Pros and cons of tessar design lens???

[Lynn Jones]

The most interesting thing about tessar type lenses is the contrast which is easily the highest of any conventional lens. It has just a bit more astigmatism than some other lenses (which you will never see unless you are an optical physicist) but the overall quality is superb, see Commercial Ektar, f 6.3 Caltar, Zeiss Tessars and the coverage is always around 55 or so degrees. Usually they don't like macro a lot, they will often soften up a bit at 1:1 or closer. When you compare these with some of the wide field type lenses, you may actually have to increase the development with WF lenses when compared to tessar types.

Lynn

[goamules]

The most interesting thing about tessar type lenses is the contrast which is easily the highest of any conventional lens. ...

Lynn

Except a Dagor. Or probably a Protar...or probably a....!

[Two23]

I have that f3.5 75mm Tessar on my 1951 Rolleiflex. It is a truly great lens. I also have a 1920s (?) 12 inch Wollensak Velostigmat, which I think is a Tessar. It too is a very nice lens that gives a very classy look.


Kent in SD

[E. von Hoegh]

Except a Dagor. Or probably a Protar...or probably a....!

The 355 MC Kern Dagors are in a class by themselves for contrast and color purity. One has to use one to understand this, though.

[Eric Rose]

I love Tessar's! If I could only use Tessar lenses I would be in a very happy place.

[CP Goerz]

'...the good, the bad and the ugly of the tessar '


Not much of the first, plenty of the second and lots of the third :-)

[John Kasaian]

Generally, Tessar designs will soften at the edges of a rather modest image circle, but not all Tessars are created equal.
The 14" Commercial Ektar is a superb lens and the 480mm Nikkor M is another truly great example with huge image circles and sharp even at the edges.

[E. von Hoegh]

I love Tessar's! If I could only use Tessar lenses I would be in a very happy place.

Whay can't you use a Tessar?

[Drew Wiley]

Tessars have six air/glass interfaces. Dagors have only four, so indeed, the late MC Kern
355 was probably the most flare-free LF lens ever made, and was remarkable for color purity too, though not quite equal to current plastmats in certain other respects. The late
Nikkor M lenses are superb too, also being multicoated. But whenever you take a lens
designation like either tessar or dagor, which have been made over generations in a great
variety of nuances, it's hard to make accurate generalizations. With older lenses in particular, you can have significant variation in quality control and shutter idiosyncasies.
I think the discussion would need to be narrowed somewhat to make it meaningful in real
world applications.

[Mark Sawyer]

I love Tessar's! If I could only use Tessar lenses I would be in a very happy place.

Why can't you use a Tessar?

As a wise man once said, "There's too many pretty women to love just one!"