Carl Zeiss Jena lenses.

[cricketer5]

I purchased a made in Japan Carl Zeiss Jena 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 "Jenazoom" MC Macro lens about 20 years ago and am interested in the experience of others who may have used or are using this lens. A manual focus lens with a useful range for street photography and very well built. It produces images with excellent contrast and colour on my D200 and film cameras. Have not been able to find any information or a review about this particular Jena lens.

[PeterC]

I have the Zeiss 28-200 f/3.8-5.6 MC Macro. I haven't been able to find out much about it either. Says "Lens made in Japan under licence from VEB".
Great glass, but apparently not popular enough that anyone has bothered to write about it.

[2mnycars]

Hi cricketer5! Welcome!

[cricketer5]

Thanks Peter,
Mine states the same. A year or two ago I spent considerable time on obscure websites in an attempt to identify a history for these lenses. The Classical Camera forums had some info and stated that Zeiss contracted the manufacturing of Jena lenses to two or three countries. Surprisingly, those with some knowledge of Jena lenses were unaware that some were manufactured with Nikon mounts. The viewfinder of the Nikon D200 is recognised as being below par and obtaining sharp manual focus on slower lenses is not easy, therefore, I plan to test it on my F4s film camera. It will be interesting to see if others respond with additional information.

[g1975a]

"At the end of the war Jena was occupied by the US Army. When Jena and Dresden were incorporated into the Soviet occupation zone, later East Germany, Zeiss Jena was assisted by the US army to relocate to the Contessa manufacturing facility in Stuttgart, West Germany, while the remainder of Zeiss Jena was taken over by the (Eastern) German Democratic Republic as Kombinat VEB Zeiss Jena[1]. The occupying Russians took most of the existing Zeiss factories and tooling back to the Soviet Union as the Kiev camera works, which produced copies of the Contax and other Zeiss Ikon products.

The western business was restarted in Oberkochen (in southwestern Germany) as Opton Optische Werke Oberkochen GmbH in 1946, which became Zeiss-Opton Optische Werke Oberkochen GmbH in 1947, but was soon renamed to Carl Zeiss. West German Zeiss products were labelled Opton for sale in the Eastern bloc, while East German Zeiss products where labelled "Zeiss Jena" for sale in Western countries." -source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Zeiss_AG

[cricketer5]

Thank you for this comprehensive history. With so much relocation of the various manufacturing facilities, it's not surprising that reviews and user information is sparse. This is a pity considering the quality of construction and materials used in the one I own which was made in Japan.