I made the mistake to call this lense a "Zeiss" when previously asking for information about this lense I recently acquired. The true denomination is "DOCTOR - WETZLAR - GERMANY" and it is effectively a 4.5/135 Tessar. Does anyone know anything about this lense? Apparently it was discontinued a couple of years ago and was described by the seller as "the very best 135 lense"...

Thanks in advance and Happy New Year to the large format community (and all who read this).

-- Thierry J. ROY (tjroy@totalise.co.uk), December 31, 2000

Answers

The comments on the tessar still hold. The tessar formula was used and is still being used for many four element lenses. I read a few years ago in View Camera that nearly 100 brands of lenses have been made around the tessar formula. It's like a lot of other things...it depends on how careful the manufacturer was in making the lens. For many years the tessar was considered one of the best lenses for general photography. In my opinioon it still is when cost is taken into consideration. Even the uncoated tessars have good contrast.

Regards,

-- Doug Paramore (dougmary@alaweb.com), January 01, 2001.

The Large Format Photography Home page has an article on Docter Optik lenses: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/docter-optik.html

-- Michael Briggs (michaelbriggs@earthlink.net), January 02, 2001.

I have used Doctar 135/4.5 lens. It was very sharp. Arne Croell (arne@sgi3.krist.uni-freiburg.de) said that it is as good as apo-ronar (but at a much less price). I would agree with that. Currently, I own a 600 mm and a 750 mm Doctor Apo-Germinars, and getting a 240 mm Apo-Germinar wide. I'm very happy with what I have. You can contact Sean Quigley in UK (sean@seanquigley.net) for more info. He is very experienced and knowledgeable with Doctar lens. I believe you can still buy new Doctar lenses at Mr. Cad. Just ask for Alex Falk. Happy new year!

-- Geoffrey Chen (DB45TEK@AOL.COM), January 03, 2001.