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Old 5th February 2020, 12:59 PM
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DaveInElland DaveInElland is offline
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Default Carl Zeiss Jena (CJZ) lenses

I’ve just been given a Nikon fit, CZJ 28-70 f3.5-4.8 lens and apart from a suggestion it was made by Cosina can find nothing much about it on t’web. What little I did find was related to a f3.5-4.5 lens.

It is a manual focus lens.

Does this lens ring any bells with FADU members?

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Old 5th February 2020, 03:37 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default CZ Lenses

I have hear of them but never used them. The came onto the market sometime in the early 1980's and had a mixed reputation. I do know they would not be the equal to Carl Zeiss Flektogons or Sonnars - they were in a class of their own. Who they made them - who knows?

I have a feeling that they were originally introduced to fit the Electronic Practikas with electronic contacts to operate the diaphagm. I may be wrong about this but they also used CZ lenses
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Old 5th February 2020, 05:08 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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It'll be fairly pedestrian, there were almost no mid range zooms that came close to prime lens quality. Vivitar made a superb VArifocal that was very sharp etc but not a true zoom, and the top 5 manufacters offered some expensive mid range zooms that were acceptable.

You need to try it.

Ian
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Old 5th February 2020, 07:02 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is online now
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The Zeiss company, which was operating in West Germany, as distinct from CZJ, has made some expensive lenses available with a Nikon bayonet. This, however, is not one of them. It looks like a product of the former East German Zeiss company which used the CZJ label. If it dates to the early ‘80s, I would think that it was made in the former East Germany, rather than Japan. As John said, it’s probably a derivative of a lens made for the later Praktica models like the BC100, etc. It could well be capable of good results, depending on what you use it for, and subject to the limitations of zoom lenses bit looks to be in good condition. I’ve never seen, or heard of this type of lens being fitted with a Nikon bayonet, so I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with it.
Alex


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Old 5th February 2020, 08:00 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is online now
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I have just searched for Jenazoom on eBay, and there are lots of these lenses on offer. They come in various focal ranges, and fittings for Pentax, Canon, Olympus, Nikon, M42 and PB (Praktica bayonet?). Some have lettering indicating that they were made in Japan under licence from VEB Carl Zeiss Jena. They could well be Cosina products.
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Old 5th February 2020, 11:32 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default Mediocre lenses

I may be talking like I am teaching my granny to suck eggs, but….....

Some lenses classed as mediocre may not actually be so. The best lens improvement I know is a good tripod. I occasionally use a Vivitar F2/28mm on my manual focus Minoltas and this lens when hand held is... …..well, OK ….just. Pop it on a good tripod, set it at F5.6 or above, use a cable release and it is transformed.

I wager this is the case with a lot of glass which in the past received a bad reputation because the owners were to lazy to use a tripod, or simply didn't have one.
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Old 6th February 2020, 04:17 PM
JimW JimW is offline
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Quote:
The best lens improvement I know is a good tripod.
Or IMHO, at least a monopod. Even a monopod makes a huge difference. If you can carry a tripod, all the better, but even a simple lightweight monopod will still see an improvement in your images.
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Old 6th February 2020, 08:12 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JimW View Post
Or IMHO, at least a monopod. Even a monopod makes a huge difference. If you can carry a tripod, all the better, but even a simple lightweight monopod will still see an improvement in your images.
I partially disagree, lets see why I partially agree first - many of these early mid range zooms may well get sharper stopped down and need a tripod outside a bright summers day.

However they usually suffer from spherical abberations and bad pincushion or barrel distortion at the wide end and jsut aren't as harp regardless of aperture used.

This didn't mater to the huge number of people who bought an SLR but only ever had postcard sized prints or the very occasional enlargements, they didn't know any better.

I know back in the late 60's, 70's and 80's discerning photographers were fully aware taht these mid range zooms were poor quality.

Ian
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Old 10th February 2020, 04:11 PM
JimW JimW is offline
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Good explanation.
Perhaps to explain myself better....
An image with camera shake made by a less than perfect lens, or
An image without camera shake made by a less than perfect lens...
YMMV.
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