Citrus Fruit £1.50 Tessar

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 30D. It was the fruit which cost £1.50. The lens was £12 on eBay about three years ago.

The Tessar lens is an old and simple optical design. Even when the Practika MTL 5 camera was being sold new around 1976, the East German Tessar was the cheaper option to the Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 lens, which many will claim to be the superior choice. I have used the Pentacon, and enjoyed it, but repeatedly I return to the Tessar. I'm really not sure why.