorium glass to increase the index of refraction of some of the glasses. Late ones like mine are not radioactive. I have an earlier Repro Claron that is radioactive and haved owned a Repro Claron that was not radioactive. Yes, they are safe to use.

Steve

[Arne Croell]

I have a Linhof Zeiss 135mm f3.5 #5194659 on electronic shutter, do you know what version of my lens? What was the peoduction year? Thanks

It is the 1969 version, single coated, made in 1971 according to Thiele.

[Bob Salomon]

". I have heard... that this lens was originally a special order item produced by Carl Zeiss for the Japanese government. I have also heard that the original order was for 140 units, but 150 were actually produced with the extra 10 lenses going to a New York dealer (I heard Ken Hansen, but again, I have not verified this as fact)."

The facts are:

the Japanese Linhof distributor ordered a full production run of these lenses from Zeiss and bought the entire production.

The distributor then sold some to Ken hansen in NYC.

you can easily verify that with Lou Shu at Photo Gizzmo in NYC who managed the large format department at Ken hansen's at that time.

Ken may have also sold some to Samy's Camera in LA.

[David G. Gagnon]

Anyone know why the Bausch & Lomb lenses sometimes have Zeiss in thier name. Was that done because Zeiss owned the patent on the formula of the glass? Example: B & L Zeiss Tessar or B & L Zeiss Anastigmat.

Thanks in advance.
DG

[Ole Tjugen]

B&L made a lot of Zeiss lenses under license. Just like Krauss in France, these are marked with the names of both the licenser and the licensee.

Both of these, and the UK, Italy and lots of other makers around the world, also made their own lenses. (and I can't for the life of me remember the name of the Italian maker..)