"Prime Quality" East German Lenses

Hello, at the advice of Dan Fromm, I purchased a copy of the Lens

Collector's Vade Mecum. I was reading through the section about

East Germany's control of Carl Zeiss Jena. The desingns in East

Germany were limited because of the shortages of certain types of

glass and lack of computers and newer technologies. Then it

mentions that prime quality was indicated by a "1" encircled by

a "Q," and that these lenses were of extra interest to collectors,

but that collectors do limit the prices realized for such

equipment. I have a 50mm f/2.8 CZJ Tessar for my Practica FX-2 with

such a mark. Does anyone know how much better than an average lens

lenses with this mark are, or how rare or about what percentage they

account for. I'm assuming quality control wasn't exceptionally good

in East Germany, so how did the prime East German lenses compare to

the West German kind? How much more are these worth than the

regular East German lenses? Any information would be greatly

appreciated. -Peter

I own quite a few East German lenses, and, living in the former GDR and having seen lots and lots of these lenses when shopping around for old stuff, I have never ever encountered an East German lens that did not have this 1Q-designation. Some say that this mark was used for lenses selected for the export markets, but as far as I know all lenses available in the GDR also had this mark. I believe this was a marketing gag; socialist propaganda didn't allow for anything else than first quality products anyway, so they wouldn't admit that there were lenses of lower quality.

All CZJ post war Tessar lenses I have seen have the 1Q mark. The 1Q mark was given to products which were 'equal to world standard'. In case of the Tessar lenses, this seems correct - they are great performers. A photo technician working in a pro shop recently told me he had bought an Ercona 6x9 folder and checked the Tessar lens with a ground glass on the film screen. He had never seen such a sharp image before on any 6x9 folding camera.

 

The Meyer Trioplan lenses usually are marked with a '1 surrounded by a triangle'. This means 'first choice'. Some cameras have just an 'S surrounded by a triangle' on their bodies, indicating standard quality level.

 

These marks were awarded by an institute supervising industrial quality. However, since there were strong links between the government (running this institute) and the industry (of which very little had private ownership) there might be doubts whether this institute was independent. There have been cases reported where some plants were NOT allowed to carry a quality mark for certain products.

 

Back to the CZJ Tessar lenses, I did not have the opportunity to check a west german one, but I don't think that any 4 element lens can be sharper than the CZJ Tessars. I never was disappointed by the several of my cameras carrying this lens.

I just took a look at my CZJ 20mm f2.8 Electric MC Flektogon lens and couldn't see any

mark.

 

Just curious about any opinions about this lens.

They must have stopped using the 1Q mark in their later production; as far as I know, none of the later CZJ MC-lenses has it. There was no quality selection between lenses of the same design, so there is absolutely no reason to pay a premium on lenses with the 1Q mark.

Thank you all for the information. -Peter

This convention was not limited to just camera lenses. I had two pair of CZJ 'Deltrintem' binoculars; one with, and one without the 1Q mark. I could discern no difference but a collector paid me a premium for the pair with the mark. He said it indicated manufacture after certain QC measures were adopted at the Jena plant. I was never able to verify the story. I still have the other pair and after all these years they are still equal to any of my more modern binocs as well as my favorites!

I've never seen a Pancolar without the "1Q" mark. ...Just thought I'd share.