Unusual Sonnar mount

[Gbigazzi]

Hello! Does anybody know what mount this sonnar f2 is for? It came on a cooke & Perkins adapter that had an inner thread to accommodate it..it looks Zeiss to me but I could be wrong

 

[Ian Grant]

Welcome, we'd need to know the thread size, maybe a photo of the front elements.

Ian

 

[Gbigazzi]

Here are more photos, threaded part is 6mm. The cooke and Perkins helical looks like a contax Leica adapter with an internal thread

 

[Ian Grant]

The lens is pre-WWII made 1938/9, it looks like the Cook & Perkins Helical may be later. There are references to military lenses being remounted in Cook & Perkins focus mounts/helicals for civilian use after the war. It will be difficult to ascertain the original use of the lens.

It does look like the helical may accept the Contax mount Sonnar as well, they aren't normally threaded internally. The company were based in Pembroke Works, London, N10, they made lens barrels etc for Dallmeyer, and Taylor, Taylor, & Hobson (Cooke) as well.

Ian

 

[Gbigazzi]

Thanks Ian, yes I have seen a few and I haven’t seen any threaded internally. I tried another sonnar and fits nicely, although it’s missing the locking part.
Could it be a mount for an aerial camera perhaps?

 

[markjwyatt]

per S/N the lens is part of a batch of 200 Contax lenses that also included some Contaflex lenses, 1938. From Halmut Thiele, CZJ Fabrikationsbuch.

 

[Ian Grant]

Thanks Ian, yes I have seen a few and I haven’t seen any threaded internally. I tried another sonnar and fits nicely, although it’s missing the locking part.
Could it be a mount for an aerial camera perhaps?

It should be a Leica screw thread M39 mount. It seems they made all the focus helicals for post WWII lenses from Ross, TT&H, as well as Dallmeyer.

In the period after WWII Import restrictions meant you needed a special licence to Import cameras and lenses into the UK, but many were brought from Germany by service personnel. It was only in 1950 restrictions were lifted.

Ian

 

[Gbigazzi]

Indeed it is a m39 thread, maybe cooke & Perkins provided a lens conversion service after the war ? The sonnar mount could be aerial seen as it has no helical or contax bayonet, not sure we’ll ever know for sure