German lenses not Leica or Zeiss

Tom Caldwell · Feb 3, 2016

I am looking for the less well known "greats" - even CZJ might qualify.

Lenses made by such relatively unknown German manufacturers as Meyer Optik, E Ludwig, Pentacon, Steinheil, Enna, Isco, Feinmess, Schneider Kreuznach. I am sure to have missed some - dig into the archives and lets see what we can come up with. Porst I am not sure of and Revue rebranded lenses made by others. Braun? - only for the Paxette? Others?

These are of the "don't touch with a barge pole because I have never heard of them" variety. But there are many quite good lenses made out there ouside the comfort zone of the Leica/Zeiss names.

Ching-Kuang Shene · Feb 3, 2016

Tom Caldwell said:
I am looking for the less well known "greats" - even CZJ might qualify.

Lenses made by such relatively unknown German manufacturers as Meyer Optik, E Ludwig, Pentacon, Steinheil, Enna, Isco, Feinmess, Schneider Kreuznach. I am sure to have missed some - dig into the archives and lets see what we can come up with. Porst I am not sure of and Revue rebranded lenses made by others. Braun? - only for the Paxette? Others?

These are of the "don't touch with a barge pole because I have never heard of them" variety. But there are many quite good lenses made out there ouside the comfort zone of the Leica/Zeiss names.

Dr JLW · Feb 3, 2016

Goerz

Lightshow · Feb 3, 2016

Google can be your friend:

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Category:German_lens_makers

A

* Agfa

* Amigo

* Astro Berlin

B

* Emil Busch

E

* Enna

* Ernemann

F

* Feinmess

* Foth

* Friedrich

* Futura

G

* Goerz

I

* Isco

K

* Kenngott

* Kerman

* G. A. Krauss

L

* Laack

* Leica

* Leitmeyr

* Ludwig

M

* Meyer

N

* Nettel

* Novoflex

P

* Pentacon

* Plaubel

R

* Rietzschel

* Rodenstock

* Roeschlein-Kreuznach

* Rollei

* Rüdersdorf

S

* Schacht

* Schneider

* Staeble

* Steiner

* Steinheil

V

* Voigtländer

Z

* Zeiss Ikon

* Carl Zeiss

Lots of interesting mergers, partnerships, and splits...

--

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Lightshow · Feb 3, 2016

Ching-Kuang Shene said:
Tom Caldwell said:

I am looking for the less well known "greats" - even CZJ might qualify.

Lenses made by such relatively unknown German manufacturers as Meyer Optik, E Ludwig, Pentacon, Steinheil, Enna, Isco, Feinmess, Schneider Kreuznach. I am sure to have missed some - dig into the archives and lets see what we can come up with. Porst I am not sure of and Revue rebranded lenses made by others. Braun? - only for the Paxette? Others?

These are of the "don't touch with a barge pole because I have never heard of them" variety. But there are many quite good lenses made out there ouside the comfort zone of the Leica/Zeiss names.

Click to expand...

Tom Caldwell · Feb 4, 2016

Ching-Kuang Shene said:
Tom Caldwell said:

I am looking for the less well known "greats" - even CZJ might qualify.

Lenses made by such relatively unknown German manufacturers as Meyer Optik, E Ludwig, Pentacon, Steinheil, Enna, Isco, Feinmess, Schneider Kreuznach. I am sure to have missed some - dig into the archives and lets see what we can come up with. Porst I am not sure of and Revue rebranded lenses made by others. Braun? - only for the Paxette? Others?

These are of the "don't touch with a barge pole because I have never heard of them" variety. But there are many quite good lenses made out there ouside the comfort zone of the Leica/Zeiss names.

Click to expand...

Tom Caldwell · Feb 4, 2016

Thanks, you have been most thorough, there are quite a few more that my quick off the top of my head missed. Maybe we could thin them out to lens makers who have made lenses that are currently easily adapted to modern cameras?

Can I suggest that these companies might still have legacy lenses readily available and can have suitable adapters: Braun, Enna, Edixa, Feinmess, Isco, Leica, E Ludwig, Meyer, Novoflex, Pentacon, Rodenstock, Rollei, Schacht, Schneider, Steinheil, Voigtlander, Zeiss Ikon, Carl Zeiss.

Others from the list who have post WWII lenses in an adaptable mount?

--
Tom Caldwell

Rol Lei Nut · Feb 10, 2016

Ching-Kuang Shene said:
Tom Caldwell said:

I am looking for the less well known "greats" - even CZJ might qualify.

Lenses made by such relatively unknown German manufacturers as Meyer Optik, E Ludwig, Pentacon, Steinheil, Enna, Isco, Feinmess, Schneider Kreuznach. I am sure to have missed some - dig into the archives and lets see what we can come up with. Porst I am not sure of and Revue rebranded lenses made by others. Braun? - only for the Paxette? Others?

These are of the "don't touch with a barge pole because I have never heard of them" variety. But there are many quite good lenses made out there ouside the comfort zone of the Leica/Zeiss names.

Click to expand...

finkaudio · Feb 10, 2016

Hi,

I like the Schacht lenses a lot. Mr. Schacht worked for ZEISS before WWII and the lenses have been engineered by Ludwig Bertele, who was a famous optics designer. Schacht made lenses in different mounts including L39 and I have two of them in 90 and 135mm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Bertele

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Schacht

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00YesN

Here is one shot I did with the 90mm......I should have more, but need to find them first.

This is how the lenses look like (shot with Leica 60mm Macro - so all German)

Tom Caldwell · Feb 10, 2016

Thanks, I had in mind to get up some lesser known German lens makers - examples of their lenses and what they can produce. I had forgotten Schacht even though I do have one of their lenses.

I simply have not had time to illustrate some of my own collection.

Schacht lenses have usually been a bit on the pricey side for my plebian tastes. Especially those in M39 mount.

However if there are a few lenses about hen it does get hard to remember just which lens took what photograph. Not a real problem for personal appreciation but much harder if we are trying to provide a demonstration of these lenses of lesser known provenance.

Going out and simply taking some current illustrative images does not necessarily produce replications that are properly indicative of how well any lens might image. Short term lack of suitable subject material is a common problem.

Tom Caldwell · Feb 10, 2016

Rol Lei Nut said:
Ching-Kuang Shene said:

Tom Caldwell said:

I am looking for the less well known "greats" - even CZJ might qualify.

Lenses made by such relatively unknown German manufacturers as Meyer Optik, E Ludwig, Pentacon, Steinheil, Enna, Isco, Feinmess, Schneider Kreuznach. I am sure to have missed some - dig into the archives and lets see what we can come up with. Porst I am not sure of and Revue rebranded lenses made by others. Braun? - only for the Paxette? Others?

These are of the "don't touch with a barge pole because I have never heard of them" variety. But there are many quite good lenses made out there ouside the comfort zone of the Leica/Zeiss names.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ching-Kuang Shene · Feb 10, 2016

There are two more less well-known west german lens makers: Piesker Berlin and TEWE Berlin. I have lenses from both makers.

Sometimes visiting a known collector's site is more helpful to find odd stuffs. This is a good example: Captain Jack's Collections. Or, some good German books on vintage cameras and lenses could even be better. I could not locate a rather complete catelog of German lenses.. When I will be able to find it, I will add more items. Those ***pedia sites usually are not very complete.

CK

Tom Caldwell · Feb 10, 2016

Ching-Kuang Shene said:
There are two more less well-known west german lens makers: Piesker Berlin and TEWE Berlin. I have lenses from both makers.

Sometimes visiting a known collector's site is more helpful to find odd stuffs. This is a good example: Captain Jack's Collections. Or, some good German books on vintage cameras and lenses could even be better. I could not locate a rather complete catelog of German lenses.. When I will be able to find it, I will add more items. Those ***pedia sites usually are not very complete.

CK

CK

I don't really mind in which direction this thread might go - your information has always been interesting and you are obviously a collector of some depth and experiance.

My original idea was to point out that there are quite a number of respected German lens manufacturers whose product is still commonly avaiable at reasonably affordable prices. There are some unsung bargains to be had which are often overlooked by buyers simply because they don't recognise the manufacturers name.

Feinmess Bonotar is a good example as Feinmess only seem to ever have made one lens for the M42 mount even though they did make other non-demountable lenses. The Bonotar seems to be quite a good lens if on the slow side.

nigbat · Feb 11, 2016

The faster Steinheil lenses aren't cheap anymore.

I've been looking for a decent 50/1.9 for a while, but they are a bit too pricey for my current state of funds... and a lot more than say a Super Takumar 50/1.4.

The 135/4 Culminar is a very nice lens, and cheap, though slow and up against 1000 other 135s.

Tom Caldwell · Feb 11, 2016

Adapted to M4/3

--
Tom Caldwell

Tom Caldwell · Feb 11, 2016

Double adapted to M4/3

--
Tom Caldwell

Winterfrost · Feb 12, 2016

Tom Caldwell said:
Adapted to M4/3

--
Tom Caldwell

I do own a 28/2.8 Reflexogon, M42...but it's compared to this lens a little one...and never tested it yet - my bad.

Marc

Rol Lei Nut · Feb 12, 2016

How is the Telefogar (since you can accurately focus it)?

I actually had one as Altix was one of the "systems" I once tried, but forgot to add to the list I posted above, also because scale-focusing a 90mm was an exercise in futility and I quickly got rid of it.

NancyP · Feb 12, 2016

Push those in my direction with your barge pole, please. That's a long-honored name in optics, and has lenses in production now, generally high end digital MF back lenses that cost a few thousand each new.

Tom Caldwell · Feb 12, 2016

Marc

The Reflexogon seems to be identical to the Enna Lithagon which I also have a copy of. I would not mind a copy of the 28mm f2.8 Reflexogon just to have "the set", but am in no hurry.

German lenses not Leica or Zeiss

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