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on Nov 10, 2021 4:08:48 GMT
Posted: Nov 10, 2021 4:08:48 GMT
This was in my watch list prior to the auction ending, but unfortunately I ended up committing to another purchase before it closed, and thought it would go for much more than my budget could bear. It seems that might not have been a correct assumption. The auction passed and I wasn't following it live, and forgot about it until today, while seaching for tracking details on another recent purchase. I have to say I'm astonished at the sold price, and I'm hopeful that one of our fellow forum members was lucky enough to see it and get in the winning bid.  Check the auction page for all the details and bids if you didn't see it earlier. It came as a kit with an RTS (I) and case, and was reported that both were in working condition. It was high on my list to bid for, but fate stepped in to tempt me with something I'll be using on a regular basis. More on that later. :) |
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Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Nov 10, 2021 10:12:09 GMT
Last Edit: Nov 10, 2021 10:18:18 GMT by biggles3
That's an amazing price for a working version of that lens; it's many thousands of dollars less than the last one to be sold.
I'm pretty sure that if the seller had been astute enough to realise that there's a big world out there and made it available to international buyers, the eventual price would have been a lot higher. Sadly, such geographically-limited listings don't make it onto most of Ebay's international sites; had I been aware of it, I too would have been in the fray.
The only real problem with the lens is that once the image intensifier fails, you are left with a lovely (but rather large) paperweight as it can't be used conventionally. I don't know if anyone ever managed to fuse the telephoto lens at the front with the macro lens at the rear to create a lens capable of being used in daylight...
It's decades since I got to play with one and I still recall the high-pitched whine of the intensifier - a real give-away if you were surveilling and there were dogs nearby! And you do eventually get used to seeing everything in shades of green...
It's not quite the rarest of C/Y Zeiss lenses to be sold - the 600 f4 Tele-ApoTessar ran to only 6 units.
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on Nov 10, 2021 14:36:21 GMT
Posted: Nov 10, 2021 14:36:21 GMT
I guess sometimes the engineers get to have some fun and produce a few crazy lenses that will never come close to making a profit for the Company. Maybe they do it just to "explore the territory" with the hope of learning something new for other projects. It reminds me of the Fujinon 1200mm f24 for large format cameras -- apparently only about eight were made. It weighed in at an impressive FIVE pounds and needed FOUR AND A HALF FEET of bellows to focus at infinity!
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Group: Moderator
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Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Nov 10, 2021 16:55:25 GMT
Posted: Nov 10, 2021 16:55:25 GMT
I guess sometimes the engineers get to have some fun and produce a few crazy lenses that will never come close to making a profit for the Company. Maybe they do it just to "explore the territory" with the hope of learning something new for other projects. It reminds me of the Fujinon 1200mm f24 for large format cameras -- apparently only about eight were made. It weighed in at an impressive FIVE pounds and needed FOUR AND A HALF FEET of bellows to focus at infinity! Now that's what I call a lens! Good old Fuji... You're pretty much spot-on about the way Zeiss operated back then. It was not set up as a company but a trust, thus profit was not the primary motivation. So it behove them to produce esoteric designs for lenses as well as seeking commissions to produce one-off or limited edition items. A classic example was that request to produce the astonishing 1700mm f4 Apo-Sonnar Hasselblad lens; it weighed 564lbs (256kgs) and required completely new focusing technologies due to the weight of glass being moved. Some of the lens blanks weighed more than 50lbs (c24kgs) and the finished lens comprised 15 elements in 13 groups. It remains the largest non-military lens ever made. If you look online, you'll see production samples of C/Y lenses, along with their MTF data, such as the 800mm f8 Tele-ApoTessar, the 600mm f4 mentioned previously and a 500mm f5.6 Tele-ApoTessar. They had also produced prototypes for a faster PC-Shift lens, a 25mm f1.4 and a 18mm f2.8 - if anyone could have afforded the resulting glass... |
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on Nov 10, 2021 17:41:31 GMT
Posted: Nov 10, 2021 17:41:31 GMT
Well I have an 18mm f2.8 Sigma -- non-fisheye, with built-in filters. I think it cost me $75. But a 564 pound lens? I'd pass, even if I could afford it.
P.S. I never knew about the financial backing of Zeiss. Very interesting.
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