Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 and f/3.8 (early Rolleiflex)
Carl Zeiss Jena · Rolleiflex TLR · 1929 · Tessar, 4 elements in 3 groups
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Rolleiflex Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 · Rolleiflex Tessar 75mm F4.5 · Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 1:4.5 f=7.5cm · Rolleiflex Tessar 7.5cm f/3.8 · Rolleiflex Tessar 75mm F3.8 · Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 1:3.8 f=7.5cm · Rolleiflex Original Tessar · Rolleiflex Old Standard Tessar · Rolleiflex 611 · Rolleiflex 621 · ローライフレックス オリジナル テッサー 7.5cm F4.5 · ローライフレックス スタンダード テッサー F3.8
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 (Rolleiflex Original 611/613, Standard 620) | Rolleiflex TLR | 1929–1934 | — | — |
| Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7.5cm f/3.8 (Rolleiflex Original 612/614, Standard 621) | Rolleiflex TLR | 1929–1935 | — | — |
- Model numbers, taking-lens apertures, shutter and dates by month are from the model table on English Wikipedia's Rolleiflex page, which follows Prochnow's K-codes (Original = K1, Standard = K2). No second source for the month-level dates was reached, hence the single-source flag.
- Element count: antiquecameras.net calls the Rolleiflex Tessars 'four element' lenses; the 4/3 layout is the Tessar design itself. No source gives blades, closest focus or weight for these early lenses.
- Two maximum apertures share this page because f/4.5 and f/3.8 are the same four-element Tessar at two speeds, sold side by side on the same bodies; the family figure is the launch lens's f/4.5. The f/3.5 Tessar of November 1932 ran for another four decades and has its own page.
- Filters: the early Rolleiflexes have no bayonet; push-on fittings are the usual description, but no fetched source states the push-on diameter, so no figure is given.
How to tell them apart
- The pre-bayonet Rolleiflex taking lens: no filter bayonet, a dial-set Compur with a top speed of 1/300, and an f/3.1 Heidoscop-Anastigmat viewing lens above it (en.wikipedia)
- Carl Zeiss Jena engraving, focal length written 7,5cm; the f/3.5 Tessar that replaced these sits in a Compur Rapid marked to 1/500
- Not the Triotar of the Rolleicord, which is a three-element lens on a cheaper body of 1933 onward, and not the 6×6 Tessars of the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex
Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 (Rolleiflex Original 611/613, Standard 620):
- Engraved Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 1:4,5 f=7,5cm on the front ring, in a dial-set Compur to 1/300; the viewing lens is a Heidoscop-Anastigmat f/3.1 (en.wikipedia model table)
Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7.5cm f/3.8 (Rolleiflex Original 612/614, Standard 621):
- Engraved Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 1:3,8 f=7,5cm; otherwise the same body, Compur and f/3.1 Heidoscop as the f/4.5 camera (en.wikipedia model table)
- Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 (Rolleiflex Original 611/613, Standard 620): The lens of the first Rolleiflex: model 611 of January–July 1929 and model 613 of August 1929 to February 1932, then the Standard 620 of January 1932 to January 1934. The slower of the two Tessars offered, and the one the camera was launched with.
- Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7.5cm f/3.8 (Rolleiflex Original 612/614, Standard 621): The faster option from April 1929 (model 612, then 614) and on the Standard 621 of February 1932 to January 1935. Half a stop faster than the f/4.5 and outlived it by a year, until the f/3.5 Tessar in its Compur Rapid, sold alongside from November 1932, took over.
Specifications
- Formula
- Tessar, 4 elements in 3 groups
- Construction
- 4 elements / 3 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4.5
- Shutter
- Compur, 1–1/300, B, T
- Filter
- Push-on, before the Rollei bayonet
- Years manufactured
- 1929–1935
- Country
- Germany
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 Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 is the lens Franke & Heidecke built the first Rolleiflex around in January 1929: a Carl Zeiss Jena four-element Tessar in a dial-set Compur running from 1 second to 1/300, B and T, under a Heidoscop-Anastigmat f/3.1 viewing lens. English Wikipedia’s model table, which follows Prochnow’s numbering, gives the f/4.5 camera as model 611 (January to July 1929) and 613 (August 1929 to February 1932), and from April 1929 a model 612, later 614, with the same Tessar opened to f/3.8. Both speeds carried over to the Rolleiflex Standard of 1932, the camera now called the Old Standard: model 620 with the f/4.5 to January 1934 and model 621 with the f/3.8 to January 1935.
The two apertures are one lens at two speeds, not two designs, and they were sold side by side on the same body, which is why both sit here. Their replacement was already on sale: from November 1932 the Standard 622 carried a Tessar f/3.5 in the new Compur Rapid to 1/500, and that lens, with its successors from Zeiss-Opton and Oberkochen, stayed on Rolleiflexes until 1976. The f/4.5 and f/3.8 lenses were gone within three years of it.
What survives of them is mostly the cameras: no fetched source gives a closest focus, weight or blade count for either lens, and the early Rolleiflexes have no filter bayonet, so accessories push on over the front rim. A camera is dated by its model number and shutter rather than by the lens, and the engraving (1:4,5 or 1:3,8, f=7,5cm) separates the two. Opinion on their drawing is scarce; the Rolleiflex Tessar that reviewers write about is the f/3.5, on cameras thirty years younger.
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 Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 and f/3.8 (early Rolleiflex)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Asking price, EUR: a median of €200 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half €150–€200). First day tracked.
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
- Rolleiflex Old Standard Tessar 3.8/7,5cm 120 Film
- Rolleiflex Standard I Tessar 4,5/7,5cm ca. 1933 NOTTESTED
- Rolleiflex Old Standard Tessar 3.8/7,5cm 120 Film NOTTESTED
Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.