zeiss s tessar copy lens?

Hello all,

Came across a 300mm 5.6 zeiss s-tessar lens at a local antique shop, with a

quick search found out these were used in a copy machine of some sort.

Was wondering if anyone has knowledge of these lenses?

SK Grimes site has this lens listed as a projector lens not practical for

mounting but also suggests an Ilex #5 shutter may work.

The front elements do thread off so a shutter may work, was thinking

waterhouse stops?

Just seems like such a nice lens not to try something.

Any ideas or am i wasting time?

Thanks

Hi,

I tried a couple of them eight or so years ago. Neither of them worked. For some reason whoever mounted them couldn't get the spacing correct. I don't know if this is a common problem with this lens. I ended up with a 14 3/4" Caltar which turned out to be an excellent lens. I have seen the Zeiss lens selling as low as $35. This is without a diaphragm. I have heard the lens came out of a Copy machine and that it is not very sharp lens used as a shooter.

Regards,

Peter

I found a reference to the S-Tessars in the Lens Vademecum; there wasn't much info, except that the shorter focal lengths were for micro-reproductions, the longer focal lengths for process cameras.

So yours is probably a process lens model, used for graphic arts reproduction in the days before the industry went digital. These work especially well as enlarging lenses, but usually also can be used for regular photography.

Does it have an aperture diaphragm? If so, you might be able to get away with front-mounting the lens barrel in a large shutter; that would solve any spacing problems. Or you could use it with a Packard shutter; I've done that sort of thing in the past quite a bit, and the Packards work real well once you practice up a bit.

Should be very sharp, but you might experience a little focus shift when stopping down, when shooting at "normal" (close to infinity or infinity) focus, so watch out for that; take care to check focus after stopping down, that is.

The 300/5.6 S-Tessar is a copy machine lens. Its highest and best use outside of a copy machine is as a doorstop. They keep emerging from some woodwork or other and hopeful suckers keep buying them.

The "S-" prefix is Zeiss Oberkochen for "optimized for copying." They made S-Tessars in a variety of speeds and focal lengths for a variety of applications, at least one S-Biogon type, at least one S-Distagon type, many S-Planar types, ...