>>> Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 09:50:09 PST From: "kp foo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: car zeiss jena lens [v04.n198/12] Message: 12 I am interested in getting a carl zeiss jena 80mm f2.8 with the F-mount adaptor for Nikon cameras. Would appreciate your views and experience with this lens. Is it better than similar Nikkor MF lens? I intend to use it for outdoors protrait and landscape shots. KP <<< Hmm, that factory lost the right to use the name Carl Zeiss Jena many years ago. Before WWII, all Zeiss lenses were made in Jena. Sometime in the late 50s - early 60s, the East Germans lost the right to use the Zeiss name. So, if you have found a lens with that name, it probably dates from sometime before the mid 60s. Once upon a time, there was a Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm F2.8 lens for the Exacta and Pentacon cameras. That design dates from before WWII. It is very unlikely that any 35mm lens that was designed that long ago and was manufactured that long ago is competitive with a Nikon lens of any vintage. This is especially true of the East German lenses whose quality control left so much to be desired. Jim
