Earliest physical embodiments are nickel plated with black painted trim features. The aperture setting ring was initially a ring along the front outer barrel and later, as with other very early embodiments it has no filter accommodation, a knurled gripable ring, as shown in the genre illustration, at the very front of the lens.

Introduced in 1932 substantially the same time as the Sonnar 5cm f1.5 (7/3), this 5cm f2 (6/3) piece of optics was a less spectacular optical achievement but it is a wonderfully sharp performer, not just for that era but by even by modern standards. It was offered initially in a rigid mount only and later joined by a collapsible mount embodiment in which it was produced in great numbers.