Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Triotar 75mm (Rolleicord)

Carl Zeiss Jena · Rolleiflex TLR · 1933 · 75mm f/3.5 · Triotar (Cooke-type triplet), 3 elements in 3 groups

Also known as: Rolleicord Triotar 75mm f/3.5 · Rolleicord Triotar 75mm F3.5 · Rolleicord Triotar 3,5/7,5 · Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 1:3.5 f=7.5cm Rolleicord · Rolleicord Triotar 7.5cm f/4.5 · Rolleicord Triotar 75mm F4.5 · Rolleicord Triotar 3.8 · Rolleicord I Triotar · Rolleicord Ia Triotar · Rolleicord II Triotar · Rolleicord Art Deco Triotar · ローライコード トリオター 75mm F3.5 · ローライコード トリオター F4.5 · ローライコード I アールデコ トリオター

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 7.5cm f/4.5 (Rolleicord I 'Art Deco', Ia Models 1–3; 1933–47) Rolleiflex TLR 1933–1947 — —
Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 7.5cm f/3.8 (Rolleicord I leatherette, K3-511; 1934–36) Rolleiflex TLR 1934–1936 — —
Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 7.5cm f/3.5 (Rolleicord II, IIa–IIe; 1936–50, reportedly to 1953 on the III) · Compur C00, 1–1/300, B, T (II–IIc); Compur Rapid C00, 1–1/500, B, T (IId, IIe; X-sync on the IIe) Rolleiflex TLR 1936–1953 — —
  1. Apertures per model, dates by month and shutters are from the model table on English Wikipedia's Rolleicord page. Element count: Tom O'Neill's 35mmc piece on a Rolleicord IIa calls the lens 'a three element 75mm f3.5 Carl Zeiss Triotar'; the Triotar is Zeiss's name for its anastigmat triplet, three single elements, as on the Contax Triotar 8.5cm f/4 catalogued here. Neither Wikipedia page gives the count.
  2. Three maximum apertures on one page: f/4.5, f/3.8 and f/3.5 are the same triplet at three speeds, offered on different Rolleicord bodies over the same years (the f/4.5 Ia ran to 1947, beside the f/3.5 II). The family figure is the fastest, f/3.5, the version that lasted and the one reviewers describe; the slower lenses are variants.
  3. End date: English Wikipedia's last Triotar row is the Rolleicord IIe, to September 1950. Japanese Wikipedia, reached in the research behind this page and reported as listing the Triotar on the Rolleicord III as well, gives the 1953 close used here; the two are recorded, the English table being the better evidenced for the IIe and the Japanese entry the only support for the III.
  4. Filters: the push-on fittings of the early Rolleicords and the arrival of the Bay I bayonet on the IIa (taking lens) and IIc (both lenses) are from the research behind this page; no fetched page documents the change, so the filter line is unconfirmed.
  5. No fetched source gives the blade count, closest focus or weight of any Triotar.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar engraving, focal length written 7,5cm, on a Rolleicord I, Ia or II; the three speeds are read from the engraving (1:4,5, 1:3,8, 1:3,5) and the body dates them
  • The viewing lens is a Heidosmat-Anastigmat f/4 over the f/4.5 and f/3.8 lenses and an f/3.2 Anastigmat or Heidosmat over the f/3.5 (en.wikipedia)
  • Compur C00 to 1/300 before 1947, Compur Rapid C00 to 1/500 on the IId and IIe; a Rolleicord with a Xenar is a post-1947 camera, and from the III the Xenar is the rule
  • Not the Triotar 8.5cm f/4 or 13.5cm f/4 for the Contax rangefinder, nor the Triotars on Zeiss Ikon folders and Ikoflexes: the Rolleicord lens has no mount or helicoid, the camera's front panel carries it

Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 7.5cm f/4.5 (Rolleicord I 'Art Deco', Ia Models 1–3; 1933–47):

  • Engraved Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 1:4,5 f=7,5cm in a Compur C00 to 1/300, under a Heidosmat-Anastigmat f/4 viewing lens; on the Art Deco model the body is nickel-plated and patterned rather than covered in leatherette (en.wikipedia Rolleicord table)

Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 7.5cm f/3.8 (Rolleicord I leatherette, K3-511; 1934–36):

  • Engraved Triotar 1:3,8 f=7,5cm; a leatherette-covered Rolleicord I rather than the Art Deco body, same Compur C00 and f/4 viewing lens (en.wikipedia Rolleicord table)

Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 7.5cm f/3.5 (Rolleicord II, IIa–IIe; 1936–50, reportedly to 1953 on the III):

  • Engraved Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 1:3,5 f=7,5cm under an f/3.2 viewing lens (Anastigmat, later Heidosmat); Compur C00 to 1/300 on the II to IIc, Compur Rapid C00 to 1/500 on the IId and IIe, the IIe with an X flash socket (en.wikipedia Rolleicord table)

Specifications

Formula
Triotar (Cooke-type triplet), 3 elements in 3 groups
Construction
3 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5
Shutter
Compur C00, 1–1/300, B, T; Compur Rapid C00, 1–1/500, B, T from the Rolleicord IId (1947)
Filter
Push-on; Bay I from the Rolleicord IIa (taking lens) and IIc (both lenses)
Years manufactured
1933–1953
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

The Triotar is the lens that made the Rolleicord cheaper than the Rolleiflex. When Franke & Heidecke introduced the Rolleicord in November 1933 as a simpler companion to the Rolleiflex, it carried, in English Wikipedia’s words, “a cheaper 75mm Zeiss Triotar lens”: Carl Zeiss Jena’s anastigmat triplet, three single elements, against the four-element Tessar of the dearer camera. It came in three speeds over the years. The first Rolleicord, the nickel-plated “Art Deco” model, and the Ia that followed it from 1936 to October 1947 had the f/4.5; the leatherette-covered Rolleicord I of December 1934 to August 1936 had an f/3.8; and the Rolleicord II, from March 1936 through the IIa, IIb, IIc, IId and IIe to September 1950, had the f/3.5, the fastest lens the Rolleicord would ever get. All three are the same triplet stopped to different apertures, which is why they share a page, with the f/3.5 as the family’s figure.

The shutters mark the generations more sharply than the glass. The Triotar sat in a Compur C00 running from 1 second to 1/300 with B and T on every Rolleicord before 1947; the IId of that year and the IIe of 1949–50 moved to a Compur Rapid C00 to 1/500, the IIe with an X flash socket. Zeiss Triotars ran short after the war, and from December 1947 Rolleicord II bodies were also fitted with Schneider Xenars, first an f/4.5 and from mid-1949 an f/3.5. With the Rolleicord III of November 1950 the Xenar became standard, and English Wikipedia’s table lists no Triotar after the IIe; Japanese Wikipedia is reported to keep it as an option on the III, which is the basis for the 1953 close given here.

As a picture-maker the Triotar is what a triplet is. Tom O’Neill, shooting a 1937 Rolleicord IIa for 35mmc, found that it gives “a more soft/dreamy like feel to the photos” at wider apertures, and that “when stopped down the lens almost competes in sharpness neck to neck” with the Xenar of the later Rolleicords. Forum owners say the same of the f/3.5, and one adds that the f/3.8 on a Rolleicord I is the soft one. No closest-focus figure, weight or blade count for the lens was found in any fetched source, and the early Rolleicords’ push-on filter fittings, replaced by Rollei’s Bay I bayonet on the taking lens of the IIa and on both lenses of the IIc, rest on the general literature rather than on a page read for this entry.

The lens cannot be removed from the camera: the Rolleicord’s front panel carries both lenses and focuses them together, so a Triotar changes hands only as a Rolleicord I, Ia or II. The Triotar 8.5cm f/4 and 13.5cm f/4 of the Contax rangefinder, and the Triotars of Zeiss Ikon’s own folders and Ikoflex twin-lens cameras, are the same type of design in other homes.

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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 Triotar 75mm (Rolleicord)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €150 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half €99–€150). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Rollei) · Tessar 7.5cm f/4.5 and f/3.8 (early Rolleiflex) · Triotar 8.5cm f/4 · Triotar 135mm f/4

Sources (3)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.