Vintage Finds: A $10 Zeiss Lens

I picked up this beautiful old Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens for about $10 a few years ago. It was mounted on an old beat up Exakta camera in a bargain bin at an antique store. The camera's shutter was broken, but the lens was still in okay condition, perfect for adapting to a mirrorless camera. The lens has an Exakta mount, so to adapt it to my Sony E-mount camera, I used a Fotodiox Exakta to Sony E adapter.

Looking at the lens closer, I found that it had some slight mold growth in it. This is a common issue with older lenses, especially lenses that have been stored in humid conditions. It can sometimes be addressed by taking the lens apart and cleaning the optics, but for the style of photography I wanted to use it for, I chose not to clean it. All the mold is really doing is adding a slight amount of softness to the lens, kind of like a subtle softening filter. Because I planned to use this lens to shoot wide open shallow depth of field images and videos, I left the mold alone.

Right away I can see why people swear by Carl Zeiss. When shooting wide open, I'm getting some beautiful bokeh, and while stopped down the images have a nice amount of sharpness.

Older lenses like this tend to have less contrast than modern glass, but that's a good thing if you're going for a more filmic, retro look. They also can get you some nice lens flare. I was surprised by the quality of this lens and I'm glad I picked it up out of that bargain bin at the antique store. Sometimes old broken cameras can still have really nice lenses on them, something to think about next time you're out gear hunting.