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

[Doug]

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.

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:

 

[efix]

Two frames from yesterday to share with you:

 

[jsrockit]

Damn, I just love the look of Zeiss lenses. 🙂

 

[jazzwave]

Doug,
Thanks for your share, nice combination 25mm and M8.

Anyone has 21mm on M8 please share result pictures...

 

[efix]

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!

 

[ChrisN]

GAS ... don't talk to me about GAS ... (If you can identify the novel by which this line was inspired, you win a virtual handshake! 😉)

I know. I have been there, too 😛

HHGTTG 🙂

 

[Mesti3K]

I bought the 50 planar about 2 months ago..love it..even with dust on the negs! And opened up it's a monster.

 

[River Dog]

I love the 50mm f2 ZM. The Zeiss planar on my 1956 Rolleiflex has that 'pop' factor too.

 

[efix]

HHGTTG 🙂

You win! 😉

Thanks Mesti3K and River Dog for the pictures!

 

[efix]

Planar 50 has arrived, now my little ZM lens family is complete! 🙂
Here are some first impressions:

More first impressions in my blog: http://www.efixmedia.de/photography/zeiss-planar-502-zm-first-impressions/
I think I already like it that tiny bit more than my 50/1.5 Nokton that justifies the purchase 🙂

 

[kossi008]

You got it. Nice pictures. Good to see a Planar in able hands... 😀

 

[efix]

You got it. Nice pictures. Good to see a Planar in able hands... 😀

Thanks a lot! It's a great little lens and fun to use 🙂

 

[efix]

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 ...

 

[Shade]

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.

 

[noimmunity]

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. 😀

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 ...

 

[efix]

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. 😀

Tell that to my wallet ... 😛

 

[James6714]

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. 😀

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.

 

[MCTuomey]

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.

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.