I was able to acquire one of these very unique classic remakes from Omnar this weekend. Thought I do a progressive review. With only 20 made and MSRP of $2500, this probably is going to be a fun read for most rather than a purchase decision.
The Omnar 35mm f/3.5 Pantessa was originally used as a Tessar 3.5/35 lens by Carl Zeiss in the Yashica T, T3, T4 and T5 Super cameras. Some consider the T4 and T5 some of the best point and shoot film cameras ever made.
One of the unique traits of this lens is that it focuses down to 0.35mm making it a very versatile travel camera. When compared to the tiny Color Skopar 35mm f3.5 from Voigtlander, it's on a hair taller.
They also modified the optical formula to address focus shift and focus breathing using what they call Floating Lens Block (FLB).Tthe position of the optical block moves minimally within the lens housing when the aperture is adjusted. The result is the Pantessa remain accurate over the entire distance range from 0.65 meters to infinity. I can confirm that on M11.
Anyone interested in this lens? It has same specs as the wonderfully small CV Color Skopar 35 f3.5. However, the Pantessa can focus to 0.35m vs typical 0.7m for the CS. The price is outrageous given how great the CS already is. It certainly is a very intriguing lens for those of us who appreciate a lens cap 35mm.
