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Just got my S2

simpletai

New Member
I'm excited about the new camera and just got my S2. I actually found it at a local camera shop brand new. It's jut been sitting in the box!!!

I was looking into a wide angle lens. Any recommendations?

Thanks
Tai
 
How wide do you need to go? And what's your budget? The lenses range from 45mm down to 15mm. There is also a Zeiss 35mm Perspective Control lens (I opted for the Schneider 28mm). And there are some zooms that cover the wide-angle range, too.

The fast lenses were made in Germany and have rather high price tags, even now.

I have the following lenses:
Vario-Sonnar 35-70mm f3.4 (my favourite)
Vario-Sonnar 28-70mm f3.5 (rarely gets used)
Distagon 25mm f2.8
Distagon 18mm f4
Schneider PC-Super Angulon 28mm f2.8

Here is a list of the lenses that were available - as far as I can see, Zeiss no longer keep any data on the old ranges.

http://www.contaxcameras.co.uk/slr/slrmanlenses.asp

Nick
 
I think I'm leaning towards the 25mm or 28mm focal range. Is there a significant difference in the two in terms of IQ? Also how does Schneider glass compare? I actually love Schneider results from my Rollei.

Thanks!
 
What do you mean by IQ? As far as I'm concerned, it means Intelligence Quotient and refers to a person's level of understanding.

I can't do a like-for-like comparison of the Schneider 28mm lens, as the only Zeiss lens I have of that focal length is the 28-70mm zoom and it would be unfair to compare a zoom against a prime.

The Schneider lens is rare and expensive secondhand as it is a Perspective Control lens. The Zeiss 35mm version is probably rarer still, as the Schneider has adaptors that allow it to fit a range of different camera bodies so more would have been sold. The Zeiss was only available in Contax/Yashica mounts (would there have been a Rollei version?), so you'd had have to be a very keen, and well-heeled, Contax owner to afford one.

I do find that the shift facility of the Super Angulon needs a great deal of bracketing to get a properly exposed image. I really need to carry out some test films to determine by how much the exposure meter settings need to be adjusted to get the correct exposure - they're generally too dark.

Nick
 
hi Nick,

You've been super helpful. You got me really interested in the 35 2.5 zeiss pc. Do you know if it's tilt and shift or shift only?

Thanks,
Tai
 
I know very little about this lens, I'm afraid. The Schneider allows you to shift the lens off-axis, and has detents that

Here's the official specification:

http://www.contaxcameras.co.uk/slr/slrmanlenses/pcdistagon35.asp


This article gives a little bit of information:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=22928


And running the Google search on Zeiss PC came up with:

http://www.pbase.com/chrismuc/zeiss_35f28pc

http://www.leitax.com/conversion/contax/PC-Distagon_35-2.8/index.html

http://www.16-9.net/lens_tests/35mm_shift/35mm_test1.html




There are currently three for sale on eBay.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=...+"f2+8"&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

None are cheap!

Nick
 
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