Planar 80mm f/2.8 (SL66)
Carl Zeiss · Rollei SL66 · 1966 · Planar, 7 elements in 5 groups
Also known as: Rollei SL66 Planar 80mm f/2.8 · Rolleiflex SL66 Planar 80mm F2.8 · Carl Zeiss Planar 2.8/80 SL66 · Planar HFT 80mm f/2.8 SL66 · Rollei HFT Planar 80mm F2.8 SL66 · Zeiss Planar 80mm f2.8 for Rollei SL66 · Planar 1:2.8 f=80mm Rolleiflex SL66 · ローライ SL66 プラナー 80mm F2.8 · ローライフレックス SL66 Planar 80mm F2.8 · カールツァイス プラナー 80mm F2.8 SL66 · Rollei SL66E Planar 80mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Zeiss Planar 2.8/80, single-coated, chrome aperture ring (1966–73) | Rollei SL66 | 1966–1973 | — | — |
| Planar HFT 2.8/80, Zeiss then 'Made by Rollei' under licence (1974–82) | Rollei SL66 | 1974–1982 | — | — |
| Rollei-HFT Planar 2.8/80 with open-aperture-metering mount (1982–92) | Rollei SL66 | 1982–1992 | — | — |
- Rollei built the SL66 lenses under licence from Carl Zeiss from 1974, engraved 'Made by Rollei'; the Zeiss-built lenses of 1966–c.1974 come from Oberkochen (sl66.rolleigraphy.eu, cameras page). The brand is given as Carl Zeiss throughout because the design and the name are Zeiss's.
- Seven elements in five groups in every source read: sl66.rolleigraphy.eu (5/7), English Wikipedia (7/5) and Japanese Wikipedia (5群7枚). The 300 g weight, 79 × 63 mm and f/22 minimum are from the English Wikipedia table.
- The lens has no focusing mount: the SL66 body's bellows focus it, with 50 mm of extension. The closest-focus figure is therefore the body's: Japanese Wikipedia gives 0.16 m, English Wikipedia 6.5 in (0.165 m, printed as 0.2 m), Dave Varo 16 cm; reversed on the bayonet it reaches about 12 cm and 1.5–1.6× (English Wikipedia; Varo).
- HFT dating: sl66.rolleigraphy.eu dates the HFT coating to 1972 on its lenses page and to 1974 on its cameras page, the same page that moves the engravings to the filter mount and starts 'Made by Rollei' in 1974. Stronger for the Rollei-built lens: 1974; the Zeiss-built HFT window, if any, is unconfirmed.
- No source read gives the number of aperture blades or a list price. Casual Photophile puts the SL66 at $1,300 at launch, against $750 for the Hasselblad, without separating the lens.
How to tell them apart
- An 80 mm Planar with no shutter, no focusing ring and no distance scale: the only control on the barrel is the aperture ring (Kosmo Foto). A Planar 80 with a focusing helicoid and a 'Rollei' or 'Rolleiflex' name is the SLX/6000 lens; one with a Synchro-Compur is the Hasselblad lens
- SL66 double bayonet at the rear, which the SLX/6000 bodies do not take; Bayonet VI filter and hood mount at the front
- Zeiss-built lenses are engraved Carl Zeiss; Rollei-built lenses from 1974 read 'Made by Rollei' with HFT; the aperture ring is chrome before about 1982 and black after
Carl Zeiss Planar 2.8/80, single-coated, chrome aperture ring (1966–73):
- Engraved Carl Zeiss / Planar 1:2.8 f=80mm with the serial on the ring next to the front element; the engravings sit close to the front glass rather than by the filter bayonet (sl66.rolleigraphy.eu, cameras page)
- No HFT mark; chrome aperture ring, the finish used on SL66 lenses until about 1982 (sl66.rolleigraphy.eu, lenses page)
- Plain SL66 bayonet without the coupling for open-aperture metering, unless Rollei service retrofitted it
Planar HFT 2.8/80, Zeiss then 'Made by Rollei' under licence (1974–82):
- HFT engraved with the name; the engravings moved from beside the front element to the ring by the Bayonet VI filter mount (sl66.rolleigraphy.eu, cameras page)
- 'Made by Rollei' on the lenses Rollei built under Zeiss licence from 1974; Zeiss-built HFT lenses carry Carl Zeiss
- Chrome aperture ring until about 1982; camera-wiki lists the Rollei-HFT 80 in silver and black barrels as separate rows, which are finishes of this lens
Rollei-HFT Planar 2.8/80 with open-aperture-metering mount (1982–92):
- Black aperture ring, which began appearing around 1982 (sl66.rolleigraphy.eu, lenses page)
- Bayonet upgraded with the coupling for open-aperture metering on the SL66E, SL66X and SL66SE; Rollei service also retrofitted earlier lenses, so an early barrel with this mount exists
- Carl Zeiss Planar 2.8/80, single-coated, chrome aperture ring (1966–73): The standard lens the SL66 was launched with in October 1966, made by Carl Zeiss at Oberkochen and single-coated. The example photographed on sl66.rolleigraphy.eu, with a chrome aperture ring and the lens number near the front element, is dated there to 1972 or 1973, so the chrome-ring, front-engraved barrel ran to the end of Zeiss production.
- Planar HFT 2.8/80, Zeiss then 'Made by Rollei' under licence (1974–82): The same seven-element optic with HFT multicoating. sl66.rolleigraphy.eu dates HFT on the SL66 range to 1972 on its lenses page and to 1974 on its cameras page, and says Rollei took over production of the 80 mm in 1974, offering HFT Planars from its own factory under Zeiss licence and labelled 'Made by Rollei'. Whether any Zeiss-built HFT Planars were sold in 1972–74 is not settled by the sources read.
- Rollei-HFT Planar 2.8/80 with open-aperture-metering mount (1982–92): Rollei's own HFT Planar in the mount fitted for open-aperture metering, the version the SL66E, SL66X and SL66SE were sold with. The lenses page of sl66.rolleigraphy.eu lists the Planar as made from October 1966 until after 1994, past the 1992 end date its cameras page gives this mount version.
Specifications
- Formula
- Planar, 7 elements in 5 groups
- Construction
- 7 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.16 m
- Dimensions
- 79 × 63 mm
- Weight
- 300 g
- Filter
- Rollei Bayonet VI
- Years manufactured
- 1966
- Country
- West Germany
- Coating
- Single-coated 1966–c.1972/74; HFT multicoating after
What reviewers say
- Dave Varo (EMULSIVE) (blog) — "Without doubt, the sharpest of all the lenses I possess, either for a digital or analogue camera." Reversed it focuses to 12 cm for about 1.6×, and with the body's 8° of tilt at medium apertures he gets front-to-back focus that he says can rival a view camera.
- James Tocchio (Casual Photophile) (blog) — Counts the SL66 lenses as world-class and comparable to the Hasselblad system; the reverse-mounted macro works without adapters, while tilt with the Scheimpflug indicator is hit-or-miss, though even the misses are "gorgeous". The most fun camera he owns and the most challenging.
- Matt Osborne (MrLeica.com) (blog) — Shoots the Planar 80 HFT tilted on an SL66E for a large-format-style selective focus in portraits, on Tri-X, Pro 400H and expired slide film; the camera is his "Holy Grail" and possibly the best Rolleiflex, with film-advance overlaps he partly blames on himself.
- Nuno Pinheiro (Kosmo Foto) (blog) — The 80 is the lens he uses for most of his work, reaching 1:1 without accessories; he does not believe anyone can see a difference between the Rollei-Zeiss and Hasselblad-Zeiss lenses, and calls the camera expensive and heavy but superb in handling and image quality.
History
The Planar 2.8/80 is the standard lens of the Rolleiflex SL66, the 6×6 single-lens reflex Rollei launched in October 1966, and it was made for the whole life of the system: sl66.rolleigraphy.eu lists it from October 1966 until after 1994. It is a seven-element, five-group Planar, the same count as the Hasselblad lens of the day, but the SL66 version carries neither a shutter nor a focusing mount. The body has a focal-plane shutter, and focusing is done by the camera’s bellows, with 50 mm of extension and up to 8° of tilt, so the lens is a short, light barrel of 300 g and 79 × 63 mm whose only control is the aperture ring. On the bellows it focuses from infinity to about 16 cm without accessories, and because the SL66 bayonet is doubled, the lens can be taken off and mounted back to front for close-up work, reaching about 12 cm and 1.5–1.6× by the accounts of Wikipedia and Dave Varo.
Three versions can be told apart. The Zeiss-built lens of 1966–73 is single-coated, with a chrome aperture ring and its engravings next to the front element; the example photographed on sl66.rolleigraphy.eu dates from 1972 or 1973. HFT multicoating followed, with the engravings moved to the ring by the Bayonet VI filter mount, and in 1974 Rollei took the 80 mm into its own production under Zeiss licence, engraving the lenses “Made by Rollei”; sl66.rolleigraphy.eu gives 1972 for HFT on one page and 1974 on another. From 1982 the lens came in a mount coupled for the open-aperture metering of the SL66E, SL66X and SL66SE, with the black aperture ring that replaced chrome about then; Rollei service retrofitted older lenses to the new mount on request, so the mount alone does not date a barrel. Camera-wiki’s separate rows for a silver and a black Rollei-HFT Planar are finishes of this last lens, not new optics.
The lens has no dedicated reviews, but the SL66 camera reviews are built around it. Dave Varo calls it the sharpest lens he owns on any camera and uses the tilt to get view-camera depth of field at medium apertures; James Tocchio counts the SL66 lenses as world-class and on a par with Hasselblad’s; Nuno Pinheiro uses the 80 for most of his work and doubts anyone can see a difference from the Hasselblad Zeiss lenses; Matt Osborne shoots it tilted for selective-focus portraits. None of them gives prices for the lens alone. Casual Photophile puts the camera at $1,300 at launch against $750 for a Hasselblad, and notes that a Rollei with the same lens still sells for more than a Hasselblad today.
When buying, check which generation the engravings and ring colour point to, whether the mount has been upgraded for open-aperture metering if the lens is to go on an SL66E, X or SE, and that the automatic diaphragm snaps closed cleanly, since the SL66 stops the lens down only at the moment of exposure. A lens sold as a Rollei Planar 80 with a focusing ring is the SLX/6000 lens and does not fit; one with a Compur shutter is Hasselblad’s. The number of aperture blades, 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
More sample photos elsewhere
- Dave Varo's SL66 sample photographs with the 80mm Planar (EMULSIVE)
- Matt Osborne's tilt portraits with the Planar 80 HFT on an SL66E
These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Planar 80mm f/2.8 (SL66)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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