S-Planar 120mm f/5.6 (6000)
Carl Zeiss · Rollei 6000 · 1976
Also known as: Rollei S-Planar 120mm f/5.6 HFT · Rollei S-Planar 5.6/120 · Rolleiflex SLX S-Planar 120mm · Rollei 120mm f5.6 S-Planar HFT · Zeiss S-Planar 120mm F5.6 Rollei 6006 · S-Planar HFT 1:5.6 f=120mm Rollei · ローライ Sプラナー 120mm F5.6 HFT · ローライフレックス SLX Sプラナー 120mm · ローライ 120mm F5.6 マクロ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-Planar 120 mm f/5.6 HFT, original SLX lens (cat. no. 201-305 in the United States) | Rollei 6000 | 1976 | — | Not published by any source consulted |
- Every number in the table comes from the 1984 Berkey Marketing lens sheet for the 6006/SLX: f/5.6–45, 36° diagonal, closest focus 3.12 ft / 0.95 m, 6 elements in 4 groups, 3.94 in / 100 mm long, 3.21 in / 81.5 mm across, 29.3 oz / 830 g, Bayonet VI. Wikipedia's list and Japanese Wikipedia (citing the 1982 camera yearbook: 4群6枚, 0.95 m, Series VI) agree; rolleigraphy.eu gives the same construction and angles and adds 26° horizontal.
- Date. 1976 is the SLX's launch year and the lens is in camera-wiki's list of the seven lenses sold with it. No end date is published: the lens is still on the 1984 sheet and gone from the January 1993 brochure, where the 120 mm is the Makro-Planar f/4 PQ.
- Blades and price. Not given by any source consulted. The diaphragm is driven by a linear motor in 1/3-stop steps (the 1984 sheet: '1/3 click stops in manual operation').
- Relatives. The same six-element S-Planar served the Hasselblad C line from 1964 (640 g with its Synchro-Compur) and the SL66 from 1966 (435 g, no shutter); the Rollei 6000 lens at 830 g carries the electronic shutter, its two linear motors and the lens electronics.
How to tell them apart
- The only f/5.6 lens of 120 mm in the system and the only 120 without a generation marking; a Rollei 120 marked PQ or PQS is the f/4 Makro-Planar (rolleigraphy.eu)
- Leaf shutter and ten contacts in the bayonet, S-Planar HFT engraving without the Carl Zeiss name; the Hasselblad S-Planar 5.6/120 reads Carl Zeiss and has a Synchro-Compur with its own speed ring, and the SL66 lens has no shutter at all
- Fits the SLX, 6006 and 6002 with all their functions, the 6008, 6003 and 6001 in shutter-priority and manual exposure only, and not the Hy6 (Wikipedia compatibility table)
S-Planar 120 mm f/5.6 HFT, original SLX lens (cat. no. 201-305 in the United States):
- No PQ, EL or PQS marking anywhere on the barrel: the original SLX lenses carry none (rolleigraphy.eu)
- Engraved S-Planar HFT 5.6/120 without the Carl Zeiss name; red HFT (rolleigraphy.eu; Wikipedia)
- Aperture ring 5.6 to 45, Bayonet VI filter mount, 81.5 mm across and 100 mm long, 830 g (1984 Berkey sheet)
- S-Planar 120 mm f/5.6 HFT, original SLX lens (cat. no. 201-305 in the United States): One of the seven Zeiss-designed lenses the SLX was launched with in 1976, and the only version: the S-Planar was never remade as a PQ lens, its place being taken by the Makro-Planar 120 mm f/4. The 1984 US lens sheet singles out the 40, 120 and 350 mm as 'of original Carl Zeiss construction', assembled at the Rollei plant in Braunschweig with their electronics, where the other focal lengths were made entirely by Rollei under licence; rolleigraphy.eu calls it the first-generation macro lens, 'optimal correction at 1:8'. As an original lens it supports only manual and shutter-priority exposure, so on the 6008 and later bodies it cannot use the aperture-priority and program modes, and it does not work on the Hy6.
Specifications
- Formula
- S-Planar macro, 6 elements in 4 groups, optimised for 1:8 (1984 Berkey sheet; rolleigraphy.eu; Wikipedia; Japanese Wikipedia 4群6枚)
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/5.6–f/45
- Shutter
- Rollei direct-drive electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s and B, timed and powered by the body through ten gold-plated contacts; flash synchronised at every speed
- Min. focus
- 0.95 m
- Dimensions
- 81.5 × 100 mm
- Weight
- 830 g
- Filter
- Rollei Bayonet VI
- Years manufactured
- 1976
- Country
- West Germany
- Coating
- HFT multicoating
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 S-Planar 120 mm f/5.6 is the macro lens the Rolleiflex SLX was launched with in 1976, one of seven Zeiss designs offered with the camera. It is the six-element, four-group S-Planar that Zeiss had made for Hasselblad since 1964 and for the SL66 since 1966, optimised for a reproduction ratio of 1:8 and corrected for the near range rather than infinity, now in a Rollei barrel with the system’s electronic leaf shutter, its two linear motors and the lens electronics inside. Rollei’s 1984 US lens sheet puts it, with the 40 and 350 mm, among the three focal lengths ‘of original Carl Zeiss construction’ assembled at the Rollei plant in Braunschweig, where the other lenses of the line were made entirely by Rollei under licence. It focuses on its own helicoid to 0.95 m, stops down to f/45, is 81.5 mm across and 100 mm long, weighs 830 g, and takes Bayonet VI filters.
There is one version. The original SLX lenses carry no generation marking at all, and the S-Planar was never remade as a PQ lens: by the January 1993 brochure the 120 mm of the system was the Makro-Planar f/4 PQ, which rolleigraphy.eu describes as the same lens ‘opened up to f/4, same size, same optical quality’. That succession fixes the S-Planar’s character as a lens of the SLX, 6006 and 6002 era. On those bodies it works fully; on the 6008, 6003 and 6001 it is limited, like every original lens, to shutter-priority and manual exposure, and on the Hy6 it does not work. No end date is published; the lens is still on the 1984 sheet.
Nobody appears to have reviewed it in Rollei mount. The design’s record comes from its Hasselblad and SL66 forms, and what the Rollei version adds is the electronic shutter and 200 g. A buyer should confirm that the shutter fires and the diaphragm closes on a body, since both are driven only through the contacts, and should not expect the lens to run a 6008’s program modes or to mount on a Hy6.
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 S-Planar 120mm f/5.6 (6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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