Carl Zeiss London Tessar lens

[m1tch]

Hi all,

I now have a nice Carl Zeiss London Tessar lens, the number on it dates it to 1913 which is cool, I will be mounting it to a pacemaker speed graphic so the fact it doesn't have a shutter is ok.



I have 2 questions on the lens:

1. What sort of lens performance should I expect? I am guessing soft focus and perhaps some flare and I am also guessing its uncoated.
2. The aperture numbers are slightly different on it, they are f4.5, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f23 and f32 - I know that f22 is actually something like f22.6 so could they have rounded it up to f23?



Just wondering if I could get some more info on the lens, its nice that its an early lens made in the UK

[E. von Hoegh]

You'll get flare, because it's uncoated, but you won't get soft focus. I used the Jena twin to that lens and at f:8-11 it's quite sharp. It will cover 4x5 with maybe a tad of movement, expect slightly soft corners at or near wide open. A good lens shade will keep the flare under control. I rather doubt it was made in the UK, but I guess anything's possible.

[m1tch]

Thanks for that, I know that there was a London factory, but was closed before the war - German products weren't really wanted at that time!

Got the info from here and the lens number checks out to be 1913, all of the Tessar lenses I have ever seen are Jena lenses (ie built in Jena).

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00L388

The odd thing is that it has an f23 stop which I have never seen on a lens before

[E. von Hoegh]

Thanks for that, I know that there was a London factory, but was closed before the war - German products weren't really wanted at that time!

Got the info from here and the lens number checks out to be 1913, all of the Tessar lenses I have ever seen are Jena lenses (ie built in Jena).

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00L388

The odd thing is that it has an f23 stop which I have never seen on a lens before

I didn't know there was a London factory, nice find! The Germans and English were still buddies in 1913. Kaiser Willie and King Goerge had the same grandmother, Queen Victoria. Of England, Empress of India, and all that.
1.41
2.0
2.82
4
5.64
8
11.28
16
22.56 This rounds to 23, not 22.
32
45.12

[m1tch]

Yeah thats what I thought, its obviously a lens between the standard set we have today, but not the same as the older lenses which started at f1024 for f3.2 and halfed the number each stop lol I guess that would actually make more sense with the larger number letting more light in!

I am looking forward to mounting it on the speed graphics, the lens is so clear for something 100 years old, I guess there aren't many elements to get mucky!

[IanG]

You've got a good British made lens there, during WWI the British Government gave the Zeiss, Mill Hill, factory to Ross who had been making Zeiss lenses under licence anyway.

The Mill Hill Zeiss factory was primarilary a binocular factory but they had begun lens manufacture just before the war, seems to be only Tessars. These early Tessars are better than many of the 30's Tessars which used new glasses that were very soft and aged badly, they are more flare resistant as a consequence.

Ironically during WWI the Germans used Zeiss Jena binoculars and the British used Ross binoculars from the former Zeisss, Londn, factory

Ian

[E. von Hoegh]

You've got a good British made lens there, during WWI the British Government gave the Zeiss, Mill Hill, factory to Ross who had been making Zeiss lenses under licence anyway.

The Mill Hill Zeiss factory was primarilary a binocular factory but they had begun lens manufacture just before the war, seems to be only Tessars. These early Tessars are better than many of the 30's Tessars which used new glasses that were very soft and aged badly, they are more flare resistant as a consequence.

Ironically during WWI the Germans used Zeiss Jena binoculars and the British used Ross binoculars from the former Zeisss, Londn, factory

Ian

I have a pair of 10x Zeiss binoculars from about 1896 which belonged to the U.S. Navy at one point.

[m1tch]

Thanks IanG, I currently have a Schnider lens on the speed graphic - I have yet to shoot on large format due to needing to sort out developing the film myself - but am looking forward to seeing what the differences are with the 2 lenses. Although there might be a bit of camera shake when firing the focal plane shutter but we will see! I basically have a camera for every format (up to 4x5) now including half frame cameras, its quite funny when you compare a half frame camera with a 4x5 DDS lol

I am also slightly happy that the lens is uncoated actually as I know lenses like the Aero Ektar with its coating can discolour meaning that they were originally sharp but have lost a bit of clarity, whereas the uncoated lens should remain the same sharpness.