The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: Carl Zeiss

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

I photographed this detail of a dilapidated fence destroyed by the Spring storms using an early version of a Helios-44 lens. It has a focal length of 58mm and a maximum aperture of f/2. This was about as close as it would focus. Many Zenit cameras were supplied with this lens. It is a Soviet copy of the Carl Zeiss Biotar lens and has distinctive bokeh characteristics.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens (£12 on eBay) on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera. The cheapest route to a lens with 'Carl Zeiss' on it. Manufactured between 1952 and 1978, thus there is plenty of choice on the secondhand market. The moment I had it in my hand, I loved the feel of it and the smooth focus and aperture adjustment. Using it on a crop sensor digital camera avoids the criticism that it is soft at the corners: I'm using only the best part of the simple optics. Nevertheless, optimum performance is f/8 - f/11 where contrast is best; otherwise post-processing will improve your efforts. F/2.8 is slow, but these days we're all used to levels of ISO which were unimaginable when this lens was in production, and so only photographers chasing depth-of-field will be bothered by the slowness. Close focus is about twelve inches - it's practically macro! And the long focus throw provides plenty of scope for tiny adjustments. The front element is well recessed: no need for a lens hood, nor a protective filter for that matter (but I disdain protective filters anyway. Like extended warranties, they exist to improve dealers' profit margins). Not as good as the 55mm f/3.5 Micro-Nikkor, which is hard to beat by any lens, but much cheaper, and fun to use. Colour rendition isn't bad, either.

It is out-of-focus. It was not supposed to be out-of-focus. However, I think it is probably more interesting than it would have been had it been sharp.

A vintage Nikkor-S Auto 35mm f/2.8 lens photographed using a Canon EOS 30D camera with an old M42-era Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens. In the background is a photograph by Evelyn Hofer of the artist Kiki Kogelnick in her studio.

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

It’s autumn again Leaves whisper the sound of our past In loss they pay a descent To the ground we fall It’s autumn again Our song is sung by the wind Echoes of loss and grief Through chilled air we wade It’s autumn again The waters grow as cold as our hearts We are alike – crusted in ice In ourselves we freeze It’s autumn again Flowers vanish from our sadness Our beauty grows weak Covered in frost we wither It’s autumn again The rain falls like our tears Can’t dry our eyes From the sky we descend It’s autumn again The sun shines then fails like us Our sight becomes a wintry gray Lost in darkness we will fade It’s autumn again Andrea Rieck

Canon EOS 40D + Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens.

The simplicity of the Tessar lens formula - four elements in three groups - perhaps explains its ability to record scenes in a noticeably different way to other lenses. Canon EOS 40D + Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens.

The Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 M42 thread lens coupled via an adapter to a Canon digital SLR is perhaps not the ideal landscape lens. It gives a field of view of 80mm: more suited to portraits, really. I gave up the pursuit of M42 thread lenses and sold the Canon - an EOS 20D, and a remarkably well made instrument - but the only M42 lens I truly miss is the humble CZJ 50mm f/2.8 Tessar.

The Methuen Arms, Corsham, Wiltshire, photographed with a Canon EOS 20D camera and an old M42 50mm Carl Zeiss Jena f/2.8 Tessar lens. Fitting, perhaps, that this photograph of an old Cotswold building adorned by a non-matching classical-style porch has been taken by a digital camera adorned by a non-matching lens from another age of photography. This photograph is quite severely cropped and needed a lot of contrast and exposure compensation adjustments. A lot of that was necessitated by poor photographic technique, but using old lenses on modern digital cameras is not totally dependable.

I made this photograph by holding a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm Tessar lens tight up against a Nikon D50. It's a bit Heath Robinson, but it is possible to get a picture via this technique. This is straight out of the camera.