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Ramiro Elena
19-Nov-2011, 05:45
So many Protars... B&L, Ross, Krauss...

Trying to know a little about this lens I found. From what I could learn here and there there were different Zeiss lenses depending on where they were sold or manufactured. Krauss would have the licence for Zeiss in France?

This is a "no series" I believe, at least it doesn't say in the rim.
F=136mm ƒ8

Any clues on coverage and quality?

Dan Fromm
19-Nov-2011, 06:54
Yes, Krauss made Zeiss designs under licence.

The VM says:

Series IIa Anastigmat Protar f8.0 2 + 3 glasses (Layout Zei 008) To cover 75 or 80°
This was made in focal lengths of 90, 110, 136, 167, 205, 244, 295, 350, 433mm.
This was one of the last of the Anastigmats to be introduced, and the 3-glass rear component was used to
allow improved spherical correction with a critically flat field. In fact, it has the typical advantages of sharpness
and contrast with a really good angle covered. Customers would have compared this anastigmat with an RR,
and found real advantages in a lens of similar size and without too great an increase in cost compared with
either an RR or a Series V. But it must have always lived in the shadow of Symmetrical Anastigmats such as
the Series VI and similar lenses, where the main reason that the Series IIa sold was probably that it was
about half the price.

cdholden
19-Nov-2011, 07:01
So many Protars...

and so little time.

Steven Tribe
19-Nov-2011, 12:53
Don't forget that Voigtländer produced the whole range of early Zeiss Protars under licence - from II to V. And he kept records, probably because of royalty payments to Carl Zeiss.
I a total of 245.
IIa 53.
III 631.
IIIa 377.
IV 427.
V 545.
In addition Voigtländer began a series VII (just the rear lens mounted) which was discontinued very quickly.
VII 28.
I make this a total of 3309 Zeiss Protar "Voigtländers"!

Ramiro Elena
19-Nov-2011, 13:05
What's the difference between series and why is there no sign of a series in this particular example? Why is it a Series IIa?

Geoffrey_5995
19-Nov-2011, 14:15
What's the difference between series and why is there no sign of a series in this particular example? Why is it a Series IIa?

Hello, The max fstop of f8 indicates series IIa. Series V was f18, Series VII/VIIa had several max fstops depending on combinations and whether the lens was shot with one group only or combined with two groups. One group alone as VII was f12.5, combined groups went from f6.3 to f7.7 I think and called VIIa. Series IV was a doublet f12.5. I believe series III was f7.2. I think this is pretty much it but might have missed some. Geoff

Dan Fromm
19-Nov-2011, 14:19
f/8 makes it a IIa.

Dan Colucci (spelling), who posts here as ccharrison, sells the VM on CD-ROM. IIRC the price is around $15 plus postage. Well worth the money. Buy it.

Ramiro Elena
19-Nov-2011, 16:00
f/8 makes it a IIa.

Dan Colucci (spelling), who posts here as ccharrison, sells the VM on CD-ROM. IIRC the price is around $15 plus postage. Well worth the money. Buy it.

Word! Been delaying it for too long. Thanks for the info anyway :)

Steven Tribe
20-Nov-2011, 03:39
The question of price has been raised!

The following are the selling prices in Germany for Voigtländer Protars (Anastigmats)
in 1896. Prices are given for the objective that covers 5x7".

Series II F6.3 185 marks
Series IIa F8 125 marks
Series III F7.2 120 marks
Series IIIa F9 90 marks
Series IV F12.5 70 marks
Series VII (F12.5?) 85 marks.