Planar 50mm f1.4 with really high serial number

[bleach551]

Hello again everyone,

I was browsing Ebay yet again to find a new lens to purchase and I saw this Planar 50mm f1.4 with one of the highest serial numbers I have seen in the Contax Zeiss line.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Contax-Planar-50mm-1-4-Zeiss-50mm-f-1-4-c-y-FULL-BOX-/320567336899?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item4aa34d5fc3#ht_13182wt_1139

I have one with a 95XXXXX serial number and thought that was high. Has anyone else seen one this high before for Contax Zeiss?

[Scheimpflug]

To anyone who finds this in search results after the ebay auction has expired, the serial number in question is/was 15176757.

[bleach551]

Scheimpflug,

thanks for posting the number.

[kopimorning]

what is it with high serial number ?

[bleach551]

kopimorning,

a serial number could be meaningful or meaningless. It could indicate a possible optical redesign, a different place of manufacturing or a change in quality. I have always been interested in exactly when the Contax Zeiss line ended. For a long time I thought it was in the 8XXXXXX serial numbers. Then I recently purchased a Contax Zeiss Planar 50mm f1.4 with a 95XXXXX serial number and That changed everything. Now this one with a serial number of 15XXXXXX , so close to the serial numbers of the new Zeiss lenses, has really peaked my interest. I just posted to see if members of this board with far more knowledge than myself have seen a Contax Zeiss lens with this high a serial # before and what historical significance it might have.

[poilu]

[bleach551]

poilu,

I was actually going to buy a Planar 50mm f1.4 ZF instead of the ZE and buy an adapter to fit it on my 7D. I know the ZE would be the "native" lens but all the ZE's I priced were all higher than the ZF's I looked at at that particular time. I looked at a few "real world" tests of a comparision between the ZE and the old Contax version and I preferred the bokeh of the Contax over the ZE's. Sometimes I think my interest in high serial numbers is looked at as me trying to find the "best" lens I can find. For me, it is an interest in the historical significance of its meaning. I'm not going to sell my current Planar for one of a higher serial #. But, I would like to know more about a lens with a serial # higher than I have previously seen.The "that changed everything" quote was in reference to my belief of when the Contax Zeiss line ended. And, like you also mentioned sometimes rumors on the net sometimes seems to become fact. I hope I haven't contributed to any of that, if I have I didn't mean to.

[kopimorning]

mine is ZF with 15 xxx xxx serial number
could somebody decipher it ?

[Max78]

Ressurected thread, just have seen one MMJ for Contax/Yashica with SN above 15 millions, sold with the RXII camera: Click here to see on Ebay.de