The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: Zeiss

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

One of the first M42 Helios-44 lenses. Later iterations were accorded the suffix -2, -3, -4. On this early example you can focus with the lens wide open and then close it down to your chosen aperture using that knurled ring at the front. The Helios-44 lens has a focal length of 58mm and a maximum aperture of f/2. This lens is a Soviet copy of the Carl Zeiss Biotar lens and has distinctive bokeh characteristics. So Helios = Zeiss. Maybe. Photographed with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens on a Nikon D700

Johannes Berger of Zeiss invented a 55mm f/1.4 Planar lens in 1957. But the design wasn't used for Zeiss lenses, because Erhard Glatzel invented a 50mm f/1.4 Planar lens, which was better. Berger's Planar, an asymmetrical double-Gauss scheme, similar to Nikon’s Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4 lens of 1961, was licensed to other manufacturers. Amongst these was Tomioka, a Japanese glass manufacturer. Chinon, who made cameras but not lenses, went to Tomioka for a standard fast lens. They got the 55mm f/1.4 (there was also a 55mm f/1.2 supplied in smaller numbers). In appearance, the 55mm f/1.4 closely resembles the more usual offering of a 55mm f/1.7 lens which came with Chinons of that period. Notably, the barrel is all-metal with a strip of thin leather glued on for a focussing grip. The standard of construction is good without equalling Leitz or Nikon quality. Because of the similarity in appearance, some suspect that the f/1.7 version was also a Tomioka product, but that is not proven, whereas the Tomioka involvement in the 1.4 55mm lens is undisputed. Some of them even have the Tomioka name engraved at the front. Others are identical except for the absence of that information. The versions with the Tomioka name are appreciably more expensive to buy secondhand. In this photograph of an advertisement for a Chinon CX from a magazine published in 1976 (the CX was made from 1974 and succeeded by the CX II about two years later) you can see the difference in price between the usual f/1.7 lens and the premium f/1.4. Keep in mind that another £10 was 12.5% extra, and quite a lot of money relative to the overall price - though it would have been a better investment than £10.95 for the ever-ready case, in my opinion. Fast standard lenses tend to be expensive. Even the Tomioka 55mm f/1.4 doesn’t come ‘cheap as chips’ like a lot of vintage M42 stuff. Is it worth the extra investment? The image in the viewfinder ought to be brighter wide open, and even half a stop more light can make a difference in a dark room. But that is theory and I have yet to experience the anticipated superiority of the Tomioka-made 55mm f/1.4 Chinon lens.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera. The portrait on this page of the book is by Evelyn Hofer, and is entitled 'Portrait in Windowlight'. It was made in 1969.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

I've lost count of the number of attempts I've made to photograph this subject, an C18 brass sundial in the grounds of Lacock Abbey, made by Thomas Wright. Paradoxically, this study made with a cheap screw-thread Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera has given me the greatest satisfaction ... so far.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

Photographed using available light with a Canon EOS20D and a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 Tessar lens.