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Question On Carle Zeiss 28-70/F3.5-4.5 Vario Sonnar Macro

gunteach

Well-Known Member
Hello to all!

Does anyone here have any experience with the CZ 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 VS Macro Multi-Mode lens? I sort of have my eye on one on e-bay, thinking to use it as a "normal" lens for street scenes and general shooting with my 167MT.

I actually already own a CZ 28/2.8 and the 50/1.7, then I jump to an 80-200/4 VS which seems a little bulky most of the time. Does anyone have any thoughts about the general usefulness of this focal length range in a zoom? Is the high end too short do you think? I've used a 28-85 Yashica zoom for this purpose and found it to be pretty useful, but would prefer a CZ lens. Is there a better choice I should be looking for instead?

Any ideas on what I should be paying for this item? I've got about 4 days left on the auction. Thanks for any input.
 
For some reason it gets a bad rap, but very few people who comment have actually used the lens. I've read it does suffer form pretty visable distortion at 28mm but as you already have the 28mm prime I'm sure you'd use that for any images with straight lines, like buildings in a city scene. Only downside for street shooting is it's a pretty slow lens, most of the best street work is done working quickly hand held. These zooms normally improve when you stop down to f5.6/8 range so using 100ASA film is difficult in less than bright light. There is someone here shooting with it Vincent Di Pietro I think, maybe he'll jump in and give you the lowdown. Price range varies form $300-400 for a like new used model.
 
> Thanks Dermott..useful information. By the way, I ended up on an extended overseas trip. Did you sell your 85mm lens already? >
 
Dermot, guess I lost out on that one by not being quick enough to buy it from you!

As a follow-up question on this thread, what about the 28-85mm F3-3.4 CZ Vari-Sonnar? Anyone had any experience with this one? Would you prefer this to the 28-70 for what I have in mind? Any idea of what I'd have to pay for one in clean used condition?
 
The 28-85 Zoom is one of the very best zooms ever made. Great range and very sharp. The 35-70 is comparable but for architecture the 28-85 is a great focal length. With the 80-200 or the 135 2.8 you have it covered.
 
I wouldn't agree 28-85 is the very best, it has significant astigmatism. 35-70 has a very good 35 at f5.6, in fact, the 35 of 35-70 is even better than the prime 35 2.8 which also suffers from astigmatism. For the range 50-85 I recommend 35-135, which is the one I believe to be the very best.
 
I agree with Chi. The 28-85 isn't the best but still provides that Zeiss look ... and the 35-135 may well be one of the best zooms from any one ... but it is huge.

I have and use both lenses. The 28-85 provides a nice balance on cameras like the Contax ST or even RX (both of which I use) ... and is my favorite walk around lens on a Canon 20D.

The 35-135, while big and heavy, balances quite nicely on a Canon 1DMKII or 1Ds/1DsMKII and has that remarkable macro ability making it a lens that can cover 90% of my general shooting needs (pop a tiny 25/3.8 in my pocket and then 95% of the needs are covered ; -)

Balance and practicality of use sometimes cancels out some other less desirable traits. If a lens is easy to use and can be held and operated well, it can lead to making better photos ... just because you will use it ... it's just human nature.

28-85 is a great general range beat out only by a N camera with a 24-85/3.4 IMO ... which is my favorite general use zoom of all time (so far ; -)

Here's a grab shot of a friend's little boy taken in a dark restaurant using bad overhead available light ... 35-135 in macro mode on a Canon 1DsMKII with the ISO cranked up to overcome the darkness.

393277.jpg
 
I went off the 28-85 when it gave me noticeable barrel distortion at the 28 end on the walls of a castle in Wales. I expect that you can correct it in Photoshop but still... If I can find the picture, I will post it.
 
The 28-85 is indeed a great lens but I found it suffered badly from flare...for my use, strictly landscape at the time it was tripod mounted and I used the old velveeta 50. The lens hood is not avery good design and the front elenemt rotates which makes using polarizers very frustrating.

I found it better than the more recently vaunted (by digital shooters) 35-70mm but then that's me I shoot real world siutations not test charts.

I had an image published this year to poster size taken with the 28-85mm back in '97. I had submitted a 70mm dupe of the image to a publisihing house ages ago and forgot about it. I usually send my medium format images in to this particular company so I was a little worried the image would not hold up. I was suprised it looks pretty good...unless it's viewed side by side with a MF shot.
Again these were outdoor shots no straight lines, well some trees.....
 
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