Welcome to my listing for a Steinheil Munchen CASSARIT 2.8/50mm lens in M39 mount for Braun Paxette, serial number 990486.

Overview: A solidly built compact standard lens produced by Steinheil for the Braun Paxette II in the 1950s. The serial number of this copy suggests it was made about 1953. They are of simple Cooke Triplet optical design and hence produce alluring, classical images with the bubbly bokeh associated with the now-famous Meyer-Optik Trioplan 50mm of the same period and optical design.

Overall Condition: Very good with only light signs of use to the lens body, excellent considering it is around 70 years old. Supplied with original front & generic rear caps.

Please study the photographs as these form part of this description and depict the external condition accurately.

Optical Condition: Generally good with a few coating marks on the front optic which you can see in the image above, they are transparent and have seen no sign of them in the images produced.

Mechanical Operation: The 12 aperture blades show some marks but are smooth in operation with well-defined aperture clicks, focus control is also smooth and consistent throughout the range.

M39 Paxette Mount: Braun Paxettes have a lens flange distance of 44mm which is 15.2mm longer than standard M39 lenses so a 15.2mm extension tube is required to achieve infinity focus on M39 mount cameras or adaptors. As I have been asked for these tubes many times I now produce them in small batches and the eBay listing for them is here. These tubes do not have any rangefinder coupling so they would not be suitable for analogue rangefinder cameras without a visible digital preview for focusing. I also have available dedicated Paxette adaptors for Sony E Mount and Micro Four Thirds.

Real World Use: Sharp in the centre of frame, even when wide open, stopped down it is very sharp but wide open is where the fun is!. The bokeh is beautiful at f2.8, displaying the classic bubbly circles, reminiscent of other triplet lenses, a' la Trioplan! The edges of the image also swirl in a Petzval like manner, in fact, I have rarely used a lens with so much character! All in all, a great little lens to shoot with which I have used on many occasions as a macro lens with additional extension tubes as you can see from some of the blossom images below...

Sample Images: All the images below are shot wide open at f2.8 on a Sony A7 II or Canon 5D Mk3 as a macro lens..

Thank you for looking. Any questions? Please ask.

Postage & Delivery:

UK postage by Royal Mail Tracked 48 - FREE

Europe by Royal Mail International Tracked - £17.80

Rest of the World by Royal Mail International Tracked- £20.60