Zunow 3.5cm f/1.7
Zunow (Teikoku Kogaku) · LTM · 1956 · Gauss type, 7 elements in 5 groups
via machine translation — corrections welcomeAlso known as: Zunow 3.5cm f/1.7 · Zunow 35mm f/1.7 · Zunow 35mm f1.7 · Zunow 3.5cm F1.7 · Zunow 35mm 1:1.7 · Zunow 1.7/3.5cm · Zunow Opt. 35mm f/1.7 · ズノー 35mm F1.7 · ズノー 3.5cm F1.7
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-chrome · Leica screw mount | LTM | 1956 | — | A few hundred at most across all versions — a dealer's estimate (Flashback Camera); no factory figure survives¹ |
| Chrome with black focusing ring · Leica screw mount | LTM | 1956 | No. 12089 (Leitz Photographica Auction 25, lot 275) — the only serial published | See the chrome version¹ |
| Black · Leica screw mount | LTM | — | — | See the chrome version¹ |
- Flashback Camera's estimate. MAP Camera and the Japanese dealer fotoborse both call the lens scarcer than the 5cm f/1.1; no production record survives.
- Pacific Rim Camera thinks the lens was probably made in screw mount only; a long-running Rangefinderforum list of third-party Nikon S lenses marks it as not yet seen.
- The launch date is uncertain. Japanese Wikipedia, citing p.154 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka, puts the 35mm f/1.7 on sale in December 1956 beside the 5cm f/1.3 and 10cm f/2; Pacific Rim Camera thinks it probably came out before Nikon's 3.5cm f/1.8 of September 1956; Japanese dealers give 1955, and auction houses date examples to about 1957.
- Camera-wiki knows two versions, all chrome (the earlier) and black and chrome; the all-black barrel is reported by Flashback Camera and Kitamura Camera.
How to tell them apart
- A focusing tab (Camera-wiki). Engraved Zunow 35mm 1:1.7; distance scale in feet, closing to 3.5 ft; 46mm filter; eight blades, f/1.7–22
- Every example on record is Leica screw mount. Zunow's 1957 lens list files the range under Leica, Contax, Canon and Nikon bodies without saying which lens came in which mount, and no Nikon S or Contax example has surfaced²
- The original hood is scarcer than the lens (Leitz); original filters are engraved for the lens — a UV marked 1.7/3.5 and a Y2 marked 35/17 — and turn up on their own
All-chrome · Leica screw mount:
- Chrome barrel and chrome focusing ring; described by Flashback Camera as the earlier version and by Jo Geier as extremely rare
Chrome with black focusing ring · Leica screw mount:
- Chrome barrel with a black focusing ring — catalogued by Leitz and WestLicht as the "very late first version"
Black · Leica screw mount:
- Black barrel, marked Zunow Opt. — the late model, per Flashback Camera⁴
- Chrome with black focusing ring · Leica screw mount: No. 12089, with its hood and leather case, sold at Leitz Photographica Auction 25 for €9,000 including premium against a €7,000–9,000 estimate.
Specifications
- Formula
- Gauss type, 7 elements in 5 groups
- Construction
- 7 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/1.7–f/22
- Diaphragm blades
- 8
- Min. focus
- 1.07 m
- Weight
- 182 g
- Filter
- 46 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1956
- Country
- Japan
What reviewers say
- MAP Camera staff (Kasyapa for LEICA) (blog) — On a Leica M11 it swings between gentle and dreamlike, with a swirling background and ghosts they found pleasing rather than spoiling — its character shows best in black and white. via machine translation — corrections welcome
- Hayata Camera Lab (早田カメラ) (blog) — Shot on film at f/11 to test the collectors' claim that it is poor even stopped down, and rejects it: if this counts as a bad 35mm, a good one would be hard to find. via machine translation — corrections welcome
- Flashback Camera (blog) — A dealer's note on a black late example: the look wide open is built from its aberrations, and the lens was made in a few hundred at most.
Optical formula — Gauss type, 7 elements in 5 groups
No cross-section from Zunow or a patent has been found. The seven-element, five-group Gauss construction is recorded by Hayata Camera and Flashback Camera; the one published comparison drawing (Crafting Pixels) does not say where it came from.
History
Fuji Photo Film’s 3.5cm f/2 of 1954 made a 35mm lens faster than f/2.8 a thing a Japanese maker could sell, and within two years three companies had answered it. Nippon Kōgaku’s W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/1.8 went on sale in September 1956; Zunow’s answer went a tenth of a stop further, to f/1.7. Japanese Wikipedia, citing a period chronology, has it on sale in December 1956, the month Teikoku Kōgaku renamed itself Zunow Kōgaku Kōgyō; Pacific Rim Camera thinks it may have come out before the Nikkor, and Japanese dealers date it to 1955. Either way nobody sold a faster 35mm for a rangefinder until Canon’s f/1.5 and the Leitz Summilux.
Unlike the company’s Sonnar-derived 5cm f/1.1, the 35mm is a Gauss type, seven elements in five groups, in a small barrel with a 46mm filter, eight blades and a distance scale in feet. Three finishes are known: all chrome, which dealers take to be the earlier; chrome with a black focusing ring, which Leitz and WestLicht catalogue as the very late first version; and black, marked Zunow Opt., which Flashback Camera calls the late model. Only one serial number has been published, 12089. Flashback puts the total at a few hundred at most, and MAP Camera and fotoborse both call the lens scarcer than the f/1.1.
Every example on record is in Leica thread. Zunow’s 1957 range is listed under Leica, Contax, Canon and Nikon bodies together, but nobody has seen a Nikon S or Contax 35mm f/1.7. Reviewers split on its rendering: MAP Camera found it soft and swirling wide open, with ghosts that suit black and white, while Hayata Camera tested it stopped down against its bad reputation and found it perfectly sharp. The lens sold at the Leitz auction with its hood and case for €9,000; the hood alone is said to be rarer than the lens.
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
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