Zeiss Biogon 35 - The flare monster?

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I have a new Biogon 35 at home but I am rather disappointed. It flares heavily. When a strong light comes from the side I get weird flare effects on the photo. The photo is just not usable. That's one thing I didn't see in any of my photos taken with the CV 1.4/35mm. And I did use the hood from my CV on the Biogon (fits nicely). Below is a sample. The flare effect is in the upper right corner.

I read that one of the good attributes of the biogon is flare resistance.

Your opinion about the Biogon and flare please.

Thank you.
 

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Hi, I had one and will get another one soon. Im surprised you manage to get it to flare. I shot directly into the sun and still it doesnt flare. I guess you were at the right place at the right time 😉
 
as papercut says, could just be wrong place wrong time? I'd heard the biogon's flare control was supposedly much better than equivalent leicas.

as an aside, for the couple of years I've had it my 35mm f1.2 nokton has always shown excellent flare control, yet I got a suprise flare-out in my last roll:






although personally, I actually don't mind a bit of flare.
 
I took three films so far with this lens and had five photos that showed this or a similar behaviour. So probably I should ask zeiss what to do?
 
Have you used any filters on the lens?
I never had flare problems with mine

2203443317_f359ec1773_b.jpg
 
mfogiel said:
Have you used any filters on the lens?
I never had flare problems with mine
Click to expand...

No. No filter. I will do some detailed testing this weekend and burn a film or two on that and compare to my CV-lens.

I had one weird photos. Indoor scene and a person in front of me was lit by a lamp that was at an angle of 80-85 deg. to the left of me. The lower left corner of the photo is one big flare spot.

I have problems with the hexar rf and now with this lens :bang: Not a good sign for my analog activities.
 
Although I have never seen any flare with my 21,25,35 Biogons and 50 Planar, it happened a few times with the 50 Sonnar and 28 Biogon. The only thing that can make these lenses flare, is the reflection of the metallic filter mount. Try screwing on an empty black 43mm filter ring, and do some shots with the light at oblique angles to see if this changes things.
 
That's Cologne, right? I immediately recognized the guy with the guitar 🙂

To your question: I find my Biogon 2/35 flares a bit with strong light sources on my M8, but I don't think it's a "flare monster". Although there certainly are lenses that are less prone to flare. Also, I don't think the flare in the picture makes it unusable - maybe just not up to your expectations? Still a good picture imho.
 
I found my 35/1.4 nokton flares heavily at night if there are strong light sources at angles in the scene (such as a street light). You end up with a very bright ring in the image, and it doesn't look like a nice effect either! I've never had flare with my Biogon-C...
 
chikne said:
I had a 28 biogon that flared like mad, unusable lens

Thread:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68295
Click to expand...


I just reviewed that thread because it seemed so unusual to have a lens so bad that it's unusable. You bought a used lens with a dented hood and it had a performance issue. Go figure. 🙂 I'm glad you were able to take that lens back, but to assume biogons have some kind of inherent flare issue based on your experience wouldn't make sense.
 
efix said:
That's Cologne, right? I immediately recognized the guy with the guitar 🙂

To your question: I find my Biogon 2/35 flares a bit with strong light sources on my M8, but I don't think it's a "flare monster". Although there certainly are lenses that are less prone to flare. Also, I don't think the flare in the picture makes it unusable - maybe just not up to your expectations? Still a good picture imho.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, the guy is always around the dome playing his reggae songs. This particular image is not so bad but it's make scanning and working with the file hard because it's particularly softer and lighter.
 
mfogiel said:
Although I have never seen any flare with my 21,25,35 Biogons and 50 Planar, it happened a few times with the 50 Sonnar and 28 Biogon. The only thing that can make these lenses flare, is the reflection of the metallic filter mount. Try screwing on an empty black 43mm filter ring, and do some shots with the light at oblique angles to see if this changes things.
Click to expand...

I don't have a filter with that diameter but I taped the inside of the silver mount with thin strips of electric isolating tape. Will try some critical situations with and without the tape.
 
Yeah if there's one thing the biogon is famous for it's... not it's not the fact it's way to long on a M, it's that this babe absolutely never fail when we're tallking about flare. Are your lens clean ? Even back one ?
 
It really looks like there might be a problem with internal reflections. I wonder if something that is meant to be painted matte black inside the lens is shiny? This also works with the observation that the flare occurs with angled light into the lens.

Marty
 
leicashot said:
Just about any lens will flare, especially from strong sources to the left/right of frame at certain angles. It's unavoidable unless you shield it with your hand or object.
Click to expand...

But it may look nice or it may look very distracting so that a photo is not usable.

Example of CV 1.4/35



Canon Zoom Lens



Here the flare looks very local and controled and in the 2nd photo you can even read the text in the sign.
 
mine is probably the most flare resistant lens I have ever used. if yours flares easily with no filter, there is a problem with it.
 
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