Tele-Tessar 500mm f/5.6 (SL66)
Carl Zeiss Β· Rollei SL66 Β· 1967 Β· Tele-Tessar, 6 elements in 5 groups
Also known as: Rollei SL66 Tele-Tessar 500mm f/5.6 Β· Rolleiflex SL66 Tele-Tessar 500mm F5.6 Β· Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar 5.6/500 SL66 Β· Tele-Tessar HFT 500mm f/5.6 SL66 Β· Rollei SL66 500mm f5.6 Tele Tessar Β· Zeiss Tele-Tessar 500mm f5.6 for Rollei SL66 Β· γγΌγ©γ€ SL66 γγ¬γγγ΅γΌ 500mm F5.6 Β· γγΌγ©γ€γγ¬γγ―γΉ SL66 Tele-Tessar 500mm F5.6
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tele-Tessar 5.6/500, pre-set diaphragm (January 1967 β mid 1991) | Rollei SL66 | 1967β1991 | β | β |
- Rollei built the SL66 lenses under licence from Carl Zeiss from 1974, engraved 'Made by Rollei'; which maker built this lens in which years is not recorded in the sources read. The brand is Carl Zeiss because the design and name are Zeiss's.
- Six elements in five groups in sl66.rolleigraphy.eu (5/6), English Wikipedia (6/5) and Japanese Wikipedia (5ηΎ€6ζ). Weight, dimensions, the f/45 minimum and the 20 ft (6.1 m) closest focus are from the English Wikipedia table; the closest focus is the bellows' limit, since the lens has no helicoid.
- Filter: sl66.rolleigraphy.eu gives M 95 Γ 1; English Wikipedia gives '95 / Bay VII'. Both are carried: a 95 mm thread and the Rollei Bayonet VII for the hood and bayonet filters. No blade count, production total or list price was found.
How to tell them apart
- The only 500 mm SL66 lens, at f/5.6; the Hasselblad and SLX/6000 Tele-Tessar 500s are f/8 lenses with their own mounts, and the SLX/6000 lens has a helicoid
- Pre-set diaphragm, pull-out hood, 95 mm front: nothing else on the SL66 except the two 1000 mm lenses lacks the automatic diaphragm
Tele-Tessar 5.6/500, pre-set diaphragm (January 1967 β mid 1991):
- A 308 mm, 1,640 g barrel with a built-in pull-out hood and a 95 mm front, on which the aperture is pre-set: the ring is turned to the chosen stop and the diaphragm closes to it, with no automatic stop-down and no open-aperture metering (sl66.rolleigraphy.eu; English Wikipedia)
- M95 Γ 1 filter thread with a Bayonet VII mount, not the Bayonet VI of the shorter lenses
- Carl Zeiss on early lenses; later lenses HFT, which camera-wiki lists as a separate row; never offered in the open-aperture-metering E mount
- Tele-Tessar 5.6/500, pre-set diaphragm (January 1967 β mid 1991): Added in January 1967, a few months after the camera. The pre-set diaphragm means the lens is focused wide open and stopped down by hand before the exposure, and on the SL66E, X and SE it meters only stopped down. The July 1979 US dealer list reproduced in English Wikipedia has no 500 mm lens. sl66.rolleigraphy.eu ends it in mid 1991.
Specifications
- Formula
- Tele-Tessar, 6 elements in 5 groups
- Construction
- 6 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/5.6βf/45
- Min. focus
- 6.1 m
- Dimensions
- 100 Γ 308 mm
- Weight
- 1640 g
- Filter
- 95 mm, M95 Γ 1 thread; Rollei Bayonet VII
- Years manufactured
- 1967β1991
- Country
- West Germany
- Coating
- Single-coated at launch; HFT multicoating on later production
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet β this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The Tele-Tessar 5.6/500 is the long telephoto of the Rolleiflex SL66, added in January 1967, a few months after the camera. It is a six-element, five-group Tele-Tessar, a stop faster than the f/8 Tele-Tessar 500 Zeiss made for Hasselblad, and correspondingly large: 1,640 g, 308 mm long and 100 mm across, with a pull-out hood built into the barrel and a 95 mm front that takes an M95 Γ 1 screw filter or the Rollei Bayonet VII. Like every SL66 lens it has no shutter and no focusing mount; the bodyβs bellows focus it, to about 6 m at full extension.
What sets it apart from the shorter SL66 lenses is the diaphragm. The 30 to 250 mm lenses have automatic diaphragms that stay open for viewing and close at the moment of exposure; the 500 and the two 1000 mm lenses are pre-set, meaning the aperture ring is turned to the chosen stop and the diaphragm closes to it, so the lens is focused wide open and stopped down by hand before the shutter is released. For the same reason it was never offered in the mount coupled for the open-aperture metering of the SL66E, X and SE, and on those bodies it meters stopped down. Later production is HFT multicoated, which camera-wiki lists as a separate row; sl66.rolleigraphy.eu ends the lens in mid 1991.
The July 1979 US dealer price list that English Wikipedia reproduces has no 500 mm lens, nor a 40 or a 250, so the lens was not always imported and is rare on the used market. No review was found. When buying, check that the pre-set ring and the diaphragm work together, that the pull-out hood slides, and that the long barrel is free of haze; a 500 mm Tele-Tessar with a focusing helicoid and f/8 is the SLX/6000 lens. Blade count, production total and 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 β but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted β shot with a Tele-Tessar 500mm f/5.6 (SL66)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- Carl Zeiss 500mm f/5.6 Tele-Tessar HFT SL66
- γεζ’±ζθΏγγ¬γ’γ¬γ³γΊβ Rollei Tele-Tessar 500mm F5.6 HFT SL66η¨β AN1111
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