Hexanon 50mm 2.0 and ZI

[drjoke]

I just sent a first roll taken with Hexanon to the lab. I am hoping it will turn out fine. I hope this lens will have no issue with my Zeiss Ikon (i.e, front-focus, back-focus). I am also hoping this lens will compliment my ZM Sonnar 50mm for the more general shots. I also hope it's the right choice that I chose this over ZM Planar, or even Summicron.

 

[jja]

I have owned two copies of this lens and used them on several different Leicas. Its performance is outstanding and well within the tolerances of my own abilities. Post your photos when you get them back.

 

[drjoke]

All were taken with E100VS. This is also first time I tried this film. I am more used to Provia 400X. The images are very sharp. Sharper edge-to-edge than my ZM Sonnar 50mm. The images are not processed in Photoshop. I find these images to have much less POP than the Sonnar. I cannot explain why. May be I am used to the 3D glow that Sonnar has. It could be this film too. With Sonnar, I haven't been tempted to postprocess my images. But, with this lens I find myself very eager to play with increasing contrast and etc. I have no doubt about the sharpness of this lens. But somehow it doesn't have the same POP or PUNCH as the Sonnar. Can't really explain why.

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1588805531&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1588825363&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1594453893&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1589706566&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1595348360&size=o

 

[jja]

The color and sharpness on those is really outstanding. Nice compositions too--nothing to do w/ the lens. You should do some comparison of the lenses w/ the same film at f2 and above. I think these have plenty of pop, maybe the extra stop on the Sonnar makes the difference?

 

[aizan]

too much pop for me, colorwise. were these tweaked? i'm seeing a slight magenta cast....

 

[pvdhaar]

I've found the same, the Hexanon has tremendous resolution. But it doesn't achieve it through exagerated contrast. So what you get is a very sharp lens that doesn't bite. It's a superb people lens..

 

[YEGEY]

To make sure what "POP" you are talking about - can you post examples of it from the Sonnar? Maybe we mean different things, but I think Hexanon has a very good 3D effect, which may be considered as "pop".
So please post something that makes it "pop" from Sonnar and we can compare them to your Hex shots.

 

[drjoke]

All of these images are unprocessed.

All were taken with Provia 400X, except the fourth image which taken with Provia 100F

The first 4 were taken with ZM Sonnar 50mm. The last 2 were taken with Rollei Sonnar 40mm. Both Sonnar's show the POP (i.e., the contrast, the saturation, the depth, the 3D effect. The photographs look interesting enough already and appear to be finished products in themselves without requiring further processing effort IMO.

BTW I just finished one roll with Hexanon 50mm and Provia 400x. May be I will change my mind after I get it developed.

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1263133354&context=set-72157601734837314&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1325334399&context=set-72157601734837314&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=579183681&context=set-72157601734837314&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1132175679&context=set-72157601734837314&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=579183681&context=set-72157601734837314&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=579183663&context=set-72157601734837314&size=o

 

[drjoke]

Interestingly I figured it out. I took another roll with Provia 400X yesterday. The POP is caused by the film, Provia 400X. I think this just pretty much shows that I like Provia 400X much more than Koda E100VS.

 

[jja]

So now that you have got the "POP" back, how does the Hexanon compare to the Zeiss? I've really liked the Provia 100F I've used, so now I'll have to give the 400x a try.

 

[like2fiddle]

Nice shots above. I have the Hex 50 but I have to say, the more I see examples of the two side by side, the more I lean toward the Sonnar "look"

 

[drjoke]

I went back to the same place two days after. Now I use Provia 400X with Hexanon 50mm. So the the POP, saturation, contrast and all that is actually from the film. The images are now more comparable.

I see great potential in Hexanon. I am glad I got it.

At this point, I cannot say whether I like Sonnar or Hexanon more. They are just different. Yet, I can't really say either which situation is better for Sonnar or Hexanon. Hexanon has that glow too, just like the Sonnar. But, for sharpness alone, I really have to say Hexanon.

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1618181010&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1617297941&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1617300201&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1618188536&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1617307657&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1618195802&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1617316573&size=o

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1617319827&size=o

 

[2tcreative]

Love the Hex 50!! for both color and B&W. Here is a shot from my very first roll: