kipkeston
Well-known
What do you think? Purely in terms of character.
sebastel
coarse art umbrascriptor
honestly?
i think, "characterwise" a biogon is closer to a biogon.
i think, "characterwise" a biogon is closer to a biogon.
italy74
Well-known
Not sure if it can helps...
BiogonLinks
A lens with an angle of view so wide that it can capture very much of the life around us in a single frame – this is what the name originally means.
Typical Biogon® lenses:
Biogon T* 2.8/21 lens for the Contax G System.
Biogon T* 4.5/38 lens for the Hasselblad SWC Superwide Camera.
A focal lenght only half the diagonal of the film frame, produced with an almost symmetric lens design of surprising compactness, featuring the typical advantages of symmetrical lens designs: distortion is extremely well controlled, and so is color correction and image field flatness.
Combined with extreme precise manufacturing these properties make for an outstanding wide angle optic with high resolution, an excellent documentation tool.
This is exactly what is needed in aerial mapping photography, a field where Carl Zeiss has played a leading – even revolutionizing – role worldwide for almost a century, hence the expertise to design and manufacture such an outstanding high-performance lens like the Biogon T* 4.5/38 lens, invented by Dr. Ludwig Bertele at Carl Zeiss in 1953.
Since the last vertex is located only 18.8 mm away from the film plane, no viewfinder-mirror can be placed between Biogon lens and film. So Biogon lenses cannot be used with SLR type cameras. On the other hand is the performance of the Biogon so outstanding, that this lens is worth a precision camera body of its own:
The famous Hasselblad Superwide Camera SWC, the state-of-the-art wide angle device in medium format for almost 50 years and the premium choice for those who demand the utmost in wide angle performance on earth and in space.
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BiogonLinks
Typical Biogon® lenses:
Biogon T* 2.8/21 lens for the Contax G System.
Biogon T* 4.5/38 lens for the Hasselblad SWC Superwide Camera.
A focal lenght only half the diagonal of the film frame, produced with an almost symmetric lens design of surprising compactness, featuring the typical advantages of symmetrical lens designs: distortion is extremely well controlled, and so is color correction and image field flatness.
Combined with extreme precise manufacturing these properties make for an outstanding wide angle optic with high resolution, an excellent documentation tool.
This is exactly what is needed in aerial mapping photography, a field where Carl Zeiss has played a leading – even revolutionizing – role worldwide for almost a century, hence the expertise to design and manufacture such an outstanding high-performance lens like the Biogon T* 4.5/38 lens, invented by Dr. Ludwig Bertele at Carl Zeiss in 1953.
Since the last vertex is located only 18.8 mm away from the film plane, no viewfinder-mirror can be placed between Biogon lens and film. So Biogon lenses cannot be used with SLR type cameras. On the other hand is the performance of the Biogon so outstanding, that this lens is worth a precision camera body of its own:
The famous Hasselblad Superwide Camera SWC, the state-of-the-art wide angle device in medium format for almost 50 years and the premium choice for those who demand the utmost in wide angle performance on earth and in space.
italy74
Well-known
(As above, from the Carl Zeiss site, OF COURSE!!!)
PlanarLinks
The famous symmetric lens design invented by Dr. Paul Rudolph at Carl Zeiss in 1896. The Planar® lens is the most successful camera lens design – and, by the way, the most plagiarized – ever created. It provides the lens designer with numerous means to correct aberrations extraordinarily well. And its performance is very constant over a wide range of imaging ratios, enabling such a versatile lens variety as the Makro-Planar lens.
Typical Planar lenses:
Makro-Planar T* 2.8/60 lens for Contax/Yashica
SLR Cameras.
Makro-Planar T* 4/120 CFE lens for Hasselblad Medium Format Cameras.
The ideal basis for high-performance lenses with great color correction, high speed, flat image plane (this is where the name comes from) and low distortion. The Planar design is the basis for nearly all professional "workhorse" lenses on earth and in space today, and for the fastest lenses ever created. The fastest lens in the Hasselblad range is of course a Planar lens: the Planar T* 2/110 FE lens.
PlanarLinks
Typical Planar lenses:
Makro-Planar T* 2.8/60 lens for Contax/Yashica
SLR Cameras.
Makro-Planar T* 4/120 CFE lens for Hasselblad Medium Format Cameras.
The ideal basis for high-performance lenses with great color correction, high speed, flat image plane (this is where the name comes from) and low distortion. The Planar design is the basis for nearly all professional "workhorse" lenses on earth and in space today, and for the fastest lenses ever created. The fastest lens in the Hasselblad range is of course a Planar lens: the Planar T* 2/110 FE lens.
italy74
Well-known
SonnarLinks
A lens design with relatively few glass-to-air surfaces, invented by Dr. Ludwig Bertele at Carl Zeiss in 1930 to provide the fastest lenses of that day for 35 mm photography offering speeds up to f/1.5 and well controlled veiling glare.
Typical Sonnar® lenses:
Sonnar T* 2.8/180 lens for Contax SLR Cameras.
Sonnar T* 4/150 CFi lens for Hasselblad Medium Format Cameras.
This is where the name comes from, containig the German word for sun, ’Sonne’, the symbol of utmost brightness. Since the Planar lens with its many glass-to-air surfaces could successfully take over the ’fastest lens’ role from the Sonnar lens, after Dr. Alexander Smakula at Carl Zeiss invented anti-reflex coating in 1935, the Sonnar design turned out its other virtues. Today it is the basis for compact high-performance medium telephoto lenses with speeds up to f/2.8, very elaborate correction of lens errors (in the case of the Sonnar T* 5,6/250 CFi lens and the extreme case of the Sonnar Superachromat 5,6/250 CFE lens), incorporating expensive optical glass types, and offering very even corner-to-corner illumination.
Typical Sonnar® lenses:
Sonnar T* 2.8/180 lens for Contax SLR Cameras.
Sonnar T* 4/150 CFi lens for Hasselblad Medium Format Cameras.
This is where the name comes from, containig the German word for sun, ’Sonne’, the symbol of utmost brightness. Since the Planar lens with its many glass-to-air surfaces could successfully take over the ’fastest lens’ role from the Sonnar lens, after Dr. Alexander Smakula at Carl Zeiss invented anti-reflex coating in 1935, the Sonnar design turned out its other virtues. Today it is the basis for compact high-performance medium telephoto lenses with speeds up to f/2.8, very elaborate correction of lens errors (in the case of the Sonnar T* 5,6/250 CFi lens and the extreme case of the Sonnar Superachromat 5,6/250 CFE lens), incorporating expensive optical glass types, and offering very even corner-to-corner illumination.
italy74
Well-known
TessarLinks
Based on special high refractive glass types invented by Schott glass works and a lens design by Dr. Paul Rudolph the Tessar® lens became world famous for its sharpness: ”the eagle eye of your camera”. The original Tessar lens is a 4-element design – this is expressed by that name, referring to the Greek word ’tessares’, which means ’four’.
Typical Tessar lenses:
Tessar T* 2,8/45 lens for Contax SLR Cameras.
Tele-Apotessar T* 4/400 lens for Contax N Cameras.
The Tessar approach leads to compact lenses with low weight.
The Tele-Tessar lens design, invented by Dr. Willy Walter Merté at Carl Zeiss in 1919, can enable stunning things like channeling a 500 mm f/8 image ray bundle of 63 mm diameter through a central shutter with only 24 mm opening diameter!
The Tessar design is the preferred approach, when weight and bulk need to be kept low, which is always desirable with long telephoto lenses of 350 mm and beyond.
Typical Tessar lenses:
Tessar T* 2,8/45 lens for Contax SLR Cameras.
Tele-Apotessar T* 4/400 lens for Contax N Cameras.
The Tessar approach leads to compact lenses with low weight.
The Tele-Tessar lens design, invented by Dr. Willy Walter Merté at Carl Zeiss in 1919, can enable stunning things like channeling a 500 mm f/8 image ray bundle of 63 mm diameter through a central shutter with only 24 mm opening diameter!
The Tessar design is the preferred approach, when weight and bulk need to be kept low, which is always desirable with long telephoto lenses of 350 mm and beyond.
italy74
Well-known
DistagonLinks
When wide angle views go to extremes and beg the control via an SLR viewfinder, which means that the back focal distance has to be much larger than the focal length, a retrofous design called Distagon® is the right choice.
It enables extreme angles of view like the Biogon® and far beyond – the F-Distagon® T* 3.5/30 CFi lens fish-eye lens covers 180 degrees, the widest in medium format – and with floating elements (FLE) in the Distagon T* 4/40 CFE lens and the Distagon T* 4/50 CFi lens field flatness and high performance are maintained even close-up.
Typical Distagon Lenses:
Distagon T* 4/40 CFE lens for Hasselblad Medium Format Cameras.
F-Distagon T* 3.5/30 CFi lens for Hasselblad Medium Format Cameras.
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It enables extreme angles of view like the Biogon® and far beyond – the F-Distagon® T* 3.5/30 CFi lens fish-eye lens covers 180 degrees, the widest in medium format – and with floating elements (FLE) in the Distagon T* 4/40 CFE lens and the Distagon T* 4/50 CFi lens field flatness and high performance are maintained even close-up.
Typical Distagon Lenses:
Distagon T* 4/40 CFE lens for Hasselblad Medium Format Cameras.
mfogiel
Veteran
kipkeston
The Biogon is a sharp, rectilinear lens, it will be just a tad less clinical wide open, so apart from the angle of view it resembles the Planar a lot (the Planar is very sharp already at f2.0). The C Sonnar is in a class of its own, and it has a particular mix of sharp/unsharp contrasty/soft which makes it so unique. I do not know of any RF or SLR lens in production today which has similar characterristics.
The Biogon is a sharp, rectilinear lens, it will be just a tad less clinical wide open, so apart from the angle of view it resembles the Planar a lot (the Planar is very sharp already at f2.0). The C Sonnar is in a class of its own, and it has a particular mix of sharp/unsharp contrasty/soft which makes it so unique. I do not know of any RF or SLR lens in production today which has similar characterristics.
kipkeston
Well-known
I think that about answers it! But feel free to add. I was just curious.
Turtle
Veteran
yes, the biogon and planar produce images with similar looks. I own both. Cannot comment on sonnar from experience but as people agree the sonnar and planar are chalk and cheese the biogon is not going to be anything like the sonnar.
Johann Espiritu
Lawyer / Ninja
The Biogon and the Planar produce results that are quite similar to each other in terms of distortion (or lack of it), bokeh, and overall character.
I have a few samples of both. Do a search on my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yophoto/
Hope that helps.
I have a few samples of both. Do a search on my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yophoto/
Hope that helps.
awilder
Alan Wilder
It depends on the aperture. The Sonnar exhibits a some veiling blur over the entire image from f/1.5-f/2 due to moderate undercorrected spherical aberration (SA). By f/2.8 things improve significantly and by f/4 sharpness is on par with the Planar due to these apertures snuffing out the effects of the SA. Therefore, I'd say it's closer to the Planar if we're including full aperture. The ZM 21/4.5 Biogon I own is free of all aberrations wide open except a bit of corner light falloff which is resolved within a stop down. But at f/4.5, all of these lenses do about the same.
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