Biotar 58mm f/2
Carl Zeiss Jena · M42 + Exakta · 1936 · Biotar (double Gauss), 6 elements in 4 groups
our own findingAlso known as: Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f/2 · Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 · Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2 · Biotar 58mm f/2 · Biotar 58mm F2 T · Biotar T 58mm f2 · Biotar 58mm · Biotar 2/58 · Biotar 2/58mm · Biotar 2/58 M42 · Biotar 58/2 · Biotar T 2/58 · Biotar T 58/2 · Biotar 2 58mm · Biotar 1:2 f=58mm · Biotar 1:2 58mm · Biotar 2/5,8cm · Biotar 1:2 f=5,8cm · Biotar 5.8cm f/2 · CZJ Biotar 58mm · Jena B 58mm f/2 · Jena B 2/58 · Jena B 1:2/58mm · Jena B 1:2 f=58mm · Biotar B 58mm · カールツァイス イエナ ビオター 58mm F2 · ビオター 58mm F2 · ビオター 2/58
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prewar, Exakta (1936–1945, brass, 5,8cm) | Exakta | 1936–1945 | — | About 4,000 made before 1945 (Kröger) |
| Postwar Exakta, manual iris (1946–1952, 17 blades) | Exakta | 1946–1952 | — | — |
| Exakta, preset and spring diaphragm (1950s–1961, 49 mm filter) | Exakta | 1950–1961 | — | — |
| M42, manual iris (Contax S standard lens, 1949–1952) | M42 | 1949–1952 | — | — |
| M42, preset (early 1950s; 12 blades to f/22 or 10 to f/16) | M42 | 1950 | — | — |
| M42, semi-automatic spring diaphragm (Contax F era, to 1961) | M42 | 1955–1961 | — | — |
| Export engraving 'B' / 'Jena B' (Pentacon era) | M42 | — | — | — |
| Praktina bayonet (preset and spring diaphragm, from 1953) | Praktina bayonet | 1953 | — | — |
- Calculation date, construction, back focus (38.1 mm), the 37–38 mm mirror clearance that forced 58 mm, distortion, Zöllner's failed revisions, the production figures and the Helios-44 comparison are from Marco Kröger's Biotar page at zeissikonveb.de, which draws on the papers of the Zeiss photographic calculation office that Günther Benedix rescued in 1992, and on Thiele's Fabrikationsbuch. No other source gives production counts. No source consulted splits the 328,000 postwar lenses by mount.
- The version sequence and the typical weights, filters and closest distances are JAPB's (Pekka Buttler's data sheet, November 2022, updated November 2024): prewar 1936–45; manual 1946–52; preset 1950–54; semi-automatic 1953–61. Kamerastore's specification sheet gives 0.9 m and blade counts of 8, 10, 12 or 17.
- Closest focus of the 17-blade lens: the Contax S manual (2 ft 8½ in from the front rim, 1:13.6) and JAPB (0.9 m) agree. m42lens.com's entry for a red-T 17-blade M42 lens dated 1951 gives 0.5 m, a 49 mm filter and f/16, the figures of the later versions.
- Dates of the preset lens disagree: JAPB 1950–54, Richard Haw the early 1950s to 1959, m42lens.com a 10-blade preset dated 1956, and the DDR price list a preset Biotar still on sale from July 1956. No source dates the change from 12 blades to f/22 to 10 blades to f/16.
- The semi-automatic lens is dated 1953–61 by JAPB and 1953 to about 1960 by Haw, which fits the Praktina (February 1953 on Kröger's Tessar page) but not M42: Kröger dates the lever-less M42 spring diaphragm to October 1955 for the Praktica FX2. The 1955 start given here for the M42 version is this page's inference from that date.
- End of production: Kröger counts 25 years from 1936 and sales to 1961, and JAPB ends in 1961; Haw says about 1960, Casual Photophile gives 1936–1960, and m42lens.com, Kamerastore and the Wolfen museum give 1946–1960.
- JAPB lists the Praktiflex among the mounts of the 1946–52 manual lens, and Casual Photophile says a postwar lens was made in the Praktiflex's M40 mount, looking almost identical to the prewar one. No Praktiflex-mount Biotar 58 was found, so there is no variant for it. Kröger writes that the M42 standard should really be called the Praktiflex thread, and that a Tessar of March 1948 was probably the 77th lens made with it.
- Casual Photophile's Biotar 58 review (February 2019) divides the 1950–54 preset into an earlier 'split-ring' lens, with black stripes on the aperture ring visible from the front, and a later one without. A Yahoo! Auctions title of August 2026 describes a red-T 12-blade M42 lens as 絞管縦線入 中期型 (aperture barrel with vertical lines, middle type) of the 1950s. Neither ties the two forms to years or serial numbers, so they are not separate versions here.
- Dimensions are measured differently: JAPB measures length from the mount flange, the Wolfen museum and m42lens.com give overall length and diameter.
- ⁰ The only original prices found are East German: lens alone, and outfit prices with bodies, from Kröger's price list compiled from invoices and the official Sortimentskatalog. The US figures are for complete cameras: Contax S with coated Biotar $475 (Popular Photography, March 1950); Pentacon (Contax D) with Biotar $359.50 (Popular Photography, May 1953, cited by camera-wiki). No US or launch price for the lens alone was found.
- ¹ Optics: Kröger, from the Zeiss calculation records, says the 1936 calculation was built optically unchanged to the end, and Richard Haw also says the formula stayed the same. Casual Photophile says the prewar lens formula differs from all the postwar lenses. Distortion: the 1936 data sheet shows it slightly pincushion (Kröger), while Haw saw a very slight barrel distortion on his preset lens.
How to tell them apart
- Front ring engraved Biotar 1:2 f=5,8cm until about 1950 (Kröger), afterwards Biotar 1:2 f=58mm (the Pehlemann Contax S photograph below) or Biotar 2/58 (nos. 4415674 and 5955092 below), with Carl Zeiss Jena and the serial number; export lenses read B or Jena B instead
- Three mounts look alike from the front: the Exakta bayonet, the 42 mm screw thread and the Praktina bayonet. Only the M42 lens fits a Contax S, D, E, F, FB, FM or FBM, a Pentacon or a Praktica
- 40.5 mm filter on the prewar and early postwar manual lenses; 49 mm on preset and spring-diaphragm lenses (JAPB)
- Blade count separates the generations: 8 prewar (JAPB), 17 on the early postwar manual lens, 12 or 10 on the presets, 10 on the semi-automatic
- Red T for the Zeiss coating on many postwar lenses; the late no. 5955092 on Commons has none
Prewar, Exakta (1936–1945, brass, 5,8cm):
- Exakta bayonet; engraved Biotar 1:2 f=5,8cm in a brass mount, about 380 g (JAPB), 40.5 mm filter, closest focus 0.9 m
- JAPB gives an 8-blade manual iris. The 1938 brass lens Kröger photographed has the curved 'Kugelblende' iris that moves along the optical axis as it closes, made to Reichspatent 591,304 of 17 March 1933
- Uncoated at first; JAPB dates coating from 1939, and Kröger shows a pre-1945 lens that was coated afterwards
Postwar Exakta, manual iris (1946–1952, 17 blades):
- Exakta bayonet, T for the coating, 17-blade manual iris to f/22 with no click stops, 40.5 mm filter, 0.9 m
- JAPB measured a lens of about 1949, engraved Biotar 1:2 f=5,8cm T: 33.5 mm long from the flange, 49.9 mm across, 143 g, 190° focus throw, 1:13.4 at closest focus
- Aluminium barrel (about 140 g) or chrome-plated brass (about 210 g), both from JAPB; Kröger shows a black-lacquered aluminium lens of 1950 on a Kiné-Exakta II
- Engraved 5,8cm until about 1950, 58mm afterwards (Kröger)
Exakta, preset and spring diaphragm (1950s–1961, 49 mm filter):
- Exakta bayonet, 49 mm filter, 0.5 m closest focus, 10 or 12 blades (JAPB)
- Either a preset ring or the semi-automatic spring diaphragm. Kröger, writing of Jena's spring-diaphragm lenses in general, says the Exakta and Praktina versions had a cocking lever (Spannhebel), and that the iris snapped to the preset value when the release was pressed
- JAPB says some lenses for Western markets carry only the letter B in place of the Biotar name; an eBay listing title for an Exakta lens reads 'CARL ZEISS JENA Biotar B 58mm f/2 Standard-Objektiv für Exakta-Bajonett'
M42, manual iris (Contax S standard lens, 1949–1952):
- 42 mm screw thread; 17-blade manual iris, 40.5 mm filter. The Contax S manual gives a closest distance of 2 ft 8½ in from the front rim of the lens, 1:13.6, and Zeiss Ikon distance rings 208/04 and 208/03 down to 1:2.5
- The first Contax S outfits came with a black-anodised barrel engraved Biotar 2/5,8 T (camera-wiki); Flashback Camera weighed two black aluminium M42 lenses at 144 g and 148 g, and notes that many have a silver ('white') barrel
- Engraved 5,8cm or 58mm, depending on whether it was made before or after the change during 1950
M42, preset (early 1950s; 12 blades to f/22 or 10 to f/16):
- Preset (Vorwahl) ring, 49 mm filter, 0.5 m closest focus, about 200 g (JAPB)
- Two forms: red T with 12 blades (Richard Haw's lens) and a scale to f/22 (m42lens.com, dated 1952); or 10 blades, f/2–16, 202 g, 60 × 55 mm (m42lens.com, dated 1956). The order rests only on m42lens.com's dates
- Richard Haw notes an aperture limiter that restricts the ring's travel, a feature he has seen only on postwar Zeiss lenses
- Contax D no. 65967 is still with Biotar no. 3643854, a red-T 12-blade lens by its seller's description, the two numbers listed together on a 1950s customs identity paper from the Elten border post
M42, semi-automatic spring diaphragm (Contax F era, to 1961):
- 10 blades, aperture scale only to f/16 (Richard Haw; m42lens.com dates a 10-blade semi-automatic to 1960)
- The front ring is the spring-diaphragm setting ring. The Pentacon F manual: push it towards the camera, turn it to the working aperture and let it spring back until it clicks. Turning the ring towards f/2 opens and cocks the iris, which the camera closes on release (Haw); a spring-loaded pin at the rear trips it
- Richard Haw notes a shorter focus throw and slightly longer closest distance than the preset lens
Export engraving 'B' / 'Jena B' (Pentacon era):
- The name ring reads B or Jena B where the domestic lens reads Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar; optics and barrel are the Biotar's
- The Pentacon F manuals name the standard lens '58 mm Jena B, f/2' (English) and 'Objektiv Jena B 1:2/58 mm' (German); Kröger reads the order number 133/854 of Pentacon F no. 105291, sold on 16 October 1957, as calling for a C.Z.Jena B 1:2 f = 58
Praktina bayonet (preset and spring diaphragm, from 1953):
- Praktina plug-in bayonet. Kröger, writing of Jena's spring-diaphragm lenses, says the Praktina versions were cocked with a lever like the Exakta ones but released from inside the camera body
- JAPB measured a semi-automatic lens of about 1955: 38.6 mm long from the flange, 59.9 mm across, 213 g, 49 mm filter, 10 blades, 0.5 m, 1:6.5, with locking click stops that need the ring pulled back towards the camera to change aperture
- Wolfen museum no. 4588894: Spannspringblende (cocked spring diaphragm), f/2–16, 6/4, E49, 0.5 m, 60 × 58 mm, engraved GERMANY
- Prewar, Exakta (1936–1945, brass, 5,8cm): The original lens for Ihagee's Kiné-Exakta of 1936; JAPB lists no other prewar mount. Kröger counts about 4,000 to 1945. The curved iris was meant to stop light reflected from a stopped-down diaphragm being imaged on the film; Kröger says the complication was dropped after 1945, once all lenses were coated.
- Postwar Exakta, manual iris (1946–1952, 17 blades): The first postwar lens, very small for an f/2 reflex standard: JAPB pictures it next to a Jupiter-8 rangefinder lens and a box of matches. Kröger calls the black 1950 lens on the Kiné-Exakta II one of the last series engraved in centimetres.
- Exakta, preset and spring diaphragm (1950s–1961, 49 mm filter): The Exakta remained the Biotar's main market to the end. Kröger says the lens was much in demand in the United States as the Exakta's standard lens, and that the over 50,000 spring-diaphragm Biotars built in 1958 and 1959 came in the last good years for the Exakta. A VEB Carl Zeiss JENA note in the 1959 Fototaschenbuch says the spring-diaphragm Biotar for the Exakta Varex had 85 parts. The DDR price list gives the preset lens, for Exakta, Praktina or M42, at 322 Mark to June 1956 and 221 Mark from July 1956. Kröger's Tessar page dates Jena's first spring diaphragms to February 1953 for the Praktina and 'a little later' for the Exakta; no source consulted dates the Exakta Biotar's changeover.
- M42, manual iris (Contax S standard lens, 1949–1952): The lens the Contax S was sold with from 1949. Zeiss Ikon Dresden had planned the camera around its own Sonnar 2/57; the bodies shown at the Leipzig spring fair of March 1949 already carried Biotars (Kröger). A report by a representative of Steelmasters, the New York importer, presented in Dresden on 23 January 1950 after the first 25 cameras had arrived, said customers were rejecting the black-lacquered lenses (Kröger). In the United States the Contax S with the coated Biotar was advertised at $475 in Popular Photography in March 1950, and still at $475 in the December 1950 advertisement for the self-timer 'Model 1951'. That March 1950 advertisement, placed by Ercona and reproduced by Kröger, pictures the camera with a bright-barrelled Biotar 1:2 f=5,8cm, not a black one. The Wolfen museum's Contax S of the D-2 type, no. 18234, built in 1951, has Biotar 2/58 T no. 3531528; the museum does not record its diaphragm type.
- M42, preset (early 1950s; 12 blades to f/22 or 10 to f/16): The preset lens of the Contax D years. Richard Haw, who tested a 12-blade red-T example, dates this version from the early 1950s to 1959; JAPB dates the preset version 1950–1954, and m42lens.com files a 10-blade preset under 1956. The DDR price list still gives a price for the preset Biotar from July 1956. Kröger dates the preset diaphragm of the Tessar 2.8/50 to August 1951.
- M42, semi-automatic spring diaphragm (Contax F era, to 1961): Kröger says the lever-less spring diaphragm, in which the aperture ring itself is turned to the stop to cock the iris, was developed at VEB Zeiss Ikon (DDR patent 10752 of 3 May 1952). Jena made it from October 1955 for the coming Praktica FX2, and the Contax F shown at the autumn 1956 fair had a transfer in the mirror box that tripped it. Kröger shows a photograph taken this way with the Biotar at f/2.8 and 1/1000 s and calls it a very pleasant step forward in practice. The DDR price list gives 288 Mark for the spring-diaphragm Biotar to May 1960 and 173 Mark from June 1960. On export Pentacon bodies it is the 'Jena B' (see that version).
- Export engraving 'B' / 'Jena B' (Pentacon era): Kröger writes that the Biotar was 'degraded' to Jena B by means of additional screw-in front rings, at the time Jena had to disguise its prewar trademarks to keep selling in the West during the lawsuits with the Zeiss works in the West; zeiss.com dates Oberkochen's suit against Jena to February 1954. Pentaconsix.com shows an export Contax FM labelled Pentacon whose lens is 'merely labelled Jena'. JAPB says some lenses sold in the West carry only the letter B, and an eBay title for an Exakta lens, 'Biotar B 58mm f/2 ... für Exakta-Bajonett', suggests the B name was used on Exakta lenses too. No source consulted dates the first or last B lens.
- Praktina bayonet (preset and spring diaphragm, from 1953): Praktina lenses are listed alongside the Exakta and M42 lenses in the DDR price list for the preset Biotar. Kröger dates Jena's first spring diaphragm, on the Tessar, to February 1953 for the Praktina FX. The same price list offers the Praktina FX with the Biotar 2/58, but the Praktina IIA of 1959–60 with the Tessar 2.8/50 or the Flexon 2/50, which Kröger says was built at first mainly as the IIA's standard lens.
Serial-range notes
- the whole number
- A Jena lens number belongs to one running sequence shared by every type, so a Biotar is dated against the factory's lot records, not counted within its own type. Those records are Hartmut Thiele's Fabrikationsbuch Photooptik, whose dates, Kröger points out, mark the mounting of the first lens of each lot, the start of final assembly; a 1950s lot took about nine months from glass to finished lens. The numbers below are single documented lenses, not range limits.
- 3000000–6000000
- The coarse postwar Jena bands camera-wiki prints from Wilkinson and Glanfield's Lens Collector's Vade Mecum: 3,000,000–3,200,000 for 1945–49; 3,200,000–3,470,000 for 1949–52; 3,470,000–4,000,000 for 1952–55; 4,000,000–5,000,000 for 1955–58; 5,000,000–6,000,000 for 1958–61. They are approximate: the Wolfen museum's Contax S, built in 1951, carries Biotar 3531528, a number the table puts in 1952–55, so either the band edges are loose or that lens was fitted later.
- 3277933
- Chrome-plated brass, 17 blades, focuses to three feet: an owner's comment under the mflenses.com review. The mount is not stated clearly.
- 3531528
- Biotar 2/58 T on the Wolfen museum's Contax S of the D-2 type, body 18234, built in 1951. The record does not give the diaphragm type.
- 3541850
- Biotar 2/58 T on the Wolfen museum's Contax D, body 79325. Close in number to 3531528; diaphragm type not recorded.
- 3643854
- Red T, 12 blades by the seller's description, M42, with Contax D 65967; both numbers are on a 1950s customs identity paper from the Elten border post (marktplaats.nl, 2026).
- 4415674
- Biotar 2/58 T in a silver aluminium barrel, aperture scale 2–16 with intermediate dots: Alf Sigaro's photograph on Wikimedia Commons. Mount not visible.
- 4588894
- Praktina mount, Spannspringblende, f/2–16, E49, 0.5 m, engraved GERMANY (Wolfen museum).
- 5955092
- Biotar 2/58 with no T, in the late scalloped aluminium barrel, aperture scale to f/16: Denis Barthel's photographs on Wikimedia Commons. Mount not visible.
Specifications
- Formula
- Biotar (double Gauss), 6 elements in 4 groups
- Designed by
- Willy Merté — optical calculation, completed 19 October 1936
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2
- Filter
- 40.5 mm (Prewar, Exakta (1936–1945, brass, 5,8cm), Postwar Exakta, manual iris (1946–1952, 17 blades), M42, manual iris (Contax S standard lens, 1949–1952)) · 49 mm (Exakta, preset and spring diaphragm (1950s–1961, 49 mm filter), M42, preset (early 1950s; 12 blades to f/22 or 10 to f/16), M42, semi-automatic spring diaphragm (Contax F era, to 1961), Export engraving 'B' / 'Jena B' (Pentacon era), Praktina bayonet (preset and spring diaphragm, from 1953))
- Years manufactured
- 1936–1961
- Country
- Germany (Jena; East Germany from 1949)
- Coating
- Uncoated at first; single-layer Zeiss T coating from 1939 (JAPB), and as a rule after the war, when Kröger says lens surfaces were generally coated. Kröger shows a prewar lens coated afterwards
- Original price
- East German list, lens alone: 322 Mark with preset diaphragm (Exakta, Praktina or M42) to June 1956, 221 Mark from July 1956; 288 Mark with the semi-automatic spring diaphragm to May 1960, 173 Mark from June 1960. With a camera: Contax S with Biotar 3,000 Mark in 1950, Contax D with Biotar 922 Mark from October 1953, Contax F with Biotar 750 Mark in 1957. No lens-alone price in dollars or for the 1930s was found.
What reviewers say
- Richard Haw (preset M42 version) (blog) — A 12-blade red-T preset lens, mostly on a Nikon Z6: heavy vignetting wide open, mostly gone by f/2.8; strong flare and ghosts wide open on his copy, whose coatings he thought had been cleaned off, so he would stop to f/4 against the light; sharp with excellent contrast at f/2, near its peak by f/2.8 and best in the centre at f/4; swirly but smooth bokeh, and noticeably weaker towards infinity than at close and middle distances. He recommends it, at $120 to $300, and points to the Helios 44-2 as the cheap alternative.
- Richard Haw (semi-automatic version) (blog) — The 10-blade semi-automatic lens, on a Nikon Z6 and on film: excellent sharpness even at f/2, low vignetting, flare better controlled than on his preset copy, and at least a stop better than his preset copy, though both are weaker at long distances; contrast a little too high for his taste. In his verdict he rates it just as good as the preset and says to buy it only if you want the semi-automatic iris; typically $120 to $200 or more, and the iris must snap shut cleanly when the pin is pressed.
Optical formula — Biotar (double Gauss), 6 elements in 4 groups
ⓘ What these charts mean
MTF (modulation transfer function) shows how much contrast the lens keeps at a given fineness of detail, from the center of the frame to the corner — the coarse curves track punch, the fine ones resolving power, and a gap between solid and dashed lines means astigmatism. Relative illumination (falloff) shows how much darker the corners are than the center at each aperture. Manufacturers only began publishing these for modern lenses; no 1950s maker issued them, which is why older families here cite period magazine bench tests instead.
History
The Biotar 58mm f/2 is Willy Merté’s double-Gauss standard lens for the 35mm reflex, calculated at Carl Zeiss in Jena for Ihagee’s new Kiné-Exakta and completed on 19 October 1936. It has six elements in four groups and the glass set of nearly all the f/2 Biotars, with the heavy crown SK16 and the barium flint BaF10 among the best glasses of the day. Marco Kröger, who works from the papers of the Zeiss photographic calculation office, explains the unusual focal length. The mirror needed 37 to 38 mm of clearance, and the Biotar’s back focus of 38.1 mm was only about 65 percent of its focal length. A 50 mm lens would have needed more than 70 percent, which 1930s glass could not deliver. By the design data, distortion is under 0.5 percent in the extreme corner, and slightly pincushion rather than the barrel distortion of many later Gauss lenses; Richard Haw, testing a preset lens, saw a very slight barrel distortion. Jena built the design optically unchanged for about 25 years. Harry Zöllner tried to improve it after the war: his 1949 attempts with changed radii, thicknesses and spacings, and then with other glass types, all failed, and a 1951 version with the new lanthanum crowns gave disappointing results at first. A VEB Carl Zeiss JENA note printed in the 1959 Fototaschenbuch says the calculation had taken 480 runs, filling 3,200 pages, by two human computers over three years.
Kröger counts about 4,000 made before 1945, for which JAPB lists only the Exakta mount, and at least 328,000 sold between 1945 and 1961. More than 50,000 of those, with the spring diaphragm, were built in 1958 and 1959 alone. After the war it was the top standard lens for the Exakta, the Praktica and the Dresden Contax S line. The Soviet Helios-44 is the same design with fewer glass types: one heavy crown, TK14, in place of SK16 and SK14, and LF7 in place of LF3 and LF5. It also has a slightly flatter first surface and two longer air spaces, and Kröger knows of a Helios-44-M numbered in 2001. Jena’s own successor was a Biotar 2/50 calculated on 5 October 1954, which went on sale as the Flexon and then as the Pancolar.
On the Contax S the Biotar was a late choice. Zeiss Ikon Dresden had a Sonnar 2/57 calculated for the camera in 1948 and made a small number at its own optical works in Dresden-Reick, arguing that the Contax name had always gone with Sonnars. Zöllner’s 1949 paper showing the Biotar type to be far better for reflex cameras ended the Sonnar, and the bodies at the Leipzig fair of March 1949 already carried Biotars. The first lenses supplied with the camera had black barrels, although Ercona’s US advertisement of March 1950 pictures a bright one. A report from the New York importer Steelmasters, presented in Dresden on 23 January 1950 after the first 25 cameras had arrived, said that customers were rejecting the black lenses. In the United States the Contax S with the coated Biotar was advertised at $475 in March 1950. Kröger notes that the lens’s very high price, raised further by customs surcharges, even hurt US exports of the East German cameras. From the Contax F of autumn 1956 the camera tripped the lens’s spring diaphragm itself. On cameras for some export markets the lens lost its name. The Pentacon F manuals call it the Jena B, and Kröger writes that the Biotar was “degraded” to Jena B with additional screw-in front rings because of the trademark battle with the Zeiss works in the West.
The versions differ in mount and diaphragm, not in the optics (Casual Photophile alone says the prewar formula differs). Prewar lenses are known only in Exakta mount, in brass, engraved 5,8cm, with a 40.5 mm filter and 0.9 m close focus. Kröger shows one of 1938 with a curved iris that moves along the axis as it closes, a patented way of keeping reflections of the diaphragm off the film that was dropped once every lens was coated. The early postwar lens came in Exakta and M42 mount. It keeps the 40.5 mm filter and 0.9 m close focus but has a 17-blade manual iris to f/22, in a light aluminium or heavier chrome-brass barrel. The engraving changed from 5,8cm to 58mm during 1950. Preset lenses followed in the early 1950s with a 49 mm filter and 0.5 m close focus, either with 12 blades to f/22 and a red T or with 10 blades to f/16; m42lens.com dates its 12-blade lens to 1952 and its 10-blade one to 1956. The last version has the semi-automatic spring diaphragm, with 10 blades and a scale to f/16. On the M42 lens the front ring is pushed towards the camera and turned to set the aperture, then turned towards f/2 to open and cock the iris, which the camera closes on release. Praktina lenses use that camera’s plug-in bayonet and are tripped from inside the body. Exakta and Praktina lenses can look much like M42 lenses from the front, so check the rear before buying for a Contax or a Praktica.
The black and the 17-blade manual M42 lenses go with the Contax S years, and the 12-blade red-T preset with the Contax D years: Contax D 65967 is still with Biotar 3643854, the two numbers listed together on a 1950s customs paper. Richard Haw’s tests of the M42 lenses on a Nikon Z6 found the preset version vignetting and flaring heavily wide open but sharp with high contrast. He found the semi-automatic version at least a stop better, though in his verdict he calls the two equally good. Both were weaker at long distances than close up. On a semi-automatic lens, check that the iris snaps shut when the rear pin is pressed and that the blades are dry. On a digital camera, Haw recommends an adapter with a wall behind the mount that holds the pin in, so the lens works like a plain manual one. He also warns that the rear of the preset lens can foul the ridge inside some M42 adapters and stop it reaching infinity. A lens engraved only B or Jena B is the same Biotar made for export.
Left open by the sources consulted here: how the 328,000 postwar lenses divide between Exakta, M42 and Praktina; the lot numbers and dates in Thiele’s factory book for each mount; when the preset changed from 12 blades to 10; when the M42 lens changed to the spring diaphragm; when the B engraving began and ended; and whether any Biotar 58 was made for the Praktiflex, which JAPB lists among the early postwar mounts and Casual Photophile describes in M40 thread.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
More sample photos elsewhere
These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Biotar 58mm f/2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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- 希少＊Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm F2 T ブラック エキザクタマウント ビオター 5.8cm
- Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm F2 358番台 赤Tコーティング AE/AF化改造 EFマウント
- [C品] Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm F2 T ブラック＊エキザクタマウント＊ビオター 5.8cm＊11333
- ★Cランク★Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm F2＊プラクチナマウント★11309
- Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar Red T 5.8cm 58mm f/2 Praktina mount レンズ
Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.
Listings updated 2026-10-30. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.