Vintage Lens: Carl Zeiss Jena DDR 135mm f3.5

Here is another great german lens, my copy of this lens is m42 mount I believe it was also made on an exakta mount. This lens as all Zeiss lenses from this era are very well made all metal and glass. It is about 8cm long, weights around 350gr and it has an integrated hood (something that I really like).

It is based on a Sonnar Desing that is compose by 4 elements in 3 groups with 6 aperture blades. At f4 or so you get the ninja type of bokeh and by f8 it becomes a hexagon.

I really like the size and the build of this lens feels good in the Fujifilm GFX, is very sharp and very easy to focus. I did a comparison with another Carl Zeiss Lens the famous Hasselblad 120 F/4 Makro-Planar which is twice the size and double the weight and many times more expensive. I’m posting a photo of that comparison for you to make your own conclusions.

I pay around $150 aus (2021) for my copy and is in really good condition. This photos were taken with the Fujifilm GFX 100 on a tripod with 2 sec delay at ISO 100.