farlymac
PF McFarland
Usually when I see a highly polished up lens like that, I'm pretty sure someone has cobbled it together from something else, and are trying to make it look more impressive than it really is.
PF
TenEleven
Well-known
Basically Brian already said most I wanted to say - but like he says most fakes don't hold muster with someone experienced such as Brian or yours truly for more than 5-10 seconds. It is actually very hard to fake a wartime lens in a way that is believable.
I have however found some genuine wartime lenses set in Jupiter-3 mounts, because I assume the original German one (a worse design) broke.And they just remounted it. That's not fakery - that's just pragmatism.
The seller with the fake ZKs I've noticed before. He had some very funny BK (Biogon Krasnogorsky) as well. I didn't know ZOMZ made BK. Ha ha. Same with the "Sonnar" fakes -- the few there are - they are all done very poorly, because making a good one is hard and even worse for the forger - expensive - so it would quickly eat his profits margins. These aren't worth Leica money and a good Jupiter-3, which would be the base of such a fake can already fetch 1-300$ now.
I have however found some genuine wartime lenses set in Jupiter-3 mounts, because I assume the original German one (a worse design) broke.And they just remounted it. That's not fakery - that's just pragmatism.
The seller with the fake ZKs I've noticed before. He had some very funny BK (Biogon Krasnogorsky) as well. I didn't know ZOMZ made BK. Ha ha. Same with the "Sonnar" fakes -- the few there are - they are all done very poorly, because making a good one is hard and even worse for the forger - expensive - so it would quickly eat his profits margins. These aren't worth Leica money and a good Jupiter-3, which would be the base of such a fake can already fetch 1-300$ now.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284522650508
More Fakes. Jupiter-8 with phony namering. Black namering is wrong, the originals are chrome namerings with very different engraving.
$320, and multiples available. About $250 markup over a J-8.
Most of the "Sonnars" coming out of the FSU countries are fake.
More Fakes. Jupiter-8 with phony namering. Black namering is wrong, the originals are chrome namerings with very different engraving.
$320, and multiples available. About $250 markup over a J-8.
Most of the "Sonnars" coming out of the FSU countries are fake.
Same Seller.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284468223131
Are there people out there gullible enough to buy one of these?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284468223131
Are there people out there gullible enough to buy one of these?
dexdog
Mentor
There have to be people buying them, these bad fakes have been on ebay for at least a decade. Either that or some people like tacky yellow lenses. This seller has a seemingly endless supply of "ZK" and "BK" lenses, and has been selling them at least since 2005 when I first started using ebay.https://www.ebay.com/itm/37364046425...sAAOSwkctg5JBb
Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
Hey Brian, out of interest, what do you make of this one?
https://mwclassic.com/product/carl-...r-coupled-mopunt-clear-filter-front-cap-rare/
This camera dealer in London has had this one in stock for what seems like forever, and while I'm not really in the market so it doesn't concern me too much, something about it has always made me a bit skeptical, but I can't put my finger on why.
https://mwclassic.com/product/carl-...r-coupled-mopunt-clear-filter-front-cap-rare/
This camera dealer in London has had this one in stock for what seems like forever, and while I'm not really in the market so it doesn't concern me too much, something about it has always made me a bit skeptical, but I can't put my finger on why.
raid
Dad Photographer
Th front of the lens: 1,5 are in different font sizes. Is this genuine Zeiss?
xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
He must take a buffing wheel to the aluminium body to give the fake lens that relic look.
dexdog
Mentor
The engraving of the aperture and distance scale on this lens looks like my known to be genuine WW2 era sonnars and the later transition lenses. It would have been helpful for the pics to show the serial number. The one thing that strikes me as odd is that there are supposed to be 3 evenly spaced sets of screws holding the focus ring in place, and one of these is a pair of screws one on top of the other like a colon punctuation mark : This lens does not appear to have these screws, although one screw may be visble in a couple of the pics. I agree with Raid that the engraving of the 1.5 aperture on name ring looks atypical
This one looks like a transition lens, also called a Coburg lens. It has a push on filter, usually made for earlier lenses. The seller does not show the leading digits of the serial number.
The index for the Aperture is a line, like the wartime Sonnars in LTM. J-3 uses a dot.
The focus ring is strange- does not have the right number of set screws. There should be four total, three to hold the ring in place and one to act as a stop for the focus.
lukx
Well-known
The font and engravings look real to me. But some of the telltale signs like the serial number and the small m on the distance scale are not shown. What's interesting is that the rangefinder cam seems to be indexed, as can be seen on images 3 and especially 4. I'm not sure what to make of that...
lukx
Well-known
Regarding the lens that started this thread: I saw your comments on Skyllaney's Instagram post, Brian. The lens shown there has a different serial number than the one in the ebay ad. The serial numbers are within 40 digits from another. So there seem to be several of those lenses around.
The price is insane, especially if you look at the horrible condition of the glass. The audacity of some ebay sellers is mind-boggling.
The price is insane, especially if you look at the horrible condition of the glass. The audacity of some ebay sellers is mind-boggling.
I also contacted Skyllaney- let me know this is not the lens that he handled. I believe that these lenses were custom modified, is good work. But I do not believe they are Zeiss prototypes. The DOF scale and IR index are both incorrect for the lens.
Had not even noticed that- but after a second look, the DOF marks are different from the original Zeiss 5cm F1.5 in Leica mount. On my 1943 lens F11 lines up with 3m and Infinity. This lens- with F11 at infinity, the close F11 marks falls between 3m and 4m. The focal length must be greater than 5cm. This is probably one of the mystery 5.8cm F1.5 lenses, "legend goes" optics made for an aircraft sight, all the way to made by a third-party and stamped Zeiss.
TenEleven
Well-known
I know this font and style of manufacture. It's vintage - the font is very clearly not Zeiss look at the '4' look at the "r" in Sonnar - at least the mounting parts are not. The glass probably is. Mt guess is that this is the same German shop that re-mounted the "Sturz Visier Sonnar" as well as several 8.5cm and other LTM and Contax mount variations. Their quality is uneven, but the well made lenses they did are actually really well made even if the finish isn't up to Zeiss standards.
There is a press release from Zeiss that implies that they stole the glass and some of the dies.
The shop and owners got arrested some time in the early 50ies.
your_ussr_lens on eBay
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www.ebay.com
Ebay Seller with early Jupiter-3 lenses with phony Serial Numbers engraved in the rear triplet. Selling for much more than the lenses are worth.
Poor engraving of 286xxxx batch Serial Numbers to make it look like the lens was made by Zeiss. It probably was- but these numbers are added. Too bad.