The Sonnar the better
This is probably both, a well-known and a pretty mysterious lens at the same time...
If I'm not mistaken there are several versions of the Sonnar 50 mm f/1.5 out there and for all I know this one could very well be just one of them re-housed by James & Burke Chicago for an unspecified application. I have no idea how to spot Sonnar fakes, so it could also be that, however it would be somewhat surprising James & Burke (who seems to have made cameras) would have sold it with their name on it, I suppose.
It was sold as an enlarging lens, it doesn't have a LTM/M39 thread though, but an M42 one interestingly enough. It looks to be coated, even though it doesn't have any T* inscription and the silver metal part of the lens looks different from the other Sonnars I've seen. It feels very well made and has a beautiful (at certain f-stops star-shaped) aperture with 11 blades.
If you happen to know anything about it, please let me know. Regardless of what it turns out to be, I'm pretty confident that I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this lens, despite its obvious limits in terms of sharpness and correction.
Shot with a Screen Cezanne Scanner lens on a Canon EOS R5.
The Sonnar the better
This is probably both, a well-known and a pretty mysterious lens at the same time...
If I'm not mistaken there are several versions of the Sonnar 50 mm f/1.5 out there and for all I know this one could very well be just one of them re-housed by James & Burke Chicago for an unspecified application. I have no idea how to spot Sonnar fakes, so it could also be that, however it would be somewhat surprising James & Burke (who seems to have made cameras) would have sold it with their name on it, I suppose.
It was sold as an enlarging lens, it doesn't have a LTM/M39 thread though, but an M42 one interestingly enough. It looks to be coated, even though it doesn't have any T* inscription and the silver metal part of the lens looks different from the other Sonnars I've seen. It feels very well made and has a beautiful (at certain f-stops star-shaped) aperture with 11 blades.
If you happen to know anything about it, please let me know. Regardless of what it turns out to be, I'm pretty confident that I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this lens, despite its obvious limits in terms of sharpness and correction.
Shot with a Screen Cezanne Scanner lens on a Canon EOS R5.