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Carl Zeiss Jena lenses

Congratulations on your *new* lens John. A nice 24 can be very useful. Sounds like a good find.
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If your so inclined and time permits maybe sometime in the future you could post an image or two made with your new lens? Picture is worth a thousand words and all that
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-Lynn
 
Hi Folks,
I have used old CZ Jena M42 mount lenses on a Pentax ME-Super with adapter and found them better optically than the later Pentax bayonet lenses. However, as others have pointed out the aperture does not close automatically on this type of camera and that can be a pain.

One way around is to buy a camera that offers auto aperture functions. Apart from cheap and nasty Zeniths and Prakticas there are some beautiful classics such as the Contax F (not the earlier D) and early Zeiss Icarex (the best M42 camera ever in my opinion) as well as an unusual Vivitar model and of course some Spotmatics.

Back to the lenses; There are some plastic Japanese made M42 CZ optics in a short zoom range and 28mm f2.8 that is also available in FD and OM fittings. Not as good as the full metal jacket German DDR lenses in my opinion. I have seen a Zeiss DDR 80 - 200mm in M42, but not a short zoom. That is not to say that it does not exist.

The man to ask is eBay's 'Cupog'. He has access to a great range of Eastern European lenses.

Clive
 
Hi Mike,

I did n't forget the Yashica TL. I thought that it was a rangefinder not a M42 mount SLR? Certainly the ones touted by street photographers in Istanbul certainly looked like an old rangefinder, but given their, shall e say 'distressed' condition I can't be sure.

Clive
 
The TL electro is a SLR with M42 mount. My father used to have one for 20+ years, before he went to a FX3-Super2000 which is extremely close in usage but has the Y/C Bayonet. It's a quite nice camera.

Mike
 
Hi Mike,

Of course you are right! It is the similarly named Yashica Electro 35 that I recall being thrust in my face whilst eating seafood in Istanbul. The Metz hammer head flash don't half make your eyes water at that range.

Never heard of the TL Electro until now.

Clive
 
-> see also separate 'Flektogon 20mm f 2.8 Carl Zeiss Jena C/Y mount' thread in this section!
Who is interested in CZJ 2.8/20mm test results?
In the f=400mm range the SIGMA 5.6/400mm APO flavors (1.Ed, 2.ed Apo Makro, 3.ed APO Makro IF HSM) do a good job according to 'color foto' -- Rainer
 
A month ago I tried out a Carl Zeiss Jena 500 f5.6 with 42mm mount in Prague. It was $200. It is a mighty lens but not very sharp. I know a Czech pal who owns it and won a first prize in wildlife photo competition with the same lens mounted on a RX. I didn't buy it and instead I bought a Russian MTO-1000 f10 mirror lens for my Contax bodies (I am yet to find a use of it!).

Occasionaly you can find exotic Carl Zeiss Jena 1000mm f5.6 mirror lens with M42 mount for sale at about $3000 on e-bay. They were used by East German border guards around the Berlin walls. These mirror lenses can be called white elephants but I think they can't be as sharp as the Zeiss Mirotar 1000mm f5.6.
 
It is fascinating to learn the history behind some cameras and optics. Your note about the use of the 1000mm mirror lenses around the Berlin wall is new to me! I know I was also shocked when I learned cameras like my little Robot (made by Beming and Company, Dusseldorf) was often given to sea captains in the UK on the quiet so that they could record any unusual activity being made by the soviets of that era. They were told (I am told) that if they were boarded to dump them over the side and into the freezing waters. I guess there are more of them in the sea than on collectors shelves. Sorry to digress from Zeiss but I find it all fascinating. -Lynn
 
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