Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Patrick Thanks for the number, 2744913, from your 1.5/5cm CZJ Sonnar T. Our best guess is that this lens dates from 1941. I have a similar lens, 2724549, as well as a Contax RF version, 2677302, all dating from the same year as your lens. The LTM lens uses more aluminium in the mount but is otherwise apparently identical to the Contax RF lens save for the camera mount. It is similar also to my early (1939) factory-coated 2554180 in Contax mount. (This last lens is most interesting -- it was purchased in 1939 mounted on a Contax III body here in Roanoke, Virginia, from the old Roanoke Photo-Finishing Company: so hungry was Nazi Germany for foreign exchange that they sold a few of these early coated lenses overseas, although regular consumer production of coated lenses did not commence until after the War.) The 1.5/5cm Sonnar originally opened only to f/8; by the mid-1930's, they had cautiously increased this to f/11, as the uncoated version was prone to flare when fully stopped down. With coating, they eventually made the lens go to f/22, which your 1941 lens should have. The Postwar Oberkochen (Zeiss-Opton, Carl Zeiss) design is somewhat different and I doubt if the lens rings could be switched to your lens. Marc Marc James Small Cha Robh Bas Fir, Gun Ghras Fir! FAX: +540/343-7315