PROTOTYPE / First Concept / First Model!!

This was acquired from the private collection of the late Sir Kenneth Corfield

who had a very keen interest in Exakta cameras and owned other Prototypes

( PROTOTYPE Carl ZEISS Jena Sonnar 1:4 f=13.5cm Nickel-Black Lens EXAKTA )

It has also been seen and inspected by 3 independent photo camera technicians

(one of which has been servicing optics from DDR ever since 1977)

and all of them confirm that this is NOT any of the Primoplan lens types ever seen in production.

14-Blades Primoplan

1:1.9/58  V

(V stands for German: Vergutet (coated) and is the equivalent to T coatings

PRIME / MACRO Lens in the Universal M42 Screw fit

In Fully Working Order!

The aluminium barrel shows normal age-related usage marks.

Front glass shows light, negligible cleaning marks. Rear glass is totally clean and clear!

There is some oil residue on one aperture blade, but since it the preset manual type,

this is NOT a problem whatsoever!

Insides are free from haze, fungus or glass separation!!!

A few dust spots are present, as is the case with ALL used lenses!

Focusing and aperture actions are smooth, but aperture ring catches sometimes

(this is a PROTOTYPE, hence the mechanisms are not yet brought to perfection!)

The dots visible in the image below, are air bubbles present on ALL DDR Made lenses from that era.

(correctly speaking in the glass made using available then technology)

Image below shows the aperture pre-set ring in the normal and lifted (for re-positioning) position.

Sample images taken with this lens Panasonic DMC-G5 :