In praise of old lenses #12 - Carl Zeiss 50mm Pancolar

[peterr]

Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50mm F1.8 (Zebra)

Well it would be impolite not to include at least one Carl Zeiss lens given their reputation for outstanding optical quality. Carl Zeiss Pancolar 50mm lenses were the premium standard lenses manufactured in the Carl Zeiss Jena factory in East Germany for Praktica 35mm SLR cameras. Pancolar lenses are therefore easy to find with the 42mm screw thread, which is easily adaptable to many modern digital cameras.

This particular Carl Zeiss Pancolar 50mm F1.8 Zebra lens dating from the late 1960s or early 1970s is splendid in terms of optical performance, but the build quality looks and feels somewhat short of that of a Nikkor or Super Takumar lens from the same period. My Pancolar has particular issues with dried lubrication leading to what I can only describe as lumpy focussing, a problem that appears to be very common in both Pancolar and Tessar Zebra lenses. The lens has six aperture blades, but there is an earlier version with eight aperture blades which is more highly sought after.

Good examples of Carl Zeiss 50mm F1.8 Pancolar zebra lenses seem to sell on auction sites at between £50 and £70. I think this a little bit on the high side given that it is still possible to find 55mm F1.8 SMC Takumar lenses for under £40. I would say the Pancolar is well worth buying if you can find one in good condition at £40 or less.

The lens does produce very pleasing bokeh at wide apertures and is extremely sharp at any aperture smaller than F2.8. The shot of the small purple flowers (sorry don’t know what they are) was shot at an aperture of F1.8 and the B&W shot of the Highland cattle was taken at an aperture of F4. In both cases, the lens was mounted on my full frame Pentax K1. The image of the lens gives a clue on how it came by the “zebra” name.

[rogerb]

Is the flower aubretia? (not sure of the spelling)

Yes, but how do I justify another 50mm when I have more than I can regularly use already? It looks like the one I used to have on the Praktica camera I bought in 1969, but I am sure that was an inferior lens, despite looking identical.

Roger

[peterr]

Thanks Roger. Yes, the flower does appear to be Aubretia.

The 50mm F2.8 Tessar Zebra lens looks similar to the Pancolar, so that might have been the lens that you had on your 1969 Praktica.

In order of price, the 50mm lenses that were available for the 1970s Praktica cameras were:
Meyer Optik Domiplan 50mm F2.8
Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm F2.8
Pentacon 50mm F1.8
Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50mm F1.8.


Don't worry my 50mm Pancolar is not for sale .

[rogerb]

On ebay they seem to range from £60 upwards.

I think mine was the Domiplan, for which £20 seems an appropriate ebay price. I don't remember what I paid for it but I doubt it has lost much value. But what I do remember is that, having bought the camera plus lens in the USA, I declared it and was told that duty was import duty 80%. But as I had been abroad for 6 months, and been using it for a couple of months, the customs official agreed to value it as a used camera. When I added the reduced level of duty to what I had paid for the camera, it turned out to be exactly what the camera cost in UK shops. My guess was that this was how the official had worked out the appropriate used valuation.

The Tessar was the one I wished I had, but could not afford.

[peterr]

I did actually buy a Tessar Zebra in Paintbox, Worcester for £5 about 11 years ago - it's a very good lens although not quite in the same league as the Pancolar.

The Domiplan had the dubious record of giving the worst ever LPM test results for a 50mm lens in What Camera magazine. The very best results they recorded were for the Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm F1.7.