Distagon
Carl Zeiss Jena 35 2.8 Versions
The Carl Zeiss Flektogon 35mm 2.8 was designed in 1950 and introduced shortly thereafter. The lens was manufactured for different camera mounts throughout the years. Carl Zeiss Jena also conducted several lens updates and facelifts until the lens production was discontinued in 1976 shortly after the introduction of the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm 2.4.
- Made in East Germany
- 6 elements in 5 groups
- Mounts:
- Praktina mount
- Exa / Exakta Mount
- M42
Silver Version
The first version of the Flektogon 35mm 2.8 had a all silver finish. This first version was introduced in 1953 and produced until 1960. Early versions have an aperture scale going from f2.8 to f16 while later versions have f2.8 to f22. The all silver version was manufactured in M42, Praktina (1954-1959) and Exa/Exakta mount. This version as pre-set aperture settings. Aperture setting is click-less.
- Aperture scale:
- 2.8 – 16
- 2.8 – 22
- Minimum focusing distance: 36mm
- Aperture blades: 9
Black leather Focusing ring version
Following the all silver version, the Flektogon 35 2.8 received an update in 1963. The Flektogon now had the leather black focusing ring. Gone was the all silver finish. This new updated version now also had an improved minimum focusing distance of 18mm, enabling you to get even closer to your subject. Instead of 9 aperture blades, all subsequent Flektogon lens types now had 6 aperture blades. The aperture now closed all the way to f 22.
- Aperture scale: 2.8 – 22
- Aperture blades: 6
- Minimum focusing distance: 18mm
If you have pictures, please do get in touch.
Zebra version
The Zebra version is possibly the most common version. It was manufactured for a decade from 1965 until 1975. Aperture settings are with clicks.
- Aperture scale: 2.8 – 22
- Aperture blades: 6
- Minimum focusing distance: 18mm
All black version
The final all black version is pretty rare as it was only produced for a year from 1975 until the 2.8 Flektogon was discontinued in 1976.
If you have pictures, please do get in touch.
The first tested classic Biotar lens: Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2
The Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 classic lens adapted to a Sony alpha 7ii full frame mirrorless camera
It’s best not to buy a Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 classic lens without the quality label Q1 or without a Zeiss T coating if you’re looking for a lens with good image quality. If you check the lens offerings on e-bay, you will find many Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 lens offerings without the Q1 label or without Zeiss T coating.
Versions of the Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 lens; tested was the PRE-SET version made in 1953
Tested was the pre-set version without black aperture stripes and with 10 aperture blades: https://www.pentaxforums.com/zeiss-58mm-biotar/
The tested Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 lens has the quality label Q1 (left) meaning “Very good quality, above the average” and a red T label (right) for a Zeiss T coating (T stands for transparency).
Performance
Sharpness
The Flektogon is known as an especially sharp lens, but I didn’t quite expect it to be as sharp as it turned out to be. The clarity and definition was evident even from the first few shots.
Cropped image.
Close Up
One of the coolest features of the Flektogon is its minimum focussing distance, which lets you get extremely close to the subject – far closer than most other non dedicated macro lenses.
Bokeh
The out of focus areas render really nicely with the Flektogon, and there is a rather surprisingly shallow depth of field when shot open, even though the lens is ‘only’ f2.4.
The bokeh isn’t in yer face like with some other lenses, but is just the right amount to give an added bit of character.
Flare
The MC version of the Flektogon is extremely resistant to flare, even when shot directly into (or at an angle to) the sun. I tried pretty hard to make it happen and only got minimal results, as you can see below.
Whether or not this is a plus will be down to your own preference. I personally like lots of flare when shooting with vintage manual focus lenses, but not everybody does. So… if you shoot outdoors a lot and want to find an M42 lens which won’t flare constantly, this is a solid option. If you want more flare, then you might want to consider the later f2.8 model, as this is single rather than multi-coated – though I personally haven’t tested this out for myself.
The second tested classic Biotar lens: Helios 44M-4 58mm f2
The tested Helios 44M-4 lens was made in the (logo: ) located almost half way between St. Petersburg and Moscow, while the Zenit camera was made by (logo: ) about 40km west of Moscow.
In 1958, the Russians started to produce their copy of the Biotar 58mm f2 lens as Helios 44 58mm f2 lens. Here we see the later version, Helios 44M-4 58mm f2 made in 1990. Thanks to Sergii for lending the Camera and lens.
You can see more than 50 versions of the Helios 44 58mm f2 classic lenses here: https://radojuva.com/44-helios/ My tested Helios was the first multi-coated “MC” version h308 with 6 aperture blades.
Most Russian lenses indicate the year of production with the first two digits of the serial number.
The tested Helios 44M-4 58mm f2 lens has a serial number beginning with “90”, meaning it was produced in 1990.
CONs:
-
-
- Chromatic aberrations
- Flaring
- Slight sharpness falloff in the corners
- Not the prettiest bokeh
- Slight lack of contrast
- Not a forgiving lens
-
Don’t get me wrong, the Flektogon 2.8 is a great little lens but is has some drawbacks. There are reasons that the 2.8 was discontinued in favor of the faster Flektogon 2.4.
First of all the Flektogon 2.8 can have issues with flaring and chromatic aberrations. The coating used on the 2.8 are inferior to the 2.4, and it shows clearly in a lot of situations. Hard light sources and anything shinny are not the friends of the Flektogon 35 2.8. I would recommend using a lens shade as the front element is pretty exposed.
The lack of contrast can be a bit tedious sometimes. Images turn out rather flat. If you are more into colour photography I would recommend looking into spending a bit more on the newer Flektogon 2.4 35mm.
Another disappointment is the out of focus area. I know that this is totally subjective but I do not particularly like the bokeh of the Flektogon 35 2.8, especially on colour shots. It looks smudgy and loveless. It is rather blurry and not particularly pleasing to the eye. The Flektogon 35 2.4 performs much better when you stop down the lens.
Low light situations can also be tricky. When you shoot inside or at dusk and the light is not perfect, then the Flektogon 35 2.8 really struggles. Which is surprising when you consider that at f2.8 it is not a slow lens. But wide open the lens does not feel at ease. In these situations I would for example rather use a “slower” f3.5 35mm Takumar. Without the right light conditions the Flektogon 35 2.8 images lack clarity. This is where the age of this version of the Flektogon shows.
Overall the Flektogon 35 2.8 is a good and interesting lens but it has a few flaws. I would not recommend this lens to a beginner but rather for a more seasoned vintage glass shooter who wants to diversify the looks in his lens arsenal. It is not the easiest lens to shoot with and results do vary a lot.
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Both classic Biotar 58mm f2 lenses are an important part of lens history
The famous lens designer Dr. Willy Merté created the Biotar at Carl Zeiss. It was an optimized successor of the Planar lens, which was designed in 1936 as the Biotar 58mm f2 “kit lens” for the Kine EXAKTA 35mm camera — the most innovative 35mm film camera before World War II. For the mathematical calculation of the Car Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2, 480 calculation steps were necessary, which resulted in a manuscript of 3200 pages closely described with numbers, on which 2 “human computers” worked for 3 years (Johannes Steiner: Fototaschenbuch 1959, Halle, 1958, page 156 and page 256).
Dr. Merté left Jena for Oberkochen in 1945 to help establish Carl Zeiss West Germany; he was under American protection, as were many of the company’s employees. In 1947, Dr. Merté went to the Unites States at the offer of the Institute of Optics of Boston University. He died the following year after a short illness in Dayton, Ohio.
The Kine EXACTA camera, which started being produced in 1936, and the Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2 lens as kit lens
In 1949, Carl Zeiss Jena introduced the Contax S camera, the world’s first 35mm SLR mirror camera with an eye-level prism view finder and interchangeable lenses, and the Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2 lens became the standard “kit lens” of the technically advanced Contax S camera.
In 1949, Carl Zeiss released the world’s first 35mm SLR camera with an eye-level prism viewfinder and exchangeable lenses, the Contax S camera with the Biotar 58mm f2 as kit lens
The Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f2 lens was produced in several versions from 1936 until 1960, while the Russians produced their own versions of this lens as Helios 44 58mm f2 from 1958 until 1992. The Helios 44 lenses were in production for 34 years in several versions and served as the standard kit lens for their Zenith 35mm SLR cameras. The Helios 44 58mm f2 family of lenses, produced in the millions, are probably the most widely produced analog lenses in the world.
What it can do on Micro Four Thirds
On a Micro Four Thirds camera, the 135/3.5 acts like a 270 mm telephoto lens would on a traditional 35 mm film camera. Get yourself a matching M42 adapter for your own camera, and you can use this lens right away. It can be near focused to 1.o metres (object to sensor distance), giving a magnification ratio of about 1:5.2 with an image area of about 68×88 mm – good for big butterflies and dragonflies without any extension tubes. Incidentally, the Panasonic 45-200 focuses to the same distance and gives 1:5. You have to set it to 200 mm to match the 135/3.5 at close focus. This is pretty normal for today’s zoom lenses with internal focusing.
Here’s a not-too-scientific series of shots from f/3.5 to f/8. I’d say that between f/3.5 and probably around f/5, you clearly see how lens performance and sharpness improve as the aperture is closed. From then on, it’s more a question of depth-of-field than anything else. One thing that I noticed is that manual focusing is really hard, if you really want to make sure you’re 100% spot-on. Switching to the screen loupe and then using focus peaking would be the best – but there’s no Olympus camera that offers focus peaking yet.
(All images were shot on a tripod with remote flash lighting. The RAW files were developed with Adobe Lightroom, using standard sharpness settings.)
IHB 317. (Sonnar 135/3.5 at f/3.5.)
IHB 317. (Sonnar 135/3.5 at f/4.)
IHB 317. (Sonnar 135/3.5 at f/4.5.)
IHB 317. (Sonnar 135/3.5 at f/5.6.)
IHB 317. (Sonnar 135/3.5 at f/8.)
At maximum magnification on the E-M5 screen, I noticed that there is not a single exact focus point as the lens exhibited some sort of astigmatism (my not too well-educated guess). You can see how very small details are elongated a tiny little bit and how the direction of this elongation switches roughly 90 degrees when you go through the focus point. I’ve seen similar things happen on astronomical telescopes with astigmatism. Probably a more scientific test could show if my guess is right or not. In practice, it just means that stopping down a bit is required to get rid of this error. I am very sure you’d never notice this stuff on a Canon 6D, for example. But the high pixel density of the Micro Four Thirds sensors shows small optical errors like this more clearly. This ain’t no modern Leica lens.
Here are two comparison shots taken with the Panasonic 45-200 at f/5.6 and f/8. At this distance (about 1.5 metres), the Panasonic had to be set to 175 mm to yield the same field of view. Contrast is a bit better on the Panasonic, most likely because of the more modern coatings. But the images are clearly less sharp and less clean than the 135 Sonnar, especially around the image borders. I also noticed that both the foreground and background look a bit harsher but also more blurred than on the 135 Sonnar shots at corresponding aperture settings. I have no idea why – probably there’s a slight variation in the actual aperture compared to the EXIF readout. Or just something more esoteric going on. 
IHB 317. (Panasonic 45-200 at f/5.6.)
IHB 317. (Panasonic 45-200 at f/8.)
Verdict?
At this point, I’d say that the optical quality of any one of the better old 135s is sufficient to use it for high-resolution images with a Micro Four Thirds camera. Okay, you already knew that, didn’t you? What surprised me, though, is just how easily this sample of an old lens surpassed the modern zoom with regards to image quality.
The image quality of the 135/3.5 on the E-M5 chip is good, but not flawless in any way. Stop it down to about f/5 and the quality for close-up shots should be really good, though. I haven’t tried it at infinity yet.
My much bigger concern is how easy a lens like this will be to use under everyday shooting conditions – hand-held, with probably moving subjects and manual focus only. You can set up your E-M5 such that the image stabiliser is active when you half-press the shutter button. This helps a great deal with focussing! But, overall, I guess here the old saying goes for anyone of us…. your mileage may vary!
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Rundown
Holy moley, both classic Biotar type lenses perform surprisingly well compared to the modern Canon EF 50mm f1.8 digital lens on the Sony alpha 7ii full frame camera. Some people say the German and Russian Biotar lenses from Carl Zeiss Jena and Helios are not sharp enough in the corners for landscape photography.
In my opinion, stopped down to aperture f8, both tested lenses show sufficient sharpness in the center and the corner to deliver a good image quality on the Sony alpha 7ii full frame sensor for landscape photos.
At open aperture f2, both Biotar lenses excel if you like a lens with a sharp center and a unique and very beautiful bokeh with a lot of character. If you look at the photos in the gallery above, its no wonder that the Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 classic lens is praised at so many other websites and in so many YouTube videos.
But the image quality of classic lenses is very dependent on the serial dispersion in quality and on the conservation level of the respective individual pieces. In this respect, I may have been lucky to have tested two Biotar lenses that were of above average image quality.
The image quality of the German and Russian Biotar lenses are so similar that you can save around EUR 150 without being disadvantaged by buying a Helios 44M-4 58mm f2 for approx. EUR 50. It’s best to avoid the Helios 44M-5, 44M-6 or 44M-7 lenses though; it’s highly likely that you’d get an over-priced 44M-4 lens with “fake lettering” instead.
On a Sony a6100 camera with 24 megapixel APS-C sensor both lenses performed quite well, look at following blog post “More than Swirly Bokeh“:
PROs:
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- Minimum focusing distance
- Loads of character
- Built quality
- Sharp in the center
- Good for black and white photography
- Distortion is not too bad
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The Flektogon 35 2.8 is a beautifully made lens, as you would expect from Carl Zeiss Jena. Both the early silver version and the follow up versions are well balanced. Focusing is buttery smooth and aperture settings are easily set. The lenses feel very solid – but also somewhat heavy. Overall the ergonomics are nice and the lens is easy to use.As any Flektogon lens, the minimum focusing distance of the 2.8 version is pretty impressive. The early version has a minimum focusing distance of only “36 cm”, but this was improved to 18cm with the follow up versions. This allows you to get pretty close to your subject.
Image sharpness is pretty remarkable for such an old wide angle lens, at least in the center of the image.
100% crop
The lens manages to capture a lot of details, which is not a given for an old wide angle lens.
There is some falloff and vignetting in the corners. This gives the lens an interesting look, almost film like look. This can be pretty handy for landscape shots for example. If you enjoy landscape photography and want to have some natural vignetting the Flektogon 2.8 will be a lot of fun. On a beautiful, sunny day you will be able to take pretty shots with a lot of character. If you like slight vignetting and softer corners for a distinct vintage look, this lens is for you.
The Flektogon 35mm 2.8 is also pretty good at keeping distortion to a minimum. Distortion does occur but like with most Flektogon lenses, it is not that bad. This makes the Flektogon 35mm 2.8 an affordable wide angle lens for architectural photography.
Since the lens is pretty prone to flaring and all sorts of effects, it is also pretty nice when you do longtime exposures at nighttime to capture light-trails. If you like your lenses to have a slight artistic imperfection, the Flektogon 35mm 2.8 is a good option as it is very versatile and never gets boring.
The Flektogon 35 2.8 comes from a time when black and white photography ruled the world. And for this purpose the 35 2.8 is superb. The somewhat contrast-less images turn out really nicely in black and white.
My Experience
Purely from an aesthetic perspective, the Flektogon is fairly unremarkable. It is pretty plain looking (the PB version especially) and with the Sony adaptor it ends up feeling far ‘longer’ than a 35mm lens should. For this reason, I found it difficult to get all that excited about – at least in comparison to some of the other vintage manual focus lenses in my collection. That might seem trivial, but the experience of shooting with old lenses is important, and is something that often dictates how much it will end up on your camera.
All of that said… even though it may look ordinary and feel a bit awkward, the Flektogon has really grown on me, and it’s now the one lens that always ends up in my bag for portrait shoots. I love the images I get, and they have an undeniable technical quality to them; sharp, with colours and contrast that seem to really pop. I don’t have any technical data to back this up, but they also always seem to respond well to post-processing. Long story short, this is a pretty sweet lens. I never thought that one of my favourite vintage lens would end up being a 35mm f2.4, but there you have it. I only wish that its physical appearance had a bit more character.
The bottom line is that the Flektogon is a solid, consistent performer which is a superb all rounder, and I default to using it in many situations for that reason alone.
