Distagon 80mm f/4 leaf-shutter (SL66)
Carl Zeiss · Rollei SL66 · 1970 · Distagon retrofocus, 5 elements in 5 groups
Also known as: Rollei SL66 Distagon 80mm f/4 · Rolleiflex SL66 Distagon 80mm F4 leaf shutter · Carl Zeiss Distagon 4/80 SL66 · Distagon HFT 80mm f/4 SL66 · Rollei SL66 80mm f4 Distagon Compur · Distagon 4/80 Zentralverschluss SL66 · ローライ SL66 ディスタゴン 80mm F4 · ローライフレックス SL66 Distagon 80mm F4 レンズシャッター
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distagon 4/80 with leaf shutter (January 1970 onward) | Rollei SL66 | 1970 | — | — |
- Rollei built the SL66 lenses under licence from Carl Zeiss from 1974, engraved 'Made by Rollei'; earlier lenses are Zeiss-built. The brand is Carl Zeiss because the design and name are Zeiss's. No source read says which maker built the leaf-shutter Distagon in which years.
- Five elements in five groups in every source read: sl66.rolleigraphy.eu (5/5), English Wikipedia (5/5) and Japanese Wikipedia (5群5枚). Weight, dimensions and the f/32 minimum are from the English Wikipedia table; the shutter is sometimes described as Compur-type, which was not confirmed against a maker document, so its make and speed range are not given here.
- Closest focus is set by the SL66 body's bellows, not the lens: Japanese Wikipedia gives 0.16 m, English Wikipedia 6.5 in (printed as 0.2 m).
- Shutter operation: the leaf shutter is cocked separately before each exposure, which English Wikipedia calls 'not particularly convenient'; the body shutter is set to 1/30 s or slower so that it is fully open while the leaf shutter fires (camera-wiki). No aperture-blade count, production figure or list price was found.
How to tell them apart
- One of only two SL66 lenses with a shutter of its own, the other being the leaf-shutter Sonnar 150; every other SL66 lens is a bare barrel with an aperture ring
- A Distagon, so a retrofocus normal lens: the name on an 80 mm SL66 lens is itself the identification, since the standard 80 is a Planar
- Not the SLX/6000 Planar 80 (which has a focusing helicoid and an electronic shutter) and not a Hasselblad lens (Synchro-Compur, no SL66 double bayonet)
Distagon 4/80 with leaf shutter (January 1970 onward):
- An 80 mm SL66 lens with a shutter-speed ring and a cocking lever, engraved Distagon 4/80 (later with HFT), not Planar; much deeper and heavier than the Planar 80 at 82 × 86 mm and 638 g against 79 × 63 mm and 300 g (English Wikipedia)
- f/4 maximum and f/32 minimum, a stop slower than the Planar at both ends
- No open-aperture-metering version is recorded for this lens on sl66.rolleigraphy.eu
- Distagon 4/80 with leaf shutter (January 1970 onward): Introduced in January 1970 together with the leaf-shutter Sonnar 150 to give the SL66 flash synchronisation at all speeds to 1/500 s, against 1/30 s with the body's focal-plane shutter. The lens is a retrofocus design because the shutter needs room behind the glass. Listed by sl66.rolleigraphy.eu as made until after 1994.
Specifications
- Formula
- Distagon retrofocus, 5 elements in 5 groups
- Construction
- 5 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4–f/32
- Shutter
- Leaf shutter in the lens, X and M sync to 1/500 s, cocked by hand before each exposure; the body's focal-plane shutter is set to 1/30 s or slower
- Min. focus
- 0.16 m
- Dimensions
- 82 × 86 mm
- Weight
- 638 g
- Filter
- Rollei Bayonet VI
- Years manufactured
- 1970
- Country
- West Germany
- Coating
- HFT multicoating on later production
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 4/80 is the second standard lens of the Rolleiflex SL66, added in January 1970 for one purpose: flash. The SL66 has a cloth focal-plane shutter that synchronises only at 1/30 s and slower, and a studio camera of the 1960s needed to sync at any speed with electronic flash, so Rollei and Zeiss put a leaf shutter into two lenses, this 80 and a Sonnar 150. The shutter gives X and M synchronisation up to 1/500 s. To make room for it behind the glass, the normal lens was recomputed as a five-element, five-group retrofocus Distagon rather than a Planar, which cost a stop at full aperture (f/4 against f/2.8) and made the lens more than twice as heavy: 638 g and 82 × 86 mm against the Planar’s 300 g and 79 × 63 mm.
In use the leaf shutter must be cocked by hand before each exposure, and the body’s shutter is set to 1/30 s or slower so that it stands open while the lens shutter fires; Wikipedia calls the arrangement “not particularly convenient”, and James Tocchio describes the two leaf-shutter lenses as studio-oriented. Otherwise the lens behaves like any SL66 lens: no focusing mount, focusing by the body’s bellows to about 16 cm, up to 8° of tilt, and the automatic diaphragm that stops down only at the moment of exposure. The lenses page of sl66.rolleigraphy.eu lists it from January 1970 until after 1994 and gives no open-aperture-metering version, so on an SL66E, X or SE it meters stopped down. Later examples carry HFT multicoating; which years Zeiss built it and which Rollei did under licence is not recorded in the sources read.
No review of the lens was found, and it rarely appears in the camera reviews, which are shot with the Planar. It is uncommon enough that condition matters more than version: check that the leaf shutter cocks and runs at all speeds, that the sync contacts work, and that the diaphragm closes cleanly. The blade count, the shutter’s speed range, the production total and a list price were not found.
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 80mm f/4 leaf-shutter (SL66)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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