Originally posted by Fenwoodian Might be separation of cemented lens elements. Myself, I would not buy this lens even if it were offered for the price of the shipping.
Absolutely.
I made the mistake myself two times, buying a second hand Zeiss believing that these lenses are made to serve you for a long time, and will be just as good second hand as new. Well, no!
I have four newly bought Zeiss ZK lenses that are just as good as when I bought them 5 years ago, but that is clearly because I take very good care of them. And even then, parts may come loose inside over time.
But when taken less good care of, as with the makro planar 100mm f2 that I bought online second hand, the lenses may deteriorate quite a bit. It had a loose front barrel, and I sent it back to the store that sold me the lens. They promised to take care sending it to Zeiss, but when I heard nothing, I contacted them, and they faced a dilemma they said, because Zeiss would charge 600,- for service, and the lens "was essentially in top shape apart from a little play in the front barrel".
I contacted Zeiss and learned two things: service would cost approximately 250-300,-, and the lens was out of spec regarding image quality, so needed re-assembling/recalibrating, focus mechanism needed a complete overhaul, and there was dust in the lens.....
In short: I returned the lens and will enjoy my ZK85 instead.
Chris