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

Tessar 80mm f/2.8 (1600F/1000F)

Carl Zeiss · Hasselblad 1600F · 1951 · Tessar

Also known as: Zeiss Tessar 80mm f/2.8 · Tessar 2.8/80 · Zeiss-Opton Tessar 80mm · Hasselblad 1000F Tessar

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Zeiss-Opton T (early) Hasselblad 1600F (M60×6 three-start thread) 1951 — —
Carl Zeiss (later) Hasselblad 1600F (M60×6 three-start thread) — — —
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • M60×6 three-start thread, not a bayonet — the 1600F and 1000F mount is its own thing and takes nothing from the later V system

Zeiss-Opton T (early):

  • Engraved Zeiss-Opton with the red T of the early coating

Carl Zeiss (later):

  • Engraved Carl Zeiss, after the Oberkochen naming settled — no source consulted dates the changeover, so no years are given here

Serial-range notes

red ink inside the rear mount
Zeiss stamped a date code in red ink on the rear baffle wall. Before 1980 it is three or four digits: the last two are the month, and the year is the remaining figure plus 1957.

Specifications

Formula
Tessar
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
71.5 × 47.5 mm
Weight
250 g
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.

Optical formula — Tessar
Schematic cross-section drawn for this site from official Zeiss data sheet (10 02 16) — 4 elements in 3 groups; curvatures and spacing stylized.
Schematic cross-section drawn for this site from official Zeiss data sheet (10 02 16) — 4 elements in 3 groups; curvatures and spacing stylized. — Drawn for this site

History

The standard lens of the 1000F, and the one that replaced Kodak as Hasselblad’s optical supplier. The 1600F had launched in 1948 on Kodak Ektars; by 1951 Zeiss Oberkochen was building this Tessar for the camera, and the Ektars faded out.

It is a Tessar in the ordinary sense — four elements in three groups, the rear pair cemented — computed by Lange and Richter at Oberkochen, with a German patent filed on 12 June 1951 and lanthanum glasses in the design. Zeiss’s factory data sheet gives the true focal length as 80mm within a millimetre, the true aperture as f/2.81, and the back focal distance as 64.71mm; the lens weighs 250g, is 47.5mm long and 71.5mm across, focuses to 0.5m and covers 52°.

The mount is the part that catches people out. The 1600F and 1000F take an M60×6 three-start thread, and it has nothing to do with the bayonet Hasselblad adopted for the 500C in 1957. No lens crosses between the two systems in either direction, which is why the pre-1957 cameras are collected as a closed set.

Marco Cavina’s survey of the early Zeiss lenses counts roughly 10,600 of these made in six batches between 1951 and 1957, which makes it much the commonest lens of the pre-1957 era — the run of both cameras together was smaller than that, so many were sold as spares or with outfits. Early examples are engraved Zeiss-Opton with the red T of the first coating; later ones read Carl Zeiss.

Dating one is possible without a serial table. Zeiss stamped a date code in red ink inside the rear mount, usually on the baffle wall and visible with the lens racked to close focus: before 1980 the last two digits are the month and the year is what remains plus 1957.

Expand Collapse

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 80mm f/2.8 (1600F/1000F)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $280 across 30 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $180–$470). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $280.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$280$180–$47030
2026-09-06$280$180–$47029

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

Show 28 more listings

eBay links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Glass Bodies earns a small commission from eBay at no cost to you. It does not change which listings appear, their prices or their order — those come from the search and the sort described above.

Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Kodak Ektar 80mm f/2.8 · Planar 80mm f/2.8

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.