Late Wartime Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar: and Been Through the War!

[Brian]

I took a "gamble" on another CZJ 5cm F1.5 "T" wartime Sonnar on Ebay. It was "relatively cheap", less than 1/2 of the really nice one. Like comparing a KEH "UGLY" to an EX+. That other one was WAY worth it!

But here's what I've done so far with the Ugly one. Green Corrosion, Sand/grit in the helical, wear on the finish...Coating Marks on the front optic. Did I mention it was a good price?

[Brian]

First thing to do is take the optics Module out. It unscrewed. NO SHIMS! The variable stand-off ring was used for collimation.

You can see why the Focus in the Ebay add was described as "ROUGH". (BTW: The seller provided a COMPLETELY accurate description of this lens.

It's a Wartime lens. Question is- Maybe the Sahara with Rommel?

[Brian]

I quit trying to clean the Helical and just gave it a bath in 99% Isopropyl Alchohol. After that, I worked Vacuum Pump grease into the helical. It's smooth now.

Undo the two guide screws at the back of the Helical. The inner portion now unscrews. I was too chicken to take it apart completely. But with the flood cleaning, and working the grease in, I did not have to. Note the "205" SN or Lot Number (?) of the Helical. All three portions of the helical have the same number. It is lower than my 27xxxxx lens. The SN of this Sonnar starts with "28".

[Brian]

I took the rear module out for cleaning. That means undoing the set screw. It was in bad shape, and could not be fully screwed in after the rear was cleaned. I should have left it out. If you cannot get it all the way in, the module WILL NOT screw back into the focus mount. I had to drill it out. It took some work to get all of it out, and screw the optics back into the mount.

[Brian]

The Helical is held in by ONE set screw. Again, this one is not as in nice condition as the earlier lens. More wear and tear, or poorer materials available, I'm not sure. I just discovered that the helical is "ever-so-slightly-Loose". The one set screw lets it shift Just a Tad". I hate that. I'll test the lens, probably not enough to worry about. BUT- I might end up coming up with some HACK to fix it. I've learned a lot of lens hacking with J-3's....

Maybe some thick grease in the threads, or teflon pipe fitting.... ANYWAY- I'll shoot with the lens as it is now, and report back.

[Brian]

Footnote: I took the Helical out again. Got the crumbling set screw out, and had a spare. I used some Pipe Fitting "non-hardening" stuff to help tighten the fitting up. It's pretty good now. I'm shooting a test roll.

[Brian]

Follow-up-> Today I took the helical out again, and tracked the slight wobble to the guiderails, seen on the exposed helical. The LTM Sonnars and J-3 use set screws traveling in a pair of guiderails for the double-helical. The rails on this lens are slightly too wide. If the "guide pin" is not tight against these rails, a wobble occurs. This explains the big wad of grease on the RF cam when I opened the lens up. The "hacked solution"- I filled the base of the helical with more vacuum pump grease, and put a thick paper liner in the base of the mount to guide the RF cam of the lens. It is much better now.

[raid]

Keep on going, Brian. Good for you.

[Brian]

Well- test roll came back. I think the paper liner on the mount did well to steady up the play in the focus. Wide-open shots were spot on from close-up to infinity. These are on the Bessa R2.

http://www.ziforums.com/album.php?albumid=102

http://www.ziforums.com/picture.php?albumid=102&pictureid=882

Normally, flare tests don't look so good...

http://www.ziforums.com/picture.php?albumid=102&pictureid=881

I positioned the front element to be in direct sunlight.

[Contarama]

Again, this one is not as in nice condition as the earlier lens. More wear and tear, or poorer materials available, I'm not sure.


It is logical that during the war some of the finer materials namely high grade metals would be scarce...do you think this was the case with Carl Ziess and Leitz and all the others??? I have a CZJ microscope I believe is from the war years (NOT the one in my recent pics)...the metals used in the construction of the scope and certain accourtrements seem to be some type of alloys compared to more "pure" ingredients used in earlier CZJ scopes that I have. I may be crazy however. But perhaps you are onto something here Brian??? Anyone know any details of what was going on in the German optics industry during the war years??? I bet it is a fascinating story...

BTW sir your girl is beautiful...I am so glad I have boys instead...but what I wouldn't give to have a baby girl to go along with the boys... :)

[Brian]

I suspect that the ravages of war effected the German industry- something fierce. It was not limited to camera lenses.

The ME-262 Jet Fighter, with its Jumo 0004 engines: 4Hours Mean-time between failure. One reason why it required two engines: one often failed. Not a problem with the design, but a problem with the quality of the steel used. By comparison, the Lockheed P80 Lightning did not suffer the same degree of problems.

[Contarama]

Did any of you folks win this item??? Brian do you have any knowledge of these cameras and their lenses that you will share??? This thing brought big bucks...I wonder how well they were made and with what types of materials. 40mm lens tied to the guns??? A kill shot camera...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290408150900&ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT

[Brian]

I had a Robot camera like that. I cannot verify that they were used as Gun cameras or remoted out on a wing, that seems a stretch to me. Seems better suited for in the cockpit, or out a window. The Udvar Hazy Smithsonian has a display of gun and Aerial cameras, but no Robot on display.

The camera could be Luftwaffe, or the engraving could be fake. Either way, a Black Robot: this one would normally have sold for $200 or so. They use a 24x24 format, so it means home-processing.