Product Overview
Zeiss Tessovar 0.5x Cine and Photo Adapter with a Built-in Mechanical Shutter
Condition
Used and in good cosmetic shape; shows signs of normal use, including scuffs, scratches, and minor wear. Sold AS-IS and untested. The black barrel is engraved ZEISS, West Germany, 0,5x, Tessovar 1x, Cine 0,4x and 47 60 10-9901, all of it crisp and fully legible in the photos. The white crackle-finish shutter housing shows scuffs and small paint chips along its edges, and the black barrel carries fine scratches and handling marks consistent with lab use. The chrome mounting ring and the brass-toned threaded top port are bright with light tarnish. Through the front opening the shutter blades are visible and sit partly closed as photographed. The coated glass looks clear in the wide views; the tight macro of the inner element shows dust and small specks in the recess, which is what you would expect on an optic that has not been cleaned. The knurled plunger rod is present and the speed ring is marked T, then 1, 2 and 4, then 8, 15, 30, 60 and 125 against a red index. Nothing here has been metered, timed or put on a body by us.
Same or next business day shipping from our Idaho warehouse. Honest pricing, no nonsense.
Online since 1999. We are here for our customers, with a no-hassle satisfaction guarantee.
Product Overview
This is the camera-side adapter from a Zeiss Tessovar photomacroscope, part number 47 60 10-9901, the piece that carries the reducing optic and the leaf shutter between the zoom body and the film or sensor. The engraving spells out all three of its ratios: 0,5x on the optic itself, 1x through the Tessovar photo path and 0,4x on the cine path, so one block covered both the still and the movie camera ports on a Tessovar bench. Construction is classic Zeiss lab hardware: a black anodized barrel, a square white housing holding the shutter and its speed ring, a chrome mounting collar over a screw-threaded camera-side port, and a brass-toned threaded port on top for a metering or beamsplitter viewing head. The original listing's published Tessovar system figures give 0.8x to 3.2x at Stage II with the 0.5x lens, roughly 150 mm working distance, and coverage of a full-frame sensor or 6.5 x 9 cm film - verify those against your own zoom body and stage configuration before you commit to a setup, since they describe the system rather than this block alone.
Key Features
- Engraved identity: ZEISS, West Germany, 47 60 10-9901
- Marked ratios: 0,5x optic, Tessovar 1x, Cine 0,4x
- Shutter: built-in mechanical cine shutter with a knurled plunger rod
- Speed ring markings: T, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125 against a red index
- Mounting: chrome flange and threaded collar for the Tessovar zoom body coupling
- Accessory port: brass-toned threaded opening on the top face for a metering or beamsplitter head (head not included)
- Published system figures from the original listing: 0.8x to 3.2x at Stage II, approximately 150 mm working distance, full-frame or 6.5 x 9 cm coverage - not confirmed here, verify before use
- Stock of one, sold as the single photographed unit
Applications
- A microscopy technician rebuilding a Tessovar stand who has the zoom body and stage but is missing the camera block
- A university lab imaging specialist adapting an old Tessovar to a modern full-frame body and needing the original reducing optic in the path
- A collector of Zeiss West Germany instruments completing a Tessovar set with a correctly marked 47 60 10-9901 adapter
- A camera repair shop harvesting a period leaf shutter and its speed ring for a restoration project
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the shutter work?
Not confirmed. We did not fire, time or meter it. The plunger, the blades and the marked speed ring are all present and photographed, but the actual timing and blade behavior are for you to check on the bench before you build a session around it.
Why does it say 0,5x, 1x and 0,4x when the title says 0.5x?
Those are three different points in the same light path, and Zeiss engraved all of them. The optic inside is the 0,5x element; through the Tessovar photo port the result is 1x, and through the cine port it is 0,4x. The photos of the barrel show the full engraving so you can match it against your own documentation.
What is the threaded port on the top for?
It is the accessory opening a Tessovar used for a metering or beamsplitter viewing head. Only the opening is here. No head, no eyepiece and no metering electronics are included, and we make no claim about what specific accessory threads into it.
What exactly is in the box?
The single adapter block you see in these photographs and nothing else: no lenses, no beamsplitter, no camera back, no zoom body, no caps and no packaging beyond what we ship it in.
It is used and untested, so what am I really taking on here?
You are taking on the condition risk, and we would rather say that plainly than dress it up. This is a one-of-one Zeiss block pulled from service, sold AS-IS, with a shutter nobody has timed and an optic nobody has cleaned. What you get in exchange is a specific photographed piece with its part number legible on the barrel, rather than a mystery lot where the Tessovar parts are described by someone who never took the picture. Ten photos, including macros of the glass and the shutter throat, are the spec - if a scratch or a speck would end the project for you, look hard before you buy. This one clears our free-shipping line on its own, and orders leave the Idaho warehouse the same or next business day.
Zeiss built the Tessovar for people whose photographs had to hold up as evidence, and this little white block is where the exposure actually happened. Put it back between a zoom body and a camera, and let it start counting light again.
