Does Zeiss = Zett?

Thanks for digging, Michael... and I'd say that's quite a bit of info, and enough to give me some new avenues to follow. The lens isn't a CF model. I've stayed away from any projection lenses that would have been designed to introduce, shall we say, a 'corrective' aberration that doesn't exist in the real world.

The bare lens...


Compared to a Leitz Colorplan 90mm f/2.5, it's a little smaller (42.5mm in diameter, vs, 46mm), but it's no lightweight. The Leitz is 274.6g, and the Zett is 195.7g. I count the same number of reflections, but not the same coating colors. Although it doesn't show in this photo, the Zett has that characteristic green coating layer that a lot of Zeiss T* glass has, where the Leitz has only purple/yellow/blue hues in their 85 to 120mm range projection lenses that have multi coatings.

The 'throat' diameter of the Zett's glass is larger too, so there's more sweet-spot coverage than any of the Leitz Colorplan, Hektor, Dimaron, and Elmaron projection lenses that I have are showing. Zett (and even Zeiss) seems to favor big glass, with Leitz seemingly having a preference for small and more compact groupings. Considering the similarities and differences, the Super Talon doesn't strike me as a Leitz offshoot, but it's hard to say where it belongs for now. I'll keep digging and see what I can find.

I hadn't seen that ad, and it didn't occur to me to search out all the other ebay sites, so thanks for the pointer and the reminder. In comparing them, it's difficult to tell the difference in construction. Other than the obvious markings, the only thing I can see that doesn't match, is what looks to be a set screw on the knurled section of the Zeiss, that the Zett doesn't have. The typeface, green coloring of the 'MC/SMC', and letter spacing is identical. I also found some of the other Zeiss and Zett lenses on the other European ebay sites, and anything marked as a Super Talon from both brands is pretty much indistinguisable from each other. The regular "Talon" lenses with Zett branding are definitely plastic barreled, so they may have different diagrams and glass and/or coatings.

I ran accross another forum's posting that mentions the new owner of Zeiss Ikon projectors as "Zett Optics" (which I assume was a subsidiary of Zett Projektion), that also notes their address and contact number for spare parts. The post was made back in 2007, so a lot of time has passed, and the company could certainly have changed hands several times since then. I did find a reference to a change in 2004, when they 'seperated' from the Leica group, but it contains no before or after details to explain what the relationship was, or when/why it started. The Zett Optics trademark was transfered in 2016, but that was well after they'd gotten out of the projector business and into LED's and lighting.

The deeper I dig, the more it seems like the lens I have could have been from the early period of Zett's take over of the projection line from Zeiss (in whatever form that might have been), and they were still using up whatever Zeiss parts were on hand, with only the markings/logos being changed to their own branding. It wouldn't have been the first time a photo gear company did exactly the same thing, so it's not a stretch to be a possibility I guess - and if it was in the period before Leitz was involved, it's fair to think it would have Zeiss parts (and the T* coatings), than they'd be parts from Leica's offerings. I paid about 1/6th the price listed for the Zeiss versions I've seen, so I'm not complaining either way.