Tessar

In 2013 on a whim I bought a Carl Zeiss Jena f/2.8 50mm lens for £12. It has an M42 screw thread and initially I simply held it tight against the lens throat of a Nikon D50, with better results than expected. By the time I photographed this ivy I had graduated to using it on a Canon EOS 20D camera via an adapter. (M42 lenses are happier on Canons than Nikons. Yet the previous Canon FD mount lenses are problematic to use on the successor EOS cameras. Camera mounts are a bit bonkers). The Carl Zeiss Jena f/2.8 50mm lens is a simple Tessar arrangement of four elements originally designed by Paul Rudolph in 1902 while he worked at the Zeiss optical company. For the modest investment and the optical clarity I would recommend this lens.

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.

The simplicity of the Tessar lens formula - four elements in three groups - perhaps explains its ability to record scenes in a noticeably different way to other lenses. Canon EOS 40D + Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens.

Canon EOS 40D + Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens (£12 on eBay) on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera. The cheapest route to a lens with 'Carl Zeiss' on it. Manufactured between 1952 and 1978, thus there is plenty of choice on the secondhand market. The moment I had it in my hand, I loved the feel of it and the smooth focus and aperture adjustment. Using it on a crop sensor digital camera avoids the criticism that it is soft at the corners: I'm using only the best part of the simple optics. Nevertheless, optimum performance is f/8 - f/11 where contrast is best; otherwise post-processing will improve your efforts. F/2.8 is slow, but these days we're all used to levels of ISO which were unimaginable when this lens was in production, and so only photographers chasing depth-of-field will be bothered by the slowness. Close focus is about twelve inches - it's practically macro! And the long focus throw provides plenty of scope for tiny adjustments. The front element is well recessed: no need for a lens hood, nor a protective filter for that matter (but I disdain protective filters anyway. Like extended warranties, they exist to improve dealers' profit margins). Not as good as the 55mm f/3.5 Micro-Nikkor, which is hard to beat by any lens, but much cheaper, and fun to use. Colour rendition isn't bad, either.

Photographed using a Canon EOS 20D with a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 Tessar lens.

Photographed using available light with a Canon EOS20D and a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 Tessar lens.

I made this photograph by holding a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm Tessar lens tight up against a Nikon D50. It's a bit Heath Robinson, but it is possible to get a picture via this technique. This is straight out of the camera.

The Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 M42 thread lens coupled via an adapter to a Canon digital SLR is perhaps not the ideal landscape lens. It gives a field of view of 80mm: more suited to portraits, really. I gave up the pursuit of M42 thread lenses and sold the Canon - an EOS 20D, and a remarkably well made instrument - but the only M42 lens I truly miss is the humble CZJ 50mm f/2.8 Tessar.

I know that transferring an old Praktica strap to a Canon SLR is a serious violation of photographic etiquette. I realise the Camera Cops will detain me for questioning if they find out. But it's just too good a strap not to attach to a camera you use more often. Photographed with a Nikon D2Xs and an AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera. The chief reason I bought into the Canon EOS system was to use this lens. Fortunately the low cost of secondhand discontinued digital SLR cameras enables such indulgences. The design of the Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm F2.8 Tessar stretches back at least to the 1930's where countless examples exist in different forms, formats, and mounts. This is a fundamentally simple lens of just four elements in three groups with five aperture blades. It is not the best 50mm lens that I own. However, it is certainly the cheapest. So it is something of a mystery why I find it so satisfying to use. It is slow for a 50mm lens at f/2.8. The focus throw is very wide, allowing precision at the expense of fast handling. It seems sharp, but nearly all 50mm lenses are sharp. It performs well wide open; so do many others. Colour rendition is good. Distortion is not a problem. Contrast is strong. You could say the same about practically all 50mm lenses. But I like this particular lens very much.

"Tessar" is from the Greek word τέσσερα (téssera, four) to indicate a four-element design. Tessar lenses provide good optical performance at a reasonable price. They have been around since 1902, although only since 1930 have they been available in apertures as big as f/2.8. Canon EOS 20D and Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Tessar f/2.8 M42 50mm lens.

I bought a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 Tessar lens and teamed it with a Canon EOS 20D camera; all eBay acquisitions. The Tessar is so venerable (designed in 1902) that it engendered visions of the past when used at Lacock Abbey.

Photographed with a Canon EOS 20D and a 50mm Carl Zeiss Jena f/2.8 Tessar lens.

Canon EOS 20D and 50mm Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar f/2.8. I find photographs made on a digital SLR with M42 lenses often need a lift in post processing, especially for lack of contrast and saturation. However, even though I no longer have the Canon 20D, I cannot countenance the sale of the CZJ Tessar. It is a joy to use: not fast, but sharp wide open at the modest f/2.8; sublime handling - focus and aperture stops feel 'just right'; and the ability to focus as close as 14 inches, which provides a big image in combination with an APS-C digital sensor.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

I've lost count of the number of attempts I've made to photograph this subject, an C18 brass sundial in the grounds of Lacock Abbey, made by Thomas Wright. Paradoxically, this study made with a cheap screw-thread Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera has given me the greatest satisfaction ... so far.