Will. Wetzlar Vastar 2.8/50 M42 - What a tiny lens !

[Olivier]

Hello.

2 days ago I received a Will. Wetzlar Vastar 2.8/50.
It was a big surprise to me as I received a little parcel in which I found a lot of protection and in silk paper a very very small lens.

M42 ???
Very quicly I got my M42 to Eos adapter to check that point... and, well yes it is M42.

So, here it is compared to the Aus Jena Tessar 2.8/50 and the Helios-44M 2/58 :
Left = Will. Wetzlar Vastar 2.8/50 ; f2.8 to f22 ; min focus 0,90m ; 11 blades...
Center = Aus Jena Tessar 2.8/50 ; f2.8 to f22 ; min focus 0,35m ; 5 blades
Right = Helios 44-M 2/58 ; f2 to f16 ; min focus 0,55m ; 8 blades



Now all alone :




Now a few comparison shots between the Tessar and the Vastar.
Wide open at f2.8 :
Tessar

Vastar


Tessar

Vastar


stopped at f8 :
Tessar

Vastar


Tessar

Vastar


I was surprised of the results of this dwarf lens.
Sure it is soft wide open, but closed a bit it renders quite well.

Nice found !
_________________
Olivier - Moderator
DSLR : Canon EOS 5D Mark II - EOS 40D + Olympus Pen E-P2
SLR : Canon EOS 500N - ZENITH EM - Fujica ST-701 - Pentacon - Edixa Mat Reflex d - Nikkormat FTN
Medium format : Mamiya C3 Professional
Lenses : Angenieux * Carl Zeiss Jena * Cosinon * Fujinon * Hanimar * Helios * Industar * Jupiter * Meyer Optik Görlitz * MIR * Nikkor * Pentacon * Piesker * Prinzflex * Samyang * Soligor * Steinheil München * Schneider Kreuznach * Taïr * Super Takumar * Tamron * Tokina * Voigtländer * Volna * Will. Wetzlar * Yashinon * Zenitar

[luisalegria]

Very interesting ! It seems like a very uncommon lens, I have never heard of this before.

Seems like it may be a triplet like the Ludwig Meritar. A wild guess - Your lens I think may have been made as a low-price option for the early Edixa.

I am even more curious to know what Will Wetzlar was.
_________________
I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work.

[Seele]

To my knowledge this company made a lot of slide projector and enlarger lenses, most at the lower price range. Gnome, the now defunct Welsh enlarger and projector manufacturer, used a lot of lenses by Will.

[Olivier]

I found this :

It seemed to be a well-known microscope manufacturer (will wetzlar gmbh) :
http://www.juelich-bonn.com/site/microscopes/hund/index_en.html
http://www.hund.de/en/company/history.html

A vario stellar which looks a bit like Luis'.
http://cgi.ebay.com/VARIO-STELLAR-WILL-WETZLAR-2-8-95-160-LEICA-ZOOM-LENS_W0QQitemZ150389860205QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2303ef276d

and a picture of a Ludwig Meritar shown by... Lucispictor. You're right, Luis, it looks like it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucispictor-photo/2516075936/
_________________
Olivier - Moderator
DSLR : Canon EOS 5D Mark II - EOS 40D + Olympus Pen E-P2
SLR : Canon EOS 500N - ZENITH EM - Fujica ST-701 - Pentacon - Edixa Mat Reflex d - Nikkormat FTN
Medium format : Mamiya C3 Professional
Lenses : Angenieux * Carl Zeiss Jena * Cosinon * Fujinon * Hanimar * Helios * Industar * Jupiter * Meyer Optik Görlitz * MIR * Nikkor * Pentacon * Piesker * Prinzflex * Samyang * Soligor * Steinheil München * Schneider Kreuznach * Taïr * Super Takumar * Tamron * Tokina * Voigtländer * Volna * Will. Wetzlar * Yashinon * Zenitar