Early Zeiss lenses for the C/Y system...not as remembered.
Jul 9, 2022 13:01:46 GMT
on Jul 9, 2022 13:01:46 GMT
Posted: Jul 9, 2022 13:01:46 GMT
Today I've been commissioned to photograph some developing crystalline structures using film and to this end have prepared a Contax ST with the P-7 Battery Holder (for duration) and the D-7 Data Back (for its intervalometer) along with the Contax Auto Bellows and the superb Zeiss 100mm f4 S-Planar T* Bellows lens.
ST Bellows S-Planar 100 f4
However, it got me thinking about the longevity of production of the bellows lens... And that begat a few surprises which proved my memory of the system's early days was far from perfect!
Firstly, concerning the bellows lens, the first examples appeared in 1976 and the last brochure to feature one was for the Contax 159MM in 1985 although it appears that production had stopped earlier. Yashica's version was the first available, in 1975, and continued to be produced in small numbers through the 1980s. I found my earliest Zeiss brochure for the Contax which is dated October 1975 and it surprised me with what was missing from what we might consider the classic line-up as well as a lens that looked very different to the regular production model.
So, the full panoply of lenses in October 1975 was: 16, 15, 18, 25, 28 f2, 35 1.4, 35 2.8, 50 1.4, 85 1.4, 85 2.8, 135 f2, 135 2.8, 200 3.5, S-Planar 60 2.8, 40-80 f3.5 and the 500 & 1000 Mirotars. What was missing that we saw in the later 1976/7 lists was the 28 f2.8, 50 1.7, S-Planar 100 f4 Bellows and the 70-210 f3.5. Within 18 months these lenses plus the 100 f2, 35 PC-Distagon and N-Mirotar 210mm f0.03 had been added. Shortly after that, we see the introduction of the 45 2.8, 100 3.5, 200 f4 and the first 85 1.2. Curiously, the first Contax 139 brochure printed in Europe had an incomplete lens list although the system brochure the following year which featured the RTS, 137MD and 139 had the correct listing.
The lens which ended up looking so different from the prototype was the S-Planar 60mm macro lens; the photograph in the October 1975 brochure is far from the lens we know today.
There was a further point of interest which was in the numbering of the lenses in the original brochure. The vast majority of lenses we have fall between 5900000 and 7900000; I also have a few in the 8000000s, 3 in the 2000000s and one in the 3000000s. But in the 1975 brochure, a surprising number of different lenses start in the mid-200000s with the rest being in the 57-5800000 range, the only exception being the S-Planar 60mm at 320000 and the Mirotars.
ST Bellows S-Planar 100 f4
However, it got me thinking about the longevity of production of the bellows lens... And that begat a few surprises which proved my memory of the system's early days was far from perfect!
Firstly, concerning the bellows lens, the first examples appeared in 1976 and the last brochure to feature one was for the Contax 159MM in 1985 although it appears that production had stopped earlier. Yashica's version was the first available, in 1975, and continued to be produced in small numbers through the 1980s. I found my earliest Zeiss brochure for the Contax which is dated October 1975 and it surprised me with what was missing from what we might consider the classic line-up as well as a lens that looked very different to the regular production model.
So, the full panoply of lenses in October 1975 was: 16, 15, 18, 25, 28 f2, 35 1.4, 35 2.8, 50 1.4, 85 1.4, 85 2.8, 135 f2, 135 2.8, 200 3.5, S-Planar 60 2.8, 40-80 f3.5 and the 500 & 1000 Mirotars. What was missing that we saw in the later 1976/7 lists was the 28 f2.8, 50 1.7, S-Planar 100 f4 Bellows and the 70-210 f3.5. Within 18 months these lenses plus the 100 f2, 35 PC-Distagon and N-Mirotar 210mm f0.03 had been added. Shortly after that, we see the introduction of the 45 2.8, 100 3.5, 200 f4 and the first 85 1.2. Curiously, the first Contax 139 brochure printed in Europe had an incomplete lens list although the system brochure the following year which featured the RTS, 137MD and 139 had the correct listing.
The lens which ended up looking so different from the prototype was the S-Planar 60mm macro lens; the photograph in the October 1975 brochure is far from the lens we know today.
There was a further point of interest which was in the numbering of the lenses in the original brochure. The vast majority of lenses we have fall between 5900000 and 7900000; I also have a few in the 8000000s, 3 in the 2000000s and one in the 3000000s. But in the 1975 brochure, a surprising number of different lenses start in the mid-200000s with the rest being in the 57-5800000 range, the only exception being the S-Planar 60mm at 320000 and the Mirotars.