Jörg Krüger
Pentacon (Contax D)
Pentacon (Contax D) with Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar T 2.8/50,
Meyer-Optik Görlitz 2.8/100, Gossen Sixtomat
Instruction manuals for camera, exposure meter and lenses with preset diaphragm.
Content of an inconspicuous Revue leatherette camera bag from the Seventies (besides a very incongruous Beroflex 2.8/35). The camera obviously has a standard problem. While all gears (long shutter speeds, self-timer) are working fine, the shutter curtains are traveling erraticly, especially the first one often stops 5 mm before its final position. I found advice on the net: when the curtains are renewed, all trouble will go away. Would be a nice challenge, to find a cloth for the curtains, or the correct tension for the spools without shutter speed tester. And though that camera from the early fifties with its built-in prism was the roll model for SLRs for decades, it is still charming. The viewer screen is just a ground glass without Fresnel rings, so it has a hot spot in the center. Nevertheless, you can focus correctly and colors are brilliant, if there is enough light. Meanwhile I think, that viewer screen in some AF-SLRs are *too* bright, and therefore manual focusing is more difficult. The image in the viewer is surrounded by a "bright frame", the instruction manual explains, that the frame has a size of 20 x 30 mm, so that everything of your subject will be on your photo for sure.
Prices in a West German catalog of the early Fifties: Pentacon with Schacht Travenar 2.8/50: 592,- Deutsche Mark, Exakta Varex with 2.8/50: 600,- DM.
When I removed the front ring in the filter thread of the Tessar for proper cleaning I was surprised to find a second one. I knew that there are "masked" lenses from Carl Zeiss Jena, but not that it is that simple. If you have an old CZJ lens with two slots in the front ring, you certainly have one of those. The reason for that was a lawsuit between Zeiss east and Zeiss west. Zeiss west demanded the ownership of names like Tessar and Sonnar, and won. So for the export to western countries the according lenses of Zeiss east were called "T" and "S", or like here, have other fanciful names. That lawsuit is also the reason, why that Contax was renamed with Pentacon.
BTW, the serial numbers of the two rings are different (shocking!).
Tessar lens:
SN: 3857298
SN of Abbe Ring: 3805127
Filter thread 40.5 mm
Q1-quality
Black distance scale in meter only
Engraved "GERMANY"
The Meyer 2.8/100 is a classical triplet, designed by Stefan Roeschlein already in the 1930ies. It's a later version, without "V", and actually it can be very sharp when focused ;)
Pentacon (Contax D)
Pentacon (Contax D) with Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar T 2.8/50,
Meyer-Optik Görlitz 2.8/100, Gossen Sixtomat
Instruction manuals for camera, exposure meter and lenses with preset diaphragm.
Content of an inconspicuous Revue leatherette camera bag from the Seventies (besides a very incongruous Beroflex 2.8/35). The camera obviously has a standard problem. While all gears (long shutter speeds, self-timer) are working fine, the shutter curtains are traveling erraticly, especially the first one often stops 5 mm before its final position. I found advice on the net: when the curtains are renewed, all trouble will go away. Would be a nice challenge, to find a cloth for the curtains, or the correct tension for the spools without shutter speed tester. And though that camera from the early fifties with its built-in prism was the roll model for SLRs for decades, it is still charming. The viewer screen is just a ground glass without Fresnel rings, so it has a hot spot in the center. Nevertheless, you can focus correctly and colors are brilliant, if there is enough light. Meanwhile I think, that viewer screen in some AF-SLRs are *too* bright, and therefore manual focusing is more difficult. The image in the viewer is surrounded by a "bright frame", the instruction manual explains, that the frame has a size of 20 x 30 mm, so that everything of your subject will be on your photo for sure.
Prices in a West German catalog of the early Fifties: Pentacon with Schacht Travenar 2.8/50: 592,- Deutsche Mark, Exakta Varex with 2.8/50: 600,- DM.
When I removed the front ring in the filter thread of the Tessar for proper cleaning I was surprised to find a second one. I knew that there are "masked" lenses from Carl Zeiss Jena, but not that it is that simple. If you have an old CZJ lens with two slots in the front ring, you certainly have one of those. The reason for that was a lawsuit between Zeiss east and Zeiss west. Zeiss west demanded the ownership of names like Tessar and Sonnar, and won. So for the export to western countries the according lenses of Zeiss east were called "T" and "S", or like here, have other fanciful names. That lawsuit is also the reason, why that Contax was renamed with Pentacon.
BTW, the serial numbers of the two rings are different (shocking!).
Tessar lens:
SN: 3857298
SN of Abbe Ring: 3805127
Filter thread 40.5 mm
Q1-quality
Black distance scale in meter only
Engraved "GERMANY"
The Meyer 2.8/100 is a classical triplet, designed by Stefan Roeschlein already in the 1930ies. It's a later version, without "V", and actually it can be very sharp when focused ;)