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List of old and new CY Zeiss Lenses

W

writing4me

Does anyone have a list, or know of a web site that shows old, AE, MM and new C/Y mount Zeiss lenses? I know zeiss.de shows all the current models in production, but am having a hard time understanding which lenses were made in the past, that I might want to look for on the used market. (Hard to look for something until you know if it exists! haha)
Thanks
happy.gif

-Lynn
 
Why not look in the brochure(broshure!) section (under scans) of this site!

I think all the camera brochures (not camera manuals) have lens lists near the end of the booklet. Start with RTS I for AE lenses etc.

If you need more, I have individual Zeiss Technical Leaflets for a large number of the lenses. Also, lens system charts for Z & Y lenses

Cheers, Bob
 
Good idea! There is so much on this site, that it is easy to miss certain things. Thanks for the tip. I bet everything I want will be in there. (If not, thanks for the offer of further help) Best, -Lynn
 
Lynn,

I think we have the MTF data of all Zeiss lenses ever produced with C/Y mount. So if you look at the scan section you will find discontinued lenses and lenses which are still in production/at the dealer. There should be no lens missing. So you then know also the weight, size and image quality of the older lenses.

The system broschure of 1992 has not the older lenses anymore listed. Better in this case is the system broschure of the RTS system, which is a lot older (I think from 1986).

The C/Y mount started in 1974 at the photokina. The very first camera with this new mount was the RTS I and the 139. So there are no older lenses available with C/Y mount. Nothing before 1975.

Hope that helps
 
Hi Lynn....Dirk

Out of curiosity ....I tried looking at Dirk's C/Y lens data ....but it would not download.

Maybe it's my home PC or my ISP but clicking on any lens link freezes my computer!!

If you have a similar experience and you want to see specific data...I might be able to provide it direct via Email.

If you got through to it....let me know and I'll try to find out why I can't!

Hi Dirk....I do have Adode Acrobat loaded and upto date...any ideas?

Cheers, bob.
 
Update to last message.... when I came off-line, there was an Adobe message on the desktop inviting me to check if I had the last update....It did not show on the taskbar!....3 cheers for Bill Grates!

Deleting this and going back on-line got me at Dirk's PDF MTF charts! Thanks, Dirk!

Have you seen the beautiful Oct 1975 glossy black covered brochure called.....

THE FINEST OPTICS BY ZEISS
(Interchangeable photograpic lenses with Contax/Yashica mounts)

It contains many excellent full colour shots from the early lenses along with MTF charts and lens element layouts.

What is REALLY NICE is the 4 appendices on

1)An explanation of lens performance charts
2)An outline of Zeiss lens types
3)Resolving power and contrast (inc. ex&le photos)
4)T* multilayer Anti-reflection coating article

It's a real beaut...and I think quite a rarity

I have a copy if you are interested in scans of the pages.

Also if you would like higher quality scans (in colour) of most of the Lens specs/MFT charts on your list.... I have original Zeiss colour documents on file. Admittedly all you get is a nice green header logo but the resolution of the rest of the double sided page for each lens is superb.

cheers, Bob.

Chers, Bob.
 
Thanks Dirk. Yes that does help. I found the page on contaxinfo with the info. It is here for anyone else who is looking: http://www.contaxinfo.com/seiten/C_system.htm This is great for understanding which lenses were built in the c/y mount. There are sometimes lenses for sale on Ebay that are said to be c/y mount but really aren't. This will save me from making a mistake when I buy.

Bob, Glad you were able to get Acrobat so you can view the information. It's fairly quick on DSL, but if you're on dial up, that may slow you down a little. The brochure you mention intrigues me! If it isn't too much trouble, could a see a page or two from it (scanned)? Sounds wonderful. MTF sheets leave me cold, but photos would be super. You can reach me at Lynn@turnkeydesign.net

By the way - were there any 300mm or 400mm AE lenses made in C/Y mount?

Thanks
happy.gif
-Lynn
 
>Bob,

Those appendices sound interesting (and the photos of the lenses, as well). I would like copies of the scans, if possible. John Bird sent me a copy of the TLA 20 Manual and I was able to put each of the scans together into a .pdf file using Adobe Acrobat, thus making a more coherent document than one can expect from a series of scans. I think the size of such a document would be excessive to send over the net, but perhaps not.

This is intended only as a suggestion for dealing with group of scans.

My email address is vze3rdt2@verizon.net.

I appreciate your offer, Bob.

Chuck Olive
 
Lynn (and Chuck)

Scans sent to home email.

List of 300/400mm lenses (Ok, and a few 500mm!)

Zeiss Tele-Tessar T* 300mm f4 AE and MM
Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* 300mm f2.8 AE (on demand, only)
Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 100-300mm f4.5-5.6 MM
Zeiss Mirotar 500mm f4.5 (adapters for Contarex, C/Y, M42 and Rollei, others by order)
Zeiss Mirotar 500mm f8

See the AX brochure for the best pictures of current lenses and best current list. The Aria brochure is not as good.

Yashica ML 300mm f5.6
Yashica ML 300mm f5.6C (compact)
Yashica ML Zoom 100-300mm f5.6
Yashica ML 400mm f5.6
Yashica Reflex 500mm f8 (mirror)
All from old brochures....no current listing in brochures that I know of.

and not forgetting my current favourite (coz I've not long bought it).....

Tamron SP 300mm f2.8 LD IF with either AE or MM adaptall II. Makes a snazzy 420mm f4 with its dedicated 1.4x conv.

Probably others like DSB's, plus Sigmas and other indies etc.

Chuck, I've emailed you at home. Will send 4 appendices shortly.

Cheers, Bob.
 
Bob, Thanks so much for all your help on this. I also see you emailed me some time ago and I didn't reply. Very sorry, your mail got lost in my inbox. I really like the brochure cutaways. Very interesting!

About the list you just typed up for us all.... wonderful! This is exactly what I wanted to know, but I wasn't having much luck on my own.

I'm still debating what to do about a long lens for shooting the birds in my yard. One option I'm going to try out is to set up a blind (actually a tent) close enough to use both my 135/2.8 with a doubler (never tried that before) and re-test my dreaded yashica 100-300 ML 5.6. I'll run a test on it with newsprint and see if it is as bad as I think it is. The tent might let me get close enough without making them nervous, we'll see in the next couple weeks.

I didn't know Yashica made a ML 400 5.6! My guess it that doesn't come up for sale often. I'll watch for it though. (I'm still watching for a Tokina 400 5.6 for my EOS with no luck - I guess it isn't very saturated, but at least it is sharp for the price) Barring that, maybe I should just save up a few more dollars and look for a 300/2.8 AE, or 300/4 AE and buy a 1.4x to match.

Again - thanks so much for the info. This is very useful information! Best, -Lynn
 
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