Piesker Tele-Votar 250/5.5 Exakta mount

[luisalegria]

This is I think one of the later series of Piesker lenses -



It is substantially different from other Pieskers. I think this one may date to the late 1950's-very early 1960's. It seems that there may have been an intention to make this a "zebra", but of course it isn't. Piesker made "zebra" versions of its big brothers the 250/4.5 and 400mm's.

Its an interesting and very handsome Exakta-mount preset lens. The Exakta mount is part of the rear barrel which is held on by setscrews, like all the smaller Pieskers, and this can be changed with a barrel unit with another mount. However, the mount on this one is larger and not compatible with those of the smaller Pieskers, which is disappointing. The preset mechanism is in the German style, with a single spring-loaded ring that can be pulled back to select the minimum aperture. It came with the tiny, close-fitting dedicated hood. Fit and finish is the typical excellent Piesker quality.

Minimum focus is 12 feet/4m, which is typical of the type and the time. I mounted it on my Exakta->PK adapter, and it does not quite get infinity, though some distance shots came out OK at small aperture. I couldn't see a way to adjust the focus. I may try to replace the rear barrel and mount with some contraption to make it M42.

Performance is unfortunately not quite what I had expected. This beast isn't easy to focus, or maybe I was having an off day. I was having to redo shots much more often than usual. Maybe its the small aperture. When I hit focus it was OK as far as sharpness, but nothing special, and there is no problem with contrast or flare.

Its Fleet Week ! I'm taking the kids on Saturday. Naval review and airshow !







Not-quite infinity focus at f/22 -





A Cormorant - much more shy than the Seagulls unfortunately.





The Mahatma was having his head worked on -



The bird -



crop -

[Attila]

Looks damn good to me.

[patrickh]

Thanks again Luis. I had not even heard of Piesker


patrickh

[Attila]

German made in 1950th. Very rare , very underrated. Today one went for 25 USD only , I see only one or two times on Ebay.

[Helios]

Luis , I'm convinced Piesker are gems ... I missed years ago a tele-Picon 400mm for less than 5 euros overbid !. Grrrr....
But !
But i'm also convinced if you take some pictures with ... a Ludwig Meritar , they'll look like .... like Luis' images ...