6001 Lenses

[Bpyakd]

I have recently acquired a 6001 Professional with 80mm lens (EL but, hey, it's a start). Now time to start dreaming and saving for additional lenses.

Since this camera does not have on board metering (except for TTL flash), I'm wondering which additional lenses are compatible and recommended - i.e., in addition to the standard El, PQ and PQS line for the 6000 series.

Thanks for any info and advice.

 

[butlp]

According to Rollei, all 6000-series lenses including PQ or PQS lenses are compatible with your 6001 Professional. As for which is best for the 6001 in practical operation, I can't contribute any actual experience! The lens you have is excellent, and if shutter priority is OK, it allows manual metering because it has the aperture indicator arrow on the lens barrel, which the PQ and PQS lenses do not.

 

[Bpyakd]

Thanks Paul. I know that the 6000 series PQ and PQS are compatible. I was wondering if any of the non-PQ/PQS (older, less expensive???) might also be compatible with the 6001.

 

[butlp]

Wait, that's what you have, right? Does it say "PQ" or "PQS" on the front? If it just says "HFT" it is an earlier lens, such as I referred to in my earlier post. One more note: the Rolleigon lenses are also highly esteemed, and even more reasonably priced (equivalent to Rollei HFT, which are Zeiss designs).

 

[dirk]

...as far as I know the Rolleigons are neither a Zeiss design, nor are they manufactured by Zeiss. They are definitely not as goiod as the other Rollei lenses.

Rollei HFT lenses like the EL or also the 80/2.8 PQS, which have no Zeiss logo on it, are Zeiss designs, but manufactured by Rollei. That is why there is no Zeiss name on it.

The 80/2.8 EL lens by the way te same design as the 80/2.8 PQ. There is optically no difference according the MTF charts. This is the same with the 150 EL and 150 PQ, but NOT with the 50 EL and 50 PQ!

If you can see the Zeiss name on a Rollei lens, then both, the design and the manufacturing/assembling is made by Zeiss. This is definitely a quality criteria.

"...aperture indicator arrow on the lens barrel, which the PQ and PQS lenses do not....

I have a 80/2.8 PQ and it has the aperture arrow on the lens barrel....

"...I was wondering if any of the non-PQ/PQS (older, less expensive???) might also be compatible with the 6001..."

As far as I know all lenses, which were made for the SLX are compatible. But compatible means in this situation that you can use and attach them on the 6001, but you might not be able to use all functions of the 6001. The contacts are different between the SLX lenses and the PQ/PQS lenses. This is why not all information is communicated between the 6001 and the SLX lenses.

Dirk

 

[oculus]

Hi Ken,
I have just bought an SLX kit with 3 HFT lenses (50, 80, 250) as a backup to my year-old 6003 outfit. I have not tried swapping lenses yet (body is in for CLA), however, my reading and observations confirm the compatibility of the older lenses with the newer bodies was planned, and is as described above, but with these caveats: 1) while there are enough contacts, some of the metering capabilities (especially the 6008-specific metering tricks) cannot be performed with the older lenses, but since you don't have a meter, foggeddaboudit. 2) the older HFT lenses will audibly stop down a moment before shutter release, and give anyone not familiar with that momentary heart stoppage (or perhaps cause a subject/model to blink). 3) the older lenses are mostly Bay VI, whereas many of the newer versions are screw-in filter mounts. 4) the grips are different, and so are the attachable focus handles (older are leather-like and smooth; newer are rubber with nubs or ridges for gripping. And finally, 5) the costs of the older lenses have come down. This is why I decided to go for the SLX set, and sell my Pentacon Six TL kit. While the leaf shutter HFT lenses are still more expensive than the Carl Zeiss Jena/East German lenses for the Pent 6, they are virtually interchangeable with my main 6003 camera, and thus I eliminate the entire seperate bag of lenses (not to mention the dramatic difference in sophistication between the Pent 6 and SLX bodies/meters etc.)

I will note that the motors were upgraded in these lenses, I believe when the 6008 series came out (maybe earlier 6000) and the new motors are faster and stronger (and don't have that staged release factor above). I also believe they were part of the reason for upgrading the main fuses in the battery from .8 & to 1 and then to 1.2&s. Of course, the PQS lenses fire up to 1/1000, which I think your camera is capable of.

Anyway, you may use the older lenses and save some money, but consider the limitations I've mentioned when selecting them over a newer model. I know you'll enjoy the 6001, but bear in mind that you are missing what is arguably the BEST metering system on the market. It is truly astounding, so if you can find an upgrade to 6003 of 6008, you ought to consider that among your other (lens, prism finder (also compatible), etc) priorities.

Best wishes,
Ray Hull

 

[Bpyakd]

Ray and Dirk - Thanks to both of you for the very informative and helpful replies. Yes, I will be looking for a 6008i upgrade in the future (with the 6001 as backup) as and when funds permit. In the meantime, lottery tickets are the order of the day.

The 150 EL seems like the next item on the wish list and, conveniently, the ELs have both Bay VI and screw in capability.

 

[butlp]

The Rolleigon lenses were manufactured by Tokina of Japan, under license from Rollei. I have spoken with several professionals who have praised them highly. They share the high "contrast transfer function" and image definition across a range of apertures, of the German lenses.

I have read that no variation in optical performance between Zeiss-labeled lenses and Rollei lenses manufactured under license from Zeiss can be detected in tests. However, I haven't done any testing myself.

 

[dirk]

... it might interest some of you that we will have in autumn some interviews with Carl Zeiss about lens design improvements etc. This will start on our sister site contaxinfo.com and might be also made for Rolleiinfo and Hasselbladinfo.com, if there is enough interest from the users.

We will disclose more details about it as soon as we can. But it will be definitely a hot autumn on on our photo-sites

Dirk

 

[butlp]

I can't wait! This is what makes these sites so exceptional, Dirk. They are ahead of anything similar in the on-line community.