This is a Carl Zeiss Jena 8.5cm f/2 lens from the pre-war era made in 1938, which has been expertly restored by us, converted to Leica RF, repainted and given a full service/ CLA which includes:

Ultrasonic cleaning of mechanical parts, Optical Cleaning, Aperture Control Rebuild, New synthetic greases in helicoid and aperture control, calibration for wide open f/2 RF usage.  The lens has also been finished in black chrome with brassed highlights and Napa leatherette trim.

The lens comes with an Amedeo adapter, which provides Leica RF translation function to permit the lens to mount on Leica M cameras with RF coupling.  The lens also comes with a vintage B.D.B 49mm filter, which has also been repainted to match the black chrome finish of the lens.  The B.D.B. filter has UV coated glass installed in it.

This lens was obtained from a collector in England prior to restoration, and it has some interesting history associated with it.  This lens was originally for sale in 1938 by Wallace Heaton LTD of London, who by appointment to H.M the King, were suppliers of Photographic Equipment during this era.  The lens comes with a leather pouch that has this Royal Appointment logo branding on the bottom of the leather case (see one of the gallery pictures).  The leather bag is in remarkably good condition for its age, and is included with this lens.  It is the same bag this lens was sold with back in 1938 by Wallace Heaton LTD.

This lens was also reviewed by Matt Osbourne of MrLeica.com recently on his youtube channel here: https://youtu.be/xgm0LdG9q2Y

After the lens was returned back from loan to Matt, was when we had it repainted/ serviced and rebuilt, and thus in his video its still shown in its stock chrome finish.

Lens condition:
Front element of the lens has some small/ fine cleaning marks (see gallery photos).  These don’t affect the image quality of the lens in any way, and in-fact the lens is extraordinarily sharp for its age, even wide open.  There is no haze, fog, fungus.  The optics were extensively cleaned during service.  There are some micro air bubbles inside the glass, which is typical of the Schott glass from this era used in these lenses.

The rear element is in excellent condition, and the internal glass was cleaned during the service.  Overall, a fine optical specimen for its age, and one would be hard pressed for find a better optical condition copy.

Mechanically, the lens has been overhauled and is in top working order.  The focus is smooth considering the age and weight of these all brass lenses, the aperture blades are grease and oil free, the aperture control ring moves smoothly.  The Amedeo adapter was also overhauled during the service, with new synthetic grease placed inside.  The Amedeo adapter triggers the 50/75 frame lines, and we have found that the 85mm Sonnar lenses seem to fall a tad closer to the 75mm frame lines than the 90mm frame lines.  This is likely due to the 85mm Jena Sonnar being closer to a 84mm lens, and the 75 frame lines on the M cameras being closer to a 77mm focal length lens.  For critical framing and focusing with this lens, it’s best to use an electronic viewfinder.

The lenses exterior is in excellent condition for its age, with the black chrome paint being applied recently.  The lens is solid brass, and weighs 678 grams.

Lens comes with front metal cap, rear M cap, Amedeo adapter, and B.D.B UV filter.

Some advice for using Sonnar lenses on digital Leica Monochrom cameras with colour filters:
If using this lens with colour filters on the Leica Monochrom, it is advised to use the electronic viewfinder for fine focusing.  The Sonnar optical formula has focus shift at the mid aperture range, and the colour filters like Red and Yellow which have longer wavelengths, also cause the focal plane of the lens to slightly shift when in usage.  To achieve critical focus wide open at f/2 with the lens say using a red filter, its advised to use the EVF if possible, to mitigate any focus shift the filter may be inducing.  The lens has ben calibrated for f/2 close to far focus range usage, so at the mid apertures (f/4-f/5.6) or with colour filters (red especially), the focus will shift a bit outward.  With B&W film, the registration distance is more forgiving, thus any focus shift from the filters or aperture setting will still show up, but maybe less noticeable due to the thicker substrate of the photos sensitive film.  Only with no colour filters and using the lens at f/2 calibration aperture, is where the RF patch is accurate when using the lens on Leica M cameras.
PayPal payment available by request.