Zeiss Lens Photos and Discussion

[Brian S]

I'm going to guess that this is now the oldest factory coated lens in Leica Mount.


coated_sonnar_m9 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

It is a 1936 Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm F1.5 Sonnar from a test batch of coated lenses.


czjsonnar_sn190_5 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

Originally in Contax RF mount, converted to Leica mount using a 60 year old Jupiter-3 mount. (J-3 had bad glass). It is "convertible" now, unscrews from one and back into the other mount.

And the coating is near perfect- glad to report successful life-test for coated optics.

 

[carstenw]

Very nice lens!

 

[Brian S]

First shots back from a walk in the neighborhood with the newly converted lens:

1936 CZJ Sonnar 5cm F1.5, wide-open on the M9.


grass1_f15 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr


leaf1_f15 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

And at F4:


grass1_f4 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr


leaf1_f4 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

I'm always amazed by the images from these 75 year old lenses.

 

[Cindy Flood]

Beautiful rendering from the old Sonnar. Dreamy wide open and sharpens up nicely when stopped down to f/4.

First shots back from a walk in the neighborhood with the newly converted lens:

1936 CZJ Sonnar 5cm F1.5, wide-open on the M9.


grass1_f15 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr


leaf1_f15 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

And at F4:


grass1_f4 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr


leaf1_f4 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

I'm always amazed by the images from these 75 year old lenses.

 

[Brian S]

Thankyou, Cindy.

Another walk this morning after the Fog lifted.

Wide-open at F1.5 on the M9:


leaf1_f15 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

100% crop. This conversion of this lens to Leica Mount came out quite good.


leaf1_f15crop by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

Focus is on the Drop of water on the end of the Leaf. "Sparkly Thing"

And of course, my favorite Model. F1.5 and 1/30th.


nikki1_f15 by zeiss_sonnar, on Flickr

 

[Cindy Flood]

I especially like the photo of your favorite 7th grader.

 

[philber]

Carsten, I have to agree with you on Lloyd Chambers, but not necessarily the way you think. When the Z* 35 f:1.4 came out, he was very vocal about there being "haze" wide open, which essentially made such shots useless. I bought the lens anyhow, found this not to be so. When I queried him, he waffled and said that this was "reduced contrast", and nothing else. Now he has just posted an addition, saying that the lens is actually sharp wide open, but only if you are very, very careful about focusing, pretty much the way he is. I was about to resubscribe, and now feel leess inclined...

From my end, Kinkakuji temple in Kyoto, with ZM 18 on NEX 5N

 

[RonSmith]

28/2.8 Distagon

20111211 a072b by Ronald S. Smith, on Flickr



85/2.8 Sonnar

20111210 028a by Ronald S. Smith, on Flickr

 

[carstenw]

Brian, I can't see your shots any longer?

Philippe, I am also not so impressed with his reporting in recent times, and probably will not resubscribe a third time.

Three recent shots from Meilenwerk, all 100MP:

 

[philber]

Love your first pic, Carsten, but the second one is even more to my liking! Great work! Great wheels, too!

 

[carstenw]

Thanks, Philippe! Funny, I think I like the third one the best, for the story it tells.

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

For some time I have been following this interesting thread and would like to contribute a little.

Michiel

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

Because of this thread I started to look more seriously into C/Y Zeiss lenses and bought, as a prelude to a NEX-7, the Zeiss 35-70/3.4 and the 80-200/4 zooms.
I think this could be a beautiful zoom kit for the NEX.

I do already own some Zeiss lenses in Contax mount; the 2 50thies and 35/2.8 and quiet a lot of Jena Zeiss lenses.

Here is a shot with the long zoom on the GH2. This is on full zoom, very far away, remember it is like a 400 on M4/3.

Michiel

 

[Steen]

Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4/50mm ZF

click for natural size (4.2 Mb ©)

in some browsers the F11 key maximizes and again minimizes <-> the web browser window


© • Nikon D300 • Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4/50mm ZF • 1/2 sec. at f/4 ISO 200 • Capture NX​

 

[Vivek]

A reflected UV capture on a hacked Panasonic GH-2 using an ancient CZ Topogon 1.3cm /3.5 lens, set-up specially to take a Baader U 2" filter.


Untitled by Vivek Iyer, on Flickr

 

[Steen]

Carl Zeiss Topogon 1.3cm ...


Talk about exotic lenses !
I can't remember I have ever even heard of a Carl Zeiss Topogon 1.3cm f/3.5
Where do you find all these strange and rare lenses, Vivek ?

That gray car(d) looks a little 'blushing'
If I were a private detective I think I would conclude the front had been repainted after a recent car crash, very suspicious ... :lecture:

 

[Vivek]

Steen, Thanks for your kind words!

It was just plain madness that made me buy the sample I have (40th made out of a total of 75) when it showed up for sale.

Marco Cavina has a brilliant (site) page that mentions this Topogon:

http://www.marcocavina.com/articoli_fotografici/Perimetar_Sphaerogon_Pleon/00_pag.htm

It was not easy to fit it to a GH-2 for photography. I had to tinker with the registry of the camera. The back focus is only ~10mm. Setting it up for UV was whole another story. It is miracle that I did not damage the lens or the cameras in the process!

On the two tone paint under UV- I was wrong with my initial interpretation. It was a factory original and many a new Opel, VW, etc have the same type of paint job. After much investigation, it turns out that they use this different types deliberately. The front part (though silver grey in Visible light) has a certain Mica content, possibly to deal with the airflow dynamics and that reflects UV differently than the rest of the body.

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

I have now 5 Contax Zeiss lenses, I popped in to many times in this thread and the Zeiss thread at FM, so I decided to pimp up my Contax Zeiss collection. :toocool:

From a series of harbour shots.

Michiel

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

Another one with the NEX-7 and the same lens.

Michiel

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

Same day, lens and camera.
Michiel