Craving the Zeiss look: 28 Biogon and 50 Planar for M8?

jazzwave said:
Any sugesstion , what suitable wide lens for me ,pair with ZM 50/2 Planar on M8? with <$800 budget.
I will using 50mm Planar for potrait and the wide for walkaround/street lens.
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ronni, how about a nice 28 Biogon? ;)

But on the M8, the 28 is a fine standalone lens, equiv to ~36mm. The 21 Biogon is also a great choice, and not too wide, as it's equiv to ~28mm, not all that radical for wandering about. Since the 50 Planar is a "long normal" at about 65mm equivalent (this is surprisingly useful IMO), a wide good companion is the 25 Biogon, which runs about 32mm-like. This is a great cross between 28 and 35, again surprisingly useful.

On an overseas trip last year I took the M8 with only the 25 Biogon and a 2/50. Great combo, and I used the 50 more than expected.

Both with 25 Biogon, M8:

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Just a little update: my 50/2 Planar is on its way to me from Leica Store in Vienna, Austria. Will probably arrive early next week. The only thing that keeps me from freaking out during the waiting time is that i already have the wonderful 28/2.8 Biogon ... :-D

In retrospective, I wonder what I was ever doing with those Voigtländer lenses ... switching back to Zeiss somehow feels like I'm finally at home!

I guess it's kinda true what they say: You WILL keep spending and losing money on gear, no matter how hard you try not to ... it took me quite some time to figure out what kind of look I like in my pictures, and which lenses can provide me that look, but I think I've finally found the right setup!
 
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I bought the 50 planar about 2 months ago..love it..even with dust on the negs! And opened up it's a monster.
 

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Just found this thread browsing through the ZM forum ... had totally forgotten about it! I'm still using and loving both the 28 Biogon and 50 Planar, they're excellent lenses and I didn't regret purchasing them even for a second!

Still, I find myself craving for the 50 C Sonnar (optimised for f/1.5) these days and wonder if I should part with my Planar to fund one. I know it has a totally different look to it, one that I came to admire only recently. I'll try to find a shop that has one in stock to try it out on my M8. The buying and selling never ceases ...
 
I dont have any samples sorry but I would prefer the 50/2 Planar since I am more of a 50mm person. But the 28 biogon would come as my second lens if I was looking for zeiss and in that focal length.
 
The C Sonnar is indeed a very attractive lens. But it can be very different from the Planar, which is also superlative. I would shoot with both first, if you can, before committing to give up the Sonnar. The first question may be: can you live with the Sonnar's 90cm. minimum focus?

The risk of using both side-by-side, of course, is that you may just realize that they can co-exist with and even complement each other. :D

efix said:
Just found this thread browsing through the ZM forum ... had totally forgotten about it! I'm still using and loving both the 28 Biogon and 50 Planar, they're excellent lenses and I didn't regret purchasing them even for a second!

Still, I find myself craving for the 50 C Sonnar (optimised for f/1.5) these days and wonder if I should part with my Planar to fund one. I know it has a totally different look to it, one that I came to admire only recently. I'll try to find a shop that has one in stock to try it out on my M8. The buying and selling never ceases ...
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noimmunity said:
The risk of using both side-by-side, of course, is that you may just realize that they can co-exist with and even complement each other. :D
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Can it really co-exist ? Do you have experience ? I do own a Planar and I am itching to get a Sonar, but both are the same focal length, any reasons that I should, thanks for your input.
 
James6714 said:
Can it really co-exist ? Do you have experience ? I do own a Planar and I am itching to get a Sonar, but both are the same focal length, any reasons that I should, thanks for your input.
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Jon is so right.

I've owned and used both for some time now. The short answer is that, yes, they can "co-exist" in your kit. Very well indeed, in my experience. I would not want to sell either.

Longer answer why both? First, the c-sonnar's extra stop and the look that it gives wide open, which the planar can't provide. Second, the planar's incredible flat field performance right to the corners (beyond f2.8) that the c-sonnar can't provide.

What do I mean? I like to pair my 50 planar with films like Delta 100 and with low iso digi use. I like to pair my 50 sonnar with higher iso digi use and occasional high speed film. Always? No. Just an example. You sure can use the sonnar for everything, just like the planar.

There are interesting options relative to color palette too. Under certain light and film/digi processing, each lens will deliver subtle color variations. Have a look at some of Michael Markey's uploads on recent 50 sonnar threads where he gets this lovely pastel, vintage-ish look. Beautiful.

I could go on but hopefully this helps.
 
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