C/Y Zeiss 50 1.4 vs Fuji 35mm 1.4?

[nongfuspring]

Recently I picked up an amazingly cheap Contax RX with the Zeiss 50 1.4 attached for a song. Both the RX and the 50 1.4 are incredible, and I've started using the lens on my X-E1 with great results. It's a little on the heavy side for the X-E1 body but it feels really good to use otherwise.

I'm lacking a 50mm equivalent, so I was wondering if I picked up the C/Y speed booster to work with the Zeiss how it would compare to the Fuji 35. I don't care about automatic focussing since I can focus pretty fast and quite enjoy hyperfocal street shooting, but I would like to know how the two set ups would compare otherwise.

Just if anyone is interested I also tend to use minolta MD lenses (50 1.7, 28 3.5), Russian LTM lenses (Industar 69, 26) and recently I made a DIY lens adapter for the bizarre 18mm 2.8 Pentax Auto 110 which works surprisingly well (albeit without aperture control.)

 

[mbisc]

Well, the C/Y f1.4 /50mm Planar lens is the finest 50mm lens ever manufactured in the film SLR age, so no suprise here 😀

And the RX wasn't shabby either...

 

[redisburning]

the speedbooster is great and you already have the lens.

that being said, the lens with the image circle of your sensor is almost always the safest bet. I love my 50MP but I bet the Sony 50 is just as good despite being a much cheaper and more simple design.

 

[Avotius]

The Fuji 35 is so good that I bet it gives the Zeiss lens a run for its money, plus you have the "made for it" convenience. I am using a C/Y Zeiss 50 1.7 on my XE1 and also getting nice results as well. I have considered getting the C/Y Lens Turbo thing made by the Chinese company Zhong Yi which some have said is good enough for their uses here on this board, and it is much cheaper than the Speed Booster.

 

[nongfuspring]

The Fuji 35 is so good that I bet it gives the Zeiss lens a run for its money, plus you have the "made for it" convenience. I am using a C/Y Zeiss 50 1.7 on my XE1 and also getting nice results as well. I have considered getting the C/Y Lens Turbo thing made by the Chinese company Zhong Yi which some have said is good enough for their uses here on this board, and it is much cheaper than the Speed Booster.

Hm, you're probably right. I'm a bit reluctant to spend the money on the fuji 35 (though I'm sure it's worth it) at the moment. The only thing about the lens turbo is that i've seen such conflicting reviews withs some people saying it's unusable (heavy smearing, weird blue flares) to others saying it's great. Just looking at images on flickr etc it does seem it has noticeable flaws that definitely come from the adapter rather than the lens, but on the other hand I imagine it'll probably be fine so long as I don't shoot landscapes (which I rarely do anyway.) If anyone has first hand opinions on this here that'd be great!

I did just notice there's now an MD mount out there now and the price has come down a bit to 139 on Ebay, which is pretty tempting since MD glass make for nice cheap beater lenses. I haven't been able to find any C/Y lens turbos yet though, and I'm not so keen on putting the Zeiss through a second rate adapter.

But seriously a 50mm 1.0 equivalent Zeiss is ungodly, I have to do it eventually!

 

[PaulDalex]

I have may C/Y lens and I am interested in reviews of C/Y lens boosters of various brands as well.
I would use them on a NEX7 (sorry), but the thoughts are similar for the two cases, I believe.
BTW the metabones product has a tripod mount extension which is not a minor plus with heavy C/T lens (like the 100-300 zoom)
Cheers
Paolo

 

[PaulDalex]

Edit: many

 

[nongfuspring]

I have may C/Y lens and I am interested in reviews of C/Y lens boosters of various brands as well.
I would use them on a NEX7 (sorry), but the thoughts are similar for the two cases, I believe.
BTW the metabones product has a tripod mount extension which is not a minor plus with heavy C/T lens (like the 100-300 zoom)
Cheers
Paolo

If I were you and had the money to spend, I'd probably go with the metabones. It's a little bit more of a tough choice for me since I am a bit low on cash and only have one C/Y lens. Also, I haven't actually seen a lens turbo that is compatible with C/Y - so unless you want to put in a second adapter between the lens turbo and the lens itself then your only option seems to be the metabones at this stage.

Here's a couple of reviews I found that seem to suggest quite a difference in quality control with the lens turbo production since this: http://itsnotthecamera.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/my-own-little-lens-turbo-review/ review is really bad, this: http://rogerdeng.com/lens-turbo-review/ is okay, and if you look at the flickr lens turbo tagged photos: http://www.flickr.com/groups/lensturbo/ often the results are to my eye are really pretty good, often seemingly on par with the original speed booster. I realize the flickr stream photos almost certainly have a lot of PP adjustment, but its not like you can get rid of the serious and smudging and flaring like in the first review with photoshop.

If I was able to get results like that of some of the flickr stream I would definitely spring for the lens turbo, but some of the images elsewhere make it look like a waste of money.