Does anyone use the Zeiss Sonnar T 85/2.8 lens?

[Guest]

Does anyone use the sonnar T* 85mm 2.8 lens ? iI am going to buy an Aria body shortly and i wish to purchase the above lens but have been unable to find much information about it ,as to to its picture quality are the images good at 2.8 etc.. it seems a lens little used by people.
A salesman has tried to put me off and told me to go for the 85mm 1,4 as he says it is a better lens i know its faster but it is alot heavier.
Thanks for your help.Have G1 plus 45mm at the moment want to go back to an slr..
Marcus

 

[Guest]

i'm also thinking of buying the same lens for my Aria.I have a G2 and a 90mm sonnar.It's a good lens and the 85mm sonnar is meant to be the SLR version.Don't know any more i use the 90mm only on rare occasions,i prefer 45 for general purposes.I want to buy,when the money allows,a G1.
Mann

 

[Guest]

Thanks David for your reply.Alot of people seem to like the 45mm both on the G cameras and slr.
I will be selling my g1 to finance the aria.
Is the aria as good as the reviews say it is ?
I wish to get back into manual photography and the aria seems to have it all small size functions etc..
Marcus

 

[Guest]

Have no qualms about buying the 85/2.8. It's a fine lens at all apertures. I owned one for many years, and was always extremely pleased with it.

 

[Guest]

Well i have always thought about selling my Aria, but everytime i use it i say "Na,this is a gem of a camera!".I made a mistake by buying an R8,beautiful desing but heavy and probably would get stollen if doing street photography. The Aria is anonymous,you can take it anywhere.People rave about the R8 screen saying it is so bright,but the Aria is just as bright.BTW,i was thinking of selling my Aria to buy a Minolta Dynax 7,but i'm keeping it.Aren't we camera people funny!
David

 

[Guest]

hi,

I can tell you just good things about the 85/2.8. I used the older AE design, which is the same optical design as the current model, but slightly more metal.

I used to have it together with my 25/2.8 as my preferred combination. You basically need nothing else.

As a perfect match I would recommend you either the Aria (see also my review in this Forum under the topic contax caneras/aria) or the S2/S2b. I have not written a review about the S2, but it is a great manual-only camera.

If you are also thinking about the N1-system, I can tell you that the zoom N25-85 in position 85 is better than the 85/2.8 FFL. This is due to the much older design date of the FFL from the eighties..

dirk

 

[Guest]

> The Sonnar 85/2.8 is an excellent lens. I used both the AE and MM versions. It was one of my most used lenses. It is very good even wide open at f2.8. I eventually bought a MM 85/1.4 Planar which is a superb lens but much heavier, larger and more expensive. I do like to take portraits with the lens at f2 but if you don't need the wider apertures, I would go for the 85/2.8. The size and weight would make a nice package with the Aria. I've used mine quite a bit with some of the older more compact bodies like the 139 and 159. Aside from being more portable, the smaller lighter lens also looks a lot less intimidating to some subjects if you are looking for candids.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all of you for your comments and thoughts,I appreciate your answers and it looks like the aria and 85mm 2.8mm will be the setup I purchase .Will let you know .
Marcus

 

[Guest]

... before buying you might look also at the review of the aria for the pro and cons in the contax cameras section and the short overview with pro and cons in "which contax camera system for your needs"...

anyway it is nice to welcome you soon as a contax owner

dirk

 

[Guest]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and just found thsi thread.

I, myself, was always interested in this lens. I have a 50/35/25 and the 85 mm focal length just goes well with it.

I decided against it and got something else

Tokina AT-X Macro 90 mm 1:2.5

I hope I don't get bashed for enterign a third party lens as a suggestion. This lens is available on the used market and is simply outstanding. I did a lens test with this lens, and it is as good as the 50/1.4 Planar - simply outstanding.

It offers a little bit larger aperture (no big deal) and allows much closer focusing (obviously), which is great for filling the frame completely with the head when doing portraits - also wiht children.

It's a lens I wouldn't want to miss anymore and also shares the same filter size (55 mm) as the other lenses I own.

Just my $0.02

Roland

 

[Guest]

Here's a picture I took with the Tokina AT-X 90/2.5 of my son Matthias, making use of the close focusing ability of this lens.

The picture was taken handheld indoors at approx. 1/90 sec. I made a 30x45 cm print of this, and in the reflection of his eyes you can see the structure of the curtain and also the photographer.

This was the reason I sold my Mamiya 645 system...

 

[Guest]

Roland wrote: "Here's a picture I took with the Tokina AT-X 90/2.5 of my son Matthias"

Where?

Regards,

Jakob

 

[Guest]

I bought a barely used "Made in West Germany" 85mm f2.8 Zeiss for my Aria bodies and have NEVER in more than 50 years of photography, experienced a better short telephoto lens, including those for my Leica M2 and M3. It is sharp from wide open to as far as you want to close it down (never more than f8 for me, as it happens). Flare is non-existent. It is everything you could want in a lens. I imagine the Japanese-made 85 is excellent, because my 28 f2.8, 35 f2.8, 50 f1.4 and 135 f2.8 are all Japanese Zeiss and are all excellent. But there is something special about that 85 from the former West Germany, though, as I said in another post, I can't quantify the difference.

 

[Guest]

Tom Berry wrote:

"there is something special about that 85 from the former West Germany, though, as I said in another post, I can't quantify the difference."

In the case of the 85/2.8 I think that the lens barrel is actually different. Isn't the German barrel made of metal, with aperture-numbers etc. engraved?

The barrel of the Japanese lens is made of some plastic with the numbers only printed - less weight but will wear off more easily.

Jakob

 

[Guest]

Hi there everybody,
many thanks for all the information and comments about this lens I have realy appreaciated them.
I have purchased the aria plus the 85mm 2.8(the one made in Germany apparently they are not producing them at the moment they had a production run in the 90s then stopped so i was told ) it will arrive hopefully on Wednesday I am realy looking forward to its arrival I used to have a nikon 85mm 1.8 and years ago had the old tamron sp 90mm when it was made of metal,just have to sell my G1 now.
Thanks again Marcus

 

[Guest]

Hi I am now a proud owner of the 85mm 2.8 lens so I am clicking away lovely view through the aria realy crisp and clear lets hope the photos are as well it feels a nice combo just have to get used to manual focus as have not done that in a while ,ten years or so.
Marcus

 

[Guest]

I purchased one new 85mm 2.8 MM Germany recently and compared it with my 85mm 1.4 MM Japan side by side at 2.8 and 4.0 at infinity with tripod. Both lens exhibit same colour tone, resolution and contrast. At 5.6/60 and 8.0/30, 85mm 2.8mm shows very minor deteriation than it's F4.0/125. I am not sure whether it is because the mirror of Aria that caused vibration during low speed shutter.

Testing at medium distance. The 85 2.8mm is a bit better in sharpness. The 85 1.4mm is difficult in focusing as I found by several trial test, that there will be a deviation of focus plane at medium distance if you rely on microprism/ not matt laser to focus (microprism seems aiming the 2.8 to 11 portion while 1.4 to 2.0 actually shift a little away from 2.8 to 11 focus plane when not at infinity position). For 85 2.8mm, there is no such problem. Focus by microprism would match with what you focus at any distance.

Depth of field at same aperture is not the same for both lens probably because 1.4 has a larger front element that causing a larger projection of out-of-focus boken.

 

[Guest]

By Dirk on Monday, May 27, 2002 - 12:26

> If you are also thinking about the N1-system, I can tell you that the zoom N25-85 in position 85 is better than the 85/2.8 FFL. This is due to the much older design date of the FFL from the eighties..

Dirk, how on earth to you come up with THIS conclusion? Looking at the MTF graphs, the V-sonnar has poor tangential structures, even stoped down. It shows more vignetting and distortion (pincushion a pet hate of mine). It is also 1.3 stops slower. Can you elaborate in which respect you feel the V-Sonnar is better?

 

[Guest]

Hi Joachim,

of course the zoom is slower. But for 90% of my purposes, I do not need the wider aperture of 2.8 The trade off between smaller aperture but a wide zoomrange instead of changing always lenses is a decision everybody has to decide for himself.

My conclusion comes from my own shootings with both lenses side by side. This was not done scientifically, only handheld shootings, Fuji Velvia. Surprisingly the zoom was at par or better then the FFL. The sharpness was similar, but the contrast and color reproduction was better with the zoom.

If you look at the MTF charts, you will see similar curves in the center and the more you go to the corners the more the FFL wins. Surprisingly I did NOT see this on the film.

As you also can see in the charts, vignetting is with both so small, so that you will not see it normally on the pictures.

Distortion with the zoom is 2%, with the FFL 1.5% at the corner, so both not significantly. If you shoot architecture-pictures from buildings with only straight lines, then you might detect it with the zoom, but only with very very careful examination.

Stepped down, the zoom is even on par with my Leica M2.8/90 (newest design). This Zoom is just amazing, if you can live the few limitations.

Or lets say it differently: The FFL Zeiss 2.8/85 with a design from the 70ies is so good, that only a new lens design from the year 2000 can try to beat it/be on par with it.

dirk

 

[Guest]

What about using Sonnar 2.8/85 with Mutar I converter ? Vignetting or dark edges or no problems? Does anybody have experiences with this combination ?

Dieter