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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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CZJ Tessar 2.8/50 on Sony A850
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Old, beaten up zebra copy that had a dried up helicoid, I re-lubed it and at the same time converted it from Exakta to M42 using parts from another one with badly fungused glass.

Not the sharpest lens I own but more than sharp enough for casual use. Some of these were using a short extension tube.


#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9


#10


#11


#12


#13


#14


#15


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Very nice results Ian.
I especially like the landscapes.
Where are they?
OH


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Lovely Ian, especially #3.


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Nice images from a historical lens which certainly has its limits - i remember using an early post-war CZJ Tessar 2.8/5cm for my "Tessar" article in the Sony Fotospiegel 1/2011 (pdf of the article here: http://artaphot.ch/images/Technik/Zeiss/Tessar/FS141_History_ZeissTessar_150dpi.pdf

I didn't like the 2.8/5cm Tessar that much, since it's bokeh was worse than that of the CZJ Biotar 2/5.8cm. Nevertheless i took all the pictures of lenses and cameras in the mentioned article with the Tessar 2.8/5cm and the CZJ Sonnar 3.5/135mm. The large landscape image was taken with 4.5/150mm large format Tessar lens.

Stephan


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The landscapes are from the bottom of the road I live on in a small town in South Cumbria, which is in NW England, those are the Lake District hills in the distance.


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Very good, the pano's are particularly good. I like the Tessar, it's just a nice WYSIWYG lens. Wink


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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
The landscapes are from the bottom of the road I live on in a small town in South Cumbria, which is in NW England, those are the Lake District hills in the distance.


Lake District is an area that featured on postcards and chocolate boxes that I have seen. Very beautiful.
Thanks for sharing
OH


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Like 1
Nice photos!
I like my Tessar lenses.
That is a very beautiful area that you live in.


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stevemark wrote:
Nice images from a historical lens which certainly has its limits - i remember using an early post-war CZJ Tessar 2.8/5cm for my "Tessar" article in the Sony Fotospiegel 1/2011 (pdf of the article here: http://artaphot.ch/images/Technik/Zeiss/Tessar/FS141_History_ZeissTessar_150dpi.pdf

I didn't like the 2.8/5cm Tessar that much, since it's bokeh was worse than that of the CZJ Biotar 2/5.8cm. Nevertheless i took all the pictures of lenses and cameras in the mentioned article with the Tessar 2.8/5cm and the CZJ Sonnar 3.5/135mm. The large landscape image was taken with 4.5/150mm large format Tessar lens.

Stephan


The later Tessars are better performers. I think they revised the formula for the 2.8/50 in 1954? I've got a late, black barrel Tessar that is the best lens for macro work I've seen, that wasn't specifically designed for macro.


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Lovely shots, which demonstrate that the skill of the photographer is more important than lens used... you live near Hadrian's Wall? It should be a fascinating place. Like 1 small


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Golden hour, very nice!


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Nice series, #7 is amazing!!! Like 1 small Like 1 small Like 1 small


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Hadrian's wall is 80 miles north, but the country is very similar here - hills and sheep.

#7 is a bit altered; in Adobe Camera RAW I put the highlights slider all the way to the bottom and the shadows slider all the way to the top, I think I turned up the clarity slider a tad too, but not sure. Lens was at f11 if memory serves me correctly.

Here's the shot as it came out of the camera:



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Nice shots Ian I like them all Like 1


And I like the lens too, I have the zebra and the later
This is (my son) with the zebra, I am not sure what was the f stop:


Carl Zeiss Tessar zebra 50mm f 2.8 WO by drbadr12, on Flickr
Please click for full resolution
Badr


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That's a really nice candid portrait!

Even with the dozens (literally) of 50mm lenses I own the Tessars still have a place, and always will I think.