canon 50/1.5 and Zeiss Sonnar 50/1.5

[monochromejrnl]

I recently purchased a Canon 50/1.5 and currently use and love the 50/1.5 Sonnar on which the Canon is based (correct me if i'm wrong about this)... the Sonnar is Contax mount and attached to a Contax IIa... lovely lens and probably my favourite lens...

I'm posting some shots taken with the Sonnar at f1.5-2 and would love to see some examples taken with the Canon on which it is based....

is there a common 'signature' shared by the Sonnar design? if so, how would you characterize it???

all shot on expired Kodak BW400

 

[shimo-kitasnap]

nice! i've been trying to get one of those canon f1.5 lenses but never seem to be able to see them. I have the canon f1.8 lens and it's neat but when i shoot in color it is really dull.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Canon 50/1.5 is a faithful interpretation of the Zeiss Sonnar.

Canon 50/1.5 wide-open on the Bessa R2:

Canon 50/1.5 at F2, on the Bessa R2:

The Canon 50/1.8 is a Planar formula lens, and should do quite well with color. The Canon lenses are prone to getting a layer of haze on the glass surfaces on each side of the aperture blades. Check yours with a flashlight. If it is hazy, it needs to be cleaned.

Canon 50/1.8 at F4:

 

[dexdog]

RFF member ferider is pretty much the resident expert on the Canon 50/1.5. Also RFF member Raid Amin included the Canon in one of his lens tests a while ago. You might try a google search of RFF to see if you can locate the test.

 

[raid]

Yes, RFF member Raid tested the Canon 50mm/1.5. 🙂

I will try to upload some results here.

 

[raid]

Canon 50mm/1.5 at 4.0: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5288258

at 2.0:http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5297431

wide open in focus test: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5272817

at 2.0 focus test: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5272818

 

[raid]

In contrast, these are photos taken with the war time Zeiss Sonnar 5cm/2;

at 2.0: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5297459

at 4.0: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5288225

focus and flare test at 2.0; http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5272707

at 4.0:http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5272708

 

[John Shriver]

The character of the Sonnar 50/1.5 design is the falloff in sharpness towards the edges when used at wide apertures, and a nice look of the out-of-focus areas.

As for who's copying who, the Zeiss Sonnar was well protected by German patents until 1945. One of the war reparitions after WW-II was terminating all German patents -- this is what let the Japanese camera industry explode without having to design lenses. The first generation of Nikon S-mount and Canon LTM-mount lenses are all very direct copies of Zeiss or Leica designs. It wasn't until the 1950's that Nikon and Canon started doing significant lens designs of their own. So while Canon was able to design their own 50/1.8 lens, for the 50/1.5 they fell back on the Zeiss Sonnar design, until they had the chops to design the 50/1.4.

 

[sevres_babylone]

The Canon wide open on my R-D1. The sides are cropped and there has been some PS post-processing. Band is the Rizdales.

 

[nodyad]

Canon IVSB2 RF with Canon 50mm f/1.5 wide open, expired Tri-X, full frame:

 

[LeicaTom]

1956 Canon 50mm f1.5 "Japanese Sonnar" wide open at 1000/sec on Fujicolor ASA 100 on a 1945 K shutter Leica IIIC

Between my Summarit 50mm f1.5/Chrome Canon 50mm f1.8/ and 50mm f2.0 Nikkor HC this is my favorite vintage lens, it`s the one to use when shooting flatering PinUps for that "dreamy" Sonnar Bokeh

Enjoy!

Tom

 

[sevres_babylone]

The Canon wide open again (R-D1):