80/2.8 Tessar's for the Postwar Vertical 66
Here's some serial number information on the lenses. Numbers 1 and 2 are from the 351xxxx serial group and are 900 digits apart. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 are from the 4848xxx and 4849xxx groups and are all within a 700 digit group.
Here's what I've noticed - perhaps you see something else?
Lens #1 - scaled in feet and has a 'Carl Zeiss Jena' engraving on the decorative ring.
Lens #2 - scaled in feet and has a 'Carl Zeiss Jena' engraving on the decorative ring. I 'think' 1 and 2 are identical.
Lens #3 - scaled in feet and meters, has a 'C.Z. Jena' engraving on the decorative ring and is missing the decimal point from the 7.2 foot engraving on the focusing scale (sorry, that's on the other side of the lens).
Lens #4 - scaled in feet and meters, has a 'C.Z. Jena' engraving on the decorative ring, has no index marks on the focusing scale and a number is completely missing from the foot scale (above 10 meters)! Apart from the obvious (or perhaps not so obvious) engraving errors, 3 and 4 appear identical.
Lens #5 - scaled in feet, has a 'C.Z. Jena' engraving on the decorative ring and a return of the index marks on the focusing scale. Except for the decorative ring, this lens appears identical with numbers 1 and 2.
As you can see by the above comparison, there's a nice variation of detail within this single normal lens. Some of the 35mm lenses are more varied! One day, I was looking at a group of 6 manual 90/1.8 Angenieux's and identified 4 distinct barrel styles in their evolution! Depending on the person doing the cataloging and of course, comparison of more similar lenses, there are 2 or 3 versions of the 80 Tessar on this page. What variations do you have? Send a picture if you like - the internet makes this part easy!
Page #1
Check Out More Exakta 66's
