Schract Tracegon with unusual mount... (arrived +it's weird)

Mos6502 · Joined: 20 Jun 2011 Posts: 960 Location: Austin

I won this Schact R Travegon on ebay... advertised as a "Schract" and "tracegon" Very Happy

It seems to still be screwed into part of an old camera Laughing

Does anybody have an idea what camera this used to belong to? Just for the sake of trivia? It looks familiar to me, but I'm drawing a blank.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Is it M42 or Exakta mount? If M42, could be anything almost.

Interesting find, look forward to seeing your results as I've heard mixed things about schacht lenses.

Mos6502 · Joined: 20 Jun 2011 Posts: 960 Location: Austin

I'm assuming it's M42, and I can't think of any Exakta mount camera with a lensboard like this.

WolverineX · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 7:41 am Post subject:

i have one schaht lenst that breaks up in 2 parts - helicoid with m42 mount and optical part that has m39 screw mount.
maybe it's the same thing here...

scsambrook · Expire: 2011-11-18

Yes, loooks like the optical part of a regular 135/3.5, fixed into some home made adapter . . .

I once had a 135/3.5 in Leica screw rangefinder mount and it was very good indeed. Leitz actually "endorsed" the family of Schacht rangefinder lenses in the 1960s (35/2.8, 90/2.8, 135/3.5) as substitutes for their then-discontinued screw models. In Britain, Leitz actually distributed them.

The Travegons were reputedly better than the Travenars and the Travegars, but as i've never used either of those I can't say whether that was so.

Mos6502 · Joined: 20 Jun 2011 Posts: 960 Location: Austin

It is definitely a 35mm lens, and not 135. However, I don't know why it is screwed into the front plate/lensboard of an old SLR.

I haven't used any Schact lenses before, the company apparently had a brief life, and by the time their SLR lenses were available, the Japanese were already taking over the SLR field in the U.S. So hopefully it will be interesting. Either way I only paid a few bucks for it, so no big loss if its crummy lens.

Sevo · Expire: 2012-12-03

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

It looks like a complete lens.

Schacht didn't last long, 1959-1970.

Nice looking lenses though.

Kathmandu · Expire: 2012-04-08

I have 2 Schacht lenses both 50mm f2.8 s. The second one was in Praktina mout, but to my surprise after taking the screws off the praktina mount(4 I think) ,the flange unscrewed revealing a M42 screw mount.
I would to curious if yours might unscrew similarly.

To answer your question- never seen that mount before. Something from a scanner? Very Happy

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I think that is a lens in its own right, but screwed into that plate for some reason. I don't think it's a part of a two piece lens such as this 100mm that I have.

I'm also sure that I've read somewhere that the names, Travegar, Travenon and such refer to the focal length rather than a series of lenses, but I could be wrong.

Whatever, if your lens is as good as mine you'll be very happy with it. My 100mm is certainly one of my favorite lenses.

Mos6502 · Joined: 20 Jun 2011 Posts: 960 Location: Austin

Well it finally showed up today...

It's pretty heavy considering it's a slow/short lens. Oddest thing is it has a manual aperture. No preset function, or auto-diaphragm. This seems really bizarre since it obviously was made after those features were commonplace, and I've seen examples with automatic operation. I think perhaps it was meant to be used on a bellows then... but then why bother building a helical into it? Also 35mm is a bit of an odd choice for macro work, so that couldn't be it. Did they really need to offer a pennies cheaper model of the lens, and so skip the diaphragm bits?

Looks nice through the viewfinder, can't wait to shoot with it.