Help with lens choice, please

[vincenzo]

Hi Phil, I had no remarkable flare problems or any other notable problems. It was an all round performer and has a lovely weight/feel/construction. The built-in lens hood is not that bad either..!
Avenon: Mike, I tried one in in a camera shop in downtown Kiev last week....fine looking lens on the rd-1, low vignetting, excellent performance edge to edge. Its a shame they stopped production. They are very difficult to find now. The one in Kiev was priced at $900which I felt was a little high...Still waiting for the Biogon 21)

 

[mtokue]

Well at this moment in time I know where 3 of them are for about
the same sort of price as I paid for mine.
I could probably be persuaded to help someone get one from overhere.

Mike.

 

[vincenzo]

Cool! I would be happy to pay something similar to you Mike. Let me know if we can do a deal...)

 

[pfogle]

Mike-
Any room on this bandwagon for me? 😉

BTW a Pasoptik 21/2.8 (I think it's a rebranded Avenon) went on UK ebay last month for about £240. Looked nice.

cheers
Phil

 

[pfogle]

Vincenzo... I just tried shooting in the living room, nearly into the sun. Sadly, erased the files! However, there is considerable veiling across the pic, like the old 105 Nikkor P used to do. It's not unattractive, but really cuts the contrast. A good lens shade would fix it, but the guy who didn't like the Hexagon like to shoot into the light, and I can see he would have had a problem!

As for me, I'm going to see if this lens grows on me over the next few days. I do like the build - the shape seems a bit more comfortable than the 'cron. Images are reallly nice; so it's just a question of seeing if the flare's a problem in real life situations. Let's hope for some nice weather this weekend!

cheers
Phil

 

[Sean Reid]

Phil & Vincenzo,
U.K list price for the Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 is £745 +vat = £875.38
Plus 240 +vat = £282.00 for the 21mm finder. You would not need this finder for the R-D1 of course (but the VC 21D) and if you use the lens on a full frame 35mm body as well then the VC full frame finder would be a cheaper bet.

I am interested in the Zeiss 21mm or possibly the 25mm. Even though I am quite happy with the VC 25mm the fact that it couples and is an extra stop is attractive. I handled both at Focus and they are well built and smooth to focus, but they woundn't allow me to take pictures with them so I am also awaiting Sean's report.

I hope the street prices turn out to be a little lower, butI expect it will not be by much as Hasslebad is the distributer.

Hi Jim,

I'm hoping to have a test copy of the 50 in a couple of weeks but I may not see the 21 to test for quite awhile. Sorry bout that...

Cheers,

Sean

 

[David Kieltyka]

Sean, I was able to try out a copy of the new 35mm Biogon late yesterday afternoon. A friend bought one and wanted to verify it worked properly via my R-D1. (This camera has made me very popular with my two RF-shooting friends. "I think my [insert lens name here] is flaring too much...can I take some test shots with your Epson?" "Just in case I get an R-D1 I wanna see how well all my lenses work on it. Can I borrow it for a couple days?" It's a wonder I ever get to use it.) Judging by the photos we took I'd say the Biogon performs very much like the 50mm Planar. You get a wider view but the same image characteristics are there. Consistent performance across the frame even at f/2, high but not hard contrast, smooth out-of-focus rendition. I really liked what I saw.

-Dave-

 

[Sean Reid]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the info. I've been thinking that Zeiss might try for a "family" look with these lenses, just as there is a "family look" to the 35/1.4 ASPH and 50/1.4 ASPH.

When I looked at your Kobalux 21 samples, they were JPEGs right? Might I be able to look at a couple RAW files from you? E-mail me if you get a chance, please.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[David Kieltyka]

Sean, I've found my copy of the Kobalux front-focuses on my R-D1. After my initial okay but not great results from the combo (with some pics posted here and a couple full-size JPEGs e-mailed to you) I used the lens on my M2, with much better results. So I tried again on the R-D1, tweaking the focus distance, and discovered the problem. It's most evident at distance...with the Kobalux set at infinity, as it was for most of my example pics, the point-of-focus is noticeably in front of where it should be. I've tried a few different LTM-to-M adapters with no change in behavior. This particular lens just doesn't get along with this particular camera.

-Dave-

 

[Sean Reid]

I see...so that's why they looked soft to me. It will be good to look at some samples form other Kobalux examples to see how widespread the issue may be.

Cheers,

Sean