Distagon 60mm f/3.5 (6000)
Carl Zeiss · Rollei 6000 · 1988 · Distagon (retrofocus), 7 elements in 7 groups
Also known as: Rollei Distagon 60mm f/3.5 HFT · Rollei HFT Distagon 60mm F3.5 · Zeiss Distagon 3.5/60 HFT Rollei · Carl Zeiss Distagon 60mm f/3.5 PQ Rollei · Rolleiflex 6008 Distagon 60mm 3.5 · Rolleiflex 6000 Distagon 60mm f/3.5 · Distagon 1:3.5 f=60mm HFT · ローライ ディスタゴン 60mm F3.5 HFT · ローライフレックス 6008 ディスタゴン 60mm F3.5 · ローライ HFT ディスタゴン 60mm PQ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distagon 3.5/60 HFT, unmarked SLX-generation version · Linear-motor leaf shutter, 30 s–1/500 s; shutter-priority AE and manual only | Rollei 6000 | — | — | — |
| Distagon 3.5/60 HFT PQ, order no. 86 725 | Rollei 6000 | 1988 | — | — |
- Construction, closest focus, size and weight (7 elements in 7 groups, 0.6 m, 81 × 83 mm, 770 g, f/3.5–22, 67°/49°) are from Rollei's May 2003 lens brochure; the Wikipedia list (SLX and PQ rows) and Rolleigraphy agree, and Japanese Wikipedia gives 7群7枚, 0.6 m, シリーズVI for the PQ lens. The Hasselblad Distagon C/CF 3.5/60 is the same Zeiss design of 1975, 7 elements in 7 groups, in a Compur or Prontor shutter.
- Date: the family year is the PQ line's introduction in 1988. An unmarked version exists (Rolleigraphy 'O', Wikipedia 'SLX'), so the lens is older than that, but it is not in the 1984 'Lenses for 6006/SLX' list Wikipedia reproduces (40, 50, 55 PCS, 80, 120, 150, 250, 350 and the zooms). No end date found; the lens is in the 2003 brochure.
- Price: Greenspun's July 1995 B&H figures ($3,650 Rollei, $2,200 Hasselblad) are quoted to show the premium on Rollei-mount Zeiss lenses; the premium on the 40 was $2,000 and on the 250 $1,000.
- Relationship to the Schneider Curtagon 3.5/60 HFT PQ: Rolleigraphy and Japanese Wikipedia list a Curtagon with the same published figures (7 elements, 67°, 0.6 m, Bay VI). No source says whether it replaced the Distagon or shared its glass.
- Blades: not given by any source.
How to tell them apart
- Distagon 1:3.5 f=60mm HFT, 'Made in Germany by Rollei' without the Carl Zeiss name, on the Rollei ten-contact bayonet with an aperture ring ending in 'A' (Rolleigraphy on the licence-built lenses)
- Bay VI filter bayonet, as on the 50 and 80; 81 mm across and 83 mm long, between the Distagon 50 (96 mm long) and the Planar 80 (63 mm) in size (Rollei brochure)
- Not the Hasselblad Distagon C/CF 60, which carries Carl Zeiss, T* and a mechanical shutter with a bayonet-60 filter; not the SL66 Distagon 60, which has no shutter; and not the Schneider Curtagon 60 for the same mount, which carries Schneider-Kreuznach on the ring
Distagon 3.5/60 HFT, unmarked SLX-generation version:
- No type word by the aperture scale; Distagon 1:3.5 f=60mm with a red HFT and the Rollei ten-contact bayonet
Distagon 3.5/60 HFT PQ, order no. 86 725:
- 'PQ lens' by the aperture scale; catalogue number 86 725 (Rollei brochure 2003; Rolleigraphy)
- Takes the size VI hood sold for the 50 and 60 mm lenses (cat. 96 741) rather than the 80–250 hood (Rollei brochure)
- Distagon 3.5/60 HFT, unmarked SLX-generation version: Rolleigraphy lists the 60 in 'O' (original, unmarked) and PQ forms and the Wikipedia list in SLX and PQ forms; neither dates the unmarked lens, and it is absent from the 1984 SLX lens list that Wikipedia reproduces, so it arrived between 1984 and the PQ lenses of 1988. Shutter- priority and manual exposure only on every body.
- Distagon 3.5/60 HFT PQ, order no. 86 725: The version in Rollei's 2003 brochure, sold as 'a genuine alternative to the 80mm standard focal length' with a short closest focus and depth of field suited to action work. All exposure modes on the 6008 and later; manual focus on the Hy6. No PQS, EL or AF version was made.
Specifications
- Formula
- Distagon (retrofocus), 7 elements in 7 groups
- Construction
- 7 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5–f/22
- Shutter
- Electronically timed leaf shutter in the lens, linear-motor driven: 30 s–1/500 s
- Min. focus
- 0.6 m
- Dimensions
- 81 × 83 mm
- Weight
- 770 g
- Filter
- Rollei Bay VI
- Years manufactured
- 1988
- Country
- Germany
- Coating
- Rollei HFT multicoating
- Original price
- US$3,650 at B&H Photo in July 1995 for the Rollei-mount lens, against $2,200 for the same Zeiss design in Hasselblad mount (Greenspun) — a dealer's price, not a list price (today $7,510)
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The Distagon 3.5/60 for the Rollei 6000 system is the Zeiss moderate wide-angle of the Hasselblad range, seven elements in seven groups with 67° across the diagonal, built with Rollei’s HFT coating and the linear-motor leaf shutter and diaphragm of every 6000 lens. Rollei’s 2003 brochure presents it as “a genuine alternative to the 80mm standard focal length”, wide enough to take in a room or a street without the drawing of a true wide-angle, and notes the 0.6 m closest focus and the depth of field that make it quick to use. At 770 g and 83 mm long it is a middling lens for the system, with the same Bay VI filter mount as the 50 and the 80.
Two versions exist, differing only in electronics: an unmarked lens of the SLX generation, limited to shutter-priority and manual exposure, and the PQ lens (catalogue 86 725) that adds aperture-priority and program with the 6008 and later. The unmarked lens is not in the 1984 SLX lens list, so it must have arrived between then and the PQ lenses of 1988; neither version was ever made as a PQS, EL or autofocus lens. The PQ lens was still in Rollei’s brochure in 2003. Schneider offered a Curtagon 3.5/60 HFT PQ for the same mount with identical published figures, whose relation to the Zeiss lens no source explains.
Greenspun’s complaint about the system was the price of its Zeiss glass: in July 1995 B&H listed this lens at $3,650 in Rollei mount and $2,200 in Hasselblad mount, the same optics with an electronic shutter costing two-thirds more. No review of the Rollei-mount lens has been found; Muth’s general verdict is that the Zeiss lenses of the 6000 line are those of the Hasselblad 500 series with a different shutter, which puts the Hasselblad Distagon 60’s record on this lens’s optics. The Rollei lens is the rarer of the two and, on the used market, usually the cheaper.
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
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Distagon 60mm f/3.5 (6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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