Aus Jena T 50mm 2.8

This lens is a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar, manufactured at a time when Zeiss was split in two. The part of Carl Zeiss which was based in Jena after WWII was part of the German Democratic Republic (hey, it says DDR on the lens!) and was not allowed to use the Carl Zeiss trademark and lens names when exporting to Western Europe, so they used abbreviations and got creative, simply labeling the lens "aus Jena" and "T" for Tessar. That's enough history for today. Let's see how I got this particular copy.

I didn't take it completely apart, but cleaned the aperture as best I could, while removing the glass elements in my way. After a week it got stuck again. On and off, I had to clean it again.

One night, I finally managed to fix a Pentacon 50mm 1.8 that I had struggled with one too many times. Emboldened and motivated, I took to the Tessar. I took it apart, cleaned each aperture blade separately, and put it back together. It's worked like a charm ever since.

This lens handles well for a 50mm. It's pretty vanilla, but do watch out for stuck apertures and tight focus rings. After fixing the aperture on my copy, I have nothing to complain about. The minimum focus is great if you, like me, like going in close for those sweet, sweet detail shots.

The front element is pretty recessed, so you get some flare resistance, unless you have the sun directly in the frame.

If you want to be happy with this version of the Tessar, don't compare it to an older (say, aluminium) Tessar. I have one with 15 aperture blades, which feels like a small, precise tool. This one feels more like a lens built in the millions.

If you shoot this lens wide open, things aren't as bad as expected. You get good center sharpness and okay corners, most likely due to the fact that it's a slower lens than your usual 50mm 1.8. Bokeh can get busy if you have a lot of detail in the background, which is something to keep in mind if you use the 0.35m minimum focusing distance. It's not a lens I would reach for if I were after some buttery-bokeh portraits.

Stopping down improves both center and corner performance, and contrast becomes excellent. It's a perfectly capable lens for landscapes and for capturing detail.

Colors are splendid. Contrast, although lower than I'd like wide open, gets better by f5.6.

The Tessar is plentiful and cheap, especially the all-black, later version. If you stumble upon a copy that's a steal, get one. It's worth a try, and can be a good, light walk-around lens, with nice close-focus capabilities.

If you consider the wider picture, "standard" 50mm lenses are everywhere, and you can usually find an f1.8 one just as easily as this one. You'll most likely get performance as good or better, with the added benefit of a faster aperture.