Rarest Zeiss Jena Protar to find ??

[beegee]

a quick survey... which focal length of the Zeiss Jena Protar F18's would be the hardest one to find ??

[sanking]

The really long ones, 480mm and up.

Sandy King





a quick survey... which focal length of the Zeiss Jena Protar F18's would be the hardest one to find ??

[Dan Fromm]

Really short ones, e.g., 40 mm and 62 mm.

[Ole Tjugen]

The really short ones are at least listed, but the 640mm, 800mm and 1200mm aren't. I've only heard rumors about that last one, and it might be a "non- Serie V" repro lens. The 800mm I believe is really the Serie V Weitwinkel-Anastigmat.

[beegee]

The really short ones are at least listed, but the 640mm, 800mm and 1200mm aren't. I've only heard rumors about that last one, and it might be a "non- Serie V" repro lens. The 800mm I believe is really the Serie V Weitwinkel-Anastigmat.


the 630mm (or the 632) & the 950 (or the 947mm ) are listed I have never seen listed the 800 and 1200. it could very well be that they were special orders.

that's right, the shortest one is the rarest to find, it is so hard to find and see it because is so tiny tiny, and I don't know where mine is anymore . I am doing some more digging in my junk yard and I know it will show up.
in now days of "the bigger the better" the shortest one would be enjoyable to see it !!!! as soon as I'll put my hands on it, I'll post pictures for the 'protar aficionados' !!!

[Dan Fromm]

beegee, I'm not sure that the shortest f/18 Protars are good for much. I recently had an opportunity to try out a 62/18, found that its back focus was too short for it to be used on a board on a 2x3 Speed Graphic. The barrels' rear threads are very nearly RMS so I bodged it into a Linhof RMS-to-#0 adapter and hung it in front of a #0. Shot it on a 2x3 Century Graphic, got severe mechanical vignetting from the shutter. Classic circular image. It might be usable in front of a much larger shutter.

The view's too dim for easy composition, but as best as I can tell the lens is more than acceptably sharp, at least in the center, even at f/18.

Cheers,

Dan

[Ernest Purdum]

I think a monorail and a Packard woul;d be the most readily available means to use one of the tiny Protars.

Using a 1200mm or even an 800? I'm overwhelmed at the thought of the size of camera needed to take full advantage of the capabilities.

[Dan Fromm]

Ernest, I'm not sure, and for two reasons.

First, back focus is somewhat shorter than focal length. The 62 I tried wouldn't focus to infinity on a 2x3 Speed Graphic on a board, minimum flange-to-film distance 61.9 mm.

Secondly, claimed coverage is quite small. The 62 doesn't quite cover 3x4 at f/36, the 40 doesn't quite cover 2x3 at f/36. See http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/zeiss/p32.html.

Cheers,

Dan