HU: Zunow 35mm f1.7 lens in Ltm

[xayraa33]

a fast 35mm Zunow lens from Greece.
no connection to seller and all that.

http://cgi.ebay.com/VERY-RARE-ZUNOW-...QQcmdZViewItem

[rogue_designer]

pretty - I wonder how this compares to the CV Ultron.

Odd that it looks like the fstops are organized in reverse of most lenses I own.

[xayraa33]

Originally Posted by rogue_designer

pretty - I wonder how this compares to the CV Ultron.

Odd that it looks like the fstops are organized in reverse of most lenses I own.

this would be an early to mid 1950s design, no aspherical surfaces here.
this was the fastest 35mm lens at the time it came out, slightly before the Nikkor 35/1.8 and the Canon 35/1.8 and the f1.5.
Zunow was a small independent maker that pushed the envelope,
so all the big players watched what it made for inspiration and later brought out their own designs for competition on the market.

[David Murphy]

The Popular Photography mags I have from the 50's have long, long lists of "bargain priced" LTM and Contax mount lenses, including many Zunows (they were the insanely fast ones at a given focal length). I'll try to dig some of these out and post them. I wonder how they all went away and what a shame that is!? This was really fine stuff.

[Krosya]

It sold a for over 2K. Other than a collector's value - I really don't see a reason to get one. As a user - however fine it was in its day - CV Ultron will have to beat EASY. NOt to say it wouldn't be fun to play wit this lens.

[VinceC]

>>Odd that it looks like the fstops are organized in reverse of most lenses I own.<<

The f/stops are in the direction of Contax and Nikon lenses.

A few months ago I saw some images posted on another Website taken with the Zunow 50/1.1; it was quite fast, but also had a lot of chromatic aberation.