Makro-Planar 120mm f/4 (SL66)
Carl Zeiss · Rollei SL66 · 1989 · Makro-Planar, 6 elements in 4 groups
Also known as: Rollei SL66 Makro-Planar 120mm f/4 · Rolleiflex SL66 Makro-Planar 120mm F4 HFT · Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar 4/120 SL66 · Rollei SL66 Macro-Planar 120mm f4 · Makro-Planar HFT 120mm f/4 SL66E · ローライ SL66 マクロプラナー 120mm F4 · ローライフレックス SL66 Makro-Planar 120mm F4
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Makro-Planar HFT 4/120 (March 1989 onward) | Rollei SL66 | 1989 | — | — |
- Rollei built the SL66 lenses under licence from Carl Zeiss from 1974, engraved 'Made by Rollei'; a 1989 lens is Rollei-built. The brand is Carl Zeiss because the design and name are Zeiss's.
- Six elements in four groups in sl66.rolleigraphy.eu (4/6) and Japanese Wikipedia (4群6枚), the same count as the S-Planar 5.6/120. Whether the f/4 lens is a recomputation or the older glass opened up is not settled: sl66.rolleigraphy.eu's description, 'opened to f/4, same size and quality', reads as a modest reworking, and the Hasselblad Makro-Planar 4/120 of 1982 is a different six-element lens, so the two SL66 lenses are kept on separate pages by their maximum apertures.
- Absent from the English Wikipedia lens table, so no weight, dimensions or minimum aperture are given here. The 0.58 m figure is Japanese Wikipedia's working distance at the bellows' limit, not a helicoid figure. No blade count, production total or price was found.
How to tell them apart
- A 120 mm SL66 lens at f/4 engraved Makro-Planar HFT; the SLX/6000 Makro-Planar 4/120 has a focusing helicoid and electronic contacts, the Hasselblad lens a Prontor shutter
- No focusing ring: the body's bellows focus it, and it reverses on the double bayonet
Makro-Planar HFT 4/120 (March 1989 onward):
- Engraved Makro-Planar 4/120 HFT: the f/4 maximum is what separates it from the S-Planar and Makro-Planar 5.6/120 it replaced
- Built in the Rollei era of the system, so expect 'Made by Rollei' and the black aperture ring of post-1982 lenses; no Zeiss-built example is recorded
- Makro-Planar HFT 4/120 (March 1989 onward): The successor to the S-Planar 5.6/120, from March 1989. sl66.rolleigraphy.eu describes it as the 5.6 opened to f/4, of the same size and quality, and lists it until after 1994.
Specifications
- Formula
- Makro-Planar, 6 elements in 4 groups
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4
- Min. focus
- 0.58 m
- Filter
- Rollei Bayonet VI
- Years manufactured
- 1989
- 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 Makro-Planar 4/120 is the last macro lens of the Rolleiflex SL66, introduced in March 1989, the month after the S-Planar 5.6/120 that had served since 1966 went out of production. sl66.rolleigraphy.eu describes it as the earlier lens opened to f/4, of the same size and quality, and both have six elements in four groups; whether that makes it a new computation or a reworking of the old glass is not settled by the sources read, so the two are described separately by their maximum apertures. Like every SL66 lens it has no shutter and no focusing ring: the body’s bellows focus it, to a working distance of about 58 cm by Japanese Wikipedia’s figure, and it can be reversed on the double bayonet.
It arrived in the Rollei era of the system, built under Zeiss licence with HFT multicoating, and was listed until after 1994 alongside the SL66SE. It is absent from English Wikipedia’s lens table, so no weight, dimensions or minimum aperture are given here, and no review of it was found; it is a rare lens on the used market. A 120 mm Makro-Planar with a focusing helicoid is the SLX/6000 lens and does not fit the SL66.
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 Makro-Planar 120mm f/4 (SL66)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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