Tessar 115mm f/3.5 (Contarex bellows lens)

Carl Zeiss · Contarex · 1962 · Tessar: 4 elements in 3 groups

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Tessar 115mm f/3.5 Contarex · Contarex Tessar 115mm f3.5 · Contarex 115mm f3.5 · Contarex 115mm 3.5 · Carl Zeiss Tessar 3.5/115mm · Carl Zeiss Tessar 3,5/115mm · Zeiss Tessar 115mm f3.5 · Tessar 115mm f3.5 · Tessar 115mm 3.5 · Tessar 1:3.5 115mm · Tessar 1:3.5/115 · Tessar 3.5/115 · Tessar 115/3.5 · Tessar 115mm f3.5 bellows · テッサー 115mm F3.5 コンタレックス · Contarex Tessar 115mm · Tessar 1:3,5 f=115mm

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
First batch: black focusing and aperture rings, chrome front ring (1962)	Contarex (on the focusing bellows only)	1962	3447759, 3447871, 3447998, 3448087 (individual lenses seen at auction, not a published block)	500 in the first batch (Leitz Photographica Auction, lot description)
Later: chrome focusing and aperture rings	Contarex (on the focusing bellows only)	—	4192667, 4192681, 4192781 (individual lenses seen at auction)	—

Production of 1,550 lenses, 1962–1972, 4 elements in 3 groups, 21° angle of view and the B56 and S49 filter fittings are from Pacific Rim Camera's page, the only source for them. English Wikipedia's Contarex lens table repeats the 4/3 count and 1962 date, citing that page and the 1968 list.
Catalogue number: the March 1968 and October 1971 US price lists give 11.2417 both in the lens section and in the bellows section, where the lens appears 'in short barrel mount, including twin cable release, leather pouch'. The printed page of the October 1971 list reads 11.2417 in the bellows section too, with the twin cable release as 20.0287, so there is only one catalogue number. The 1971 list does carry different price codes for the two entries, (1) 79248-00 in the lens section and (1) 52248-00 in the bellows section, at the same $372.
The lens is absent from the May 1, 1961 US Contarex list, whose lens section has only the Biogon 21, Distagon 35, Planar 50, Tessar 50, and the Sonnar 85, 135 and 250. This fits Pacific Rim's 1962 start and Leitz's 1962 date for the first batch.
Minimum aperture f/22 is read from the aperture scale, which ends at 22, in Leitz's lot photographs. No price list gives it.
No source cited here gives a weight, dimensions, closest focus or designer for this lens. The 1968 list gives the bellows range with this lens as 'infinity to natural size (1:1)'.

How to tell them apart (expand)

The only lens on the 1968 US Contarex list described as 'manually preset', and listed 'for use with BELLOWS EXTENSION only'. Leitz's photographs show its own aperture ring and a preset control on the barrel, where the lenses listed as 'automatic preset' are stopped down by the body. Pacific Rim says it must be used with a bellows even though it has a focusing helicoid, because the back focus is too short
Sold with a twin cable release and a leather pouch (1968 and 1971 US lists). The release was also sold on its own as 'Double Cable Release f. Tessar 115mm', 20.0287, $30 in 1971
Not the Panflex Tessar 115mm f/3.5 of 1954, which was made for the Contax rangefinder's Panflex reflex housing; Pacific Rim gives two batches in Contax mount, 1308701–1309000 and 1876501–1876800, 300 lenses in all
Not the Pro-Tessar 115mm f/4, a Contaflex lens with 67 mm filters (camera-wiki)

First batch: black focusing and aperture rings, chrome front ring (1962):

Black barrel with black knurled focusing and aperture rings; the front ring and the bayonet ring are bright chrome
Serial numbers seen so far all begin 3447 or 3448

Later: chrome focusing and aperture rings:

Black barrel, but the knurled focusing and aperture rings are bright chrome as well as the front and bayonet rings
Engraved Carl Zeiss Nr 41926xx–41927xx on the examples seen

First batch: black focusing and aperture rings, chrome front ring (1962): Leitz Photographica Auction describes no. 3447998, dated 1962, as the "early all-black version with chrome front ring, from first batch of 500 lenses", and its photographs show black knurled rings against a chrome front ring and chrome bayonet. Pacific Rim Camera calls the same lens the first version "with black aperture and focusing rings". The two descriptions agree. Leitz's "all-black" means the barrel and rings, not the front ring. No. 3447871 sold at Leitz with its bellows and no. 3448087 came in a Contarex Professional outfit; Leitz's photographs show black rings on both. No. 3447759 was in an SE outfit within the Contarex collection Christie's sold in 1997, which does not describe its finish.
Later: chrome focusing and aperture rings: Pacific Rim Camera says the later version has chrome aperture and focusing rings, and Leitz's photographs of nos. 4192667 and 4192781 show exactly that. Leitz dates both of these lenses to 1962, the same year as the black-ring first batch, which sits oddly with a later version; no source gives the year of the change. No. 4192681 was in an SE outfit within the 1997 Christie's collection lot. Two later numbers are known: no. 4814183, in a Leitz SE outfit with a body dated about 1973, whose small group photograph appears to show bright rings on the lens though the description does not say, and no. 4814230, in the Christie's collection lot, undescribed.

Serial-range notes

3447759–3448087: The first-batch lenses seen at auction: 3447759 (Christie's), 3447871, 3447998 (dated 1962 by Leitz) and 3448087. All have black focusing and aperture rings where a photograph or description exists. Leitz puts the first batch at 500 lenses.
4192667–4192781: A second cluster, three lenses seen; the two photographed by Leitz have chrome rings. Leitz dates both of those to 1962, which sits oddly with a later version.
4814183, 4814230: Two later numbers, one in an SE outfit with a body of about 1973. Neither description gives the finish; Leitz's small outfit photograph of 4814183 appears to show bright rings.

Specifications

Formula: Tessar: 4 elements in 3 groups
Construction: 4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range: f/3.5–f/22
Filter: Bayonet 56 (1968 and 1971 US lists); Pacific Rim gives 'B56 and S49'
Years manufactured: 1962–1972
Country: West Germany
Original price: $289, US list price, March 1, 1968 (Zeiss Ikon-Voigtländer Contarex price list, cat. 11.2417); $372 on the October 1, 1971 list. Both are list prices as printed; the lists state no tax. No 1962 launch price is known. (today $2,610)

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History

The Tessar 115mm f/3.5 is the Contarex system’s bellows lens. It has a focusing helicoid of its own, but Pacific Rim Camera notes that it “must be used with a bellows” because its back focus is too short, so it is not used directly on a body. On the Zeiss Ikon focusing bellows it covers everything from infinity to life size. The US price lists say so plainly. In March 1968 it appears as “manually preset (for use with BELLOWS EXTENSION only)”, and the bellows section adds that it came “in short barrel mount, including twin cable release, leather pouch”. It is the only lens on that list called manually preset; most of the lenses around it are listed as “automatic preset”, stopped down by the body. Leitz’s photographs show the 115 with its own aperture ring, scaled to f/22, and a preset control on the barrel. The twin release came with it and was also sold separately for $30 in 1971. Pacific Rim gives 1,550 made between 1962 and 1972, four elements in three groups and a 21° angle of view. It is absent from the May 1961 US list and present on the 1968 and 1971 lists under catalogue number 11.2417.

It cost more than its simple optics suggest: $289 in 1968, more than the S-Planar ($269) or the 25mm Distagon ($276), and $372 by October 1971. Those are US list prices. Pacific Rim’s author writes that he does not understand why, as he does not think it was a really expensive lens to make. The 1971 list’s outfit case for the Contarex SE, 20.7890, holds “Bellows with 115mm Tessar” among the SE’s accessories, and the lens turns up in auction outfits built around the Professional and the SE.

There are two versions, and the difference is easy to see in photographs. The first batch, which Leitz Photographica Auction puts at 500 lenses and dates to 1962, has a black barrel with black knurled focusing and aperture rings and a bright chrome front ring and bayonet. Leitz calls it the “early all-black version with chrome front ring”. Pacific Rim calls it the version “with black aperture and focusing rings”. These are the same lens described two ways, not two different finishes. The examples seen are numbered from 3447759 to 3448087. On the later lens the two knurled rings are chrome as well, as on nos. 4192667 and 4192781. Leitz dates those lenses to 1962 too, and no source gives the year of the change. Nos. 4814183 and 4814230 are later still; one came in an SE outfit with a body of about 1973, and neither listing describes the finish, though Leitz’s outfit photograph of 4814183 appears to show bright rings. Both the 1968 and the 1971 lists print 11.2417 in the lens section and again in the bellows section, so there is one lens under one number.

Two other Zeiss 115s are often confused with it. The Panflex Tessar 115mm f/3.5 of 1954 was made for the Panflex reflex housing of the Contax rangefinder, and Pacific Rim gives only two batches in Contax mount, 300 lenses in all. Leitz sold a prototype of it, partly in black paint, for €3,120 including buyer’s premium, under the title “Carl Zeiss Tessar 3.5/115mm Prototype”, almost the same title it uses for the Contarex lens. The Pro-Tessar 115mm f/4 belongs to the leaf-shutter Contaflex (camera-wiki) and does not fit a Contarex. Both are excluded from this page’s listings.

When buying, check that the bellows, the twin cable release and the pouch are included. The lens cannot be used without the bellows, and Leitz usually offers the two together. Check that the preset aperture ring turns cleanly and that the helicoid is not seized. Leitz has sold black-ring examples on bellows for €660 and €780 (Leitz’s hammer prices, which include buyer’s premium), and two chrome-ring lenses failed to sell against estimates of €700–800. The 50mm Tessar, S-Planar and other system lenses, and the Contarex bodies themselves, have pages of their own. No source cited here gives the lens’s weight, dimensions, closest focus without the bellows, or designer.

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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.

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