i Love C-Sonnar 50/1.5

I love the C-Sonnar. In a fit, I sold mine, as I was using my 50 lux more. But I like the 50mm FL, and should have likely kept it, as sometimes I consider re-buying :bang:

I loved the look of the OOF areas, a bit smoother than my occasionally articulated lux.

2011_11_15_China_BW_IMG315_DxO by ndjedinak, on Flickr

I didn't always nail the focus shift compensation properly, but done well its a wickedly sharp lens with a gorgeous fall-off into OOF.
Maybe the only 50mm lens I've owned better in that regard was the vintage Summarit. Loved that lens, also. I miss it the most.

Back to the C-Sonnar. I particularly liked the detail it held in the shadows. The lens wasn't low contrast like the summarit, but really seemed to open up shadows while holding contrast.

2011_12_7_M3_IMG25_DxO by ndjedinak, on Flickr

I liked it better in B&W, but that's likely my poor photoshop skills in balancing color. I've seen stunning results in color.

90700021_DxO by ndjedinak, on Flickr

I used it extensively on a trip to china, and I was quite surprised at the sharpness when stopped down.

2011_11_15_China_BW_IMG381_DxO by ndjedinak, on Flickr


2011_11_15_China_BW_IMG327_DxO by ndjedinak, on Flickr


2011_11_15_China_BW_IMG314_DxO by ndjedinak, on Flickr

In the end, though, it's all about the bokeh for me with this lens. Although given a little too much 啤酒 I started envisioning lovely nur-bokeh shots. Haha.

2011_11_15_China_BW_IMG292_DxO by ndjedinak, on Flickr

I'll likely grab another one sometime. Maybe I should, now, to shoot on my XPro. Anyone used it there?
 
M9 classic + ZM c-Sonnar 50/1.5

London

8195135644_f20ca57c27_b.jpg
 
My M2 and M8 are gone. However I kept the Sonnar ZM just in case.


lenticular clouds, buena vista, co by mike thomas, on Flickr



southglenn at night by mike thomas, on Flickr



southglenn at night: counterchange by mike thomas, on Flickr



mb @ blue cow cafe by mike thomas, on Flickr



espresso machine @ blue cow cafe by mike thomas, on Flickr



downtown littleton, co by mike thomas, on Flickr




in the yard by mike thomas, on Flickr



steve by mike thomas, on Flickr



lisa by mike thomas, on Flickr



southglenn at night by mike thomas, on Flickr


Sorry for the spam, but this is such a versatile lens that it begs to be demonstrated.
 
I was just wondering at how bad the focus shift is. I'm deciding between a 50 summarit f/2.5 and this zeiss sonnar. I'd be comfortable with both and yet I cannot find detailed information regarding the focus shift. someone said ure supposed to lean a bit backwards/forwards (which direction is it?) when it's configured at f/2.8 and ure shooting at 1.5. is it mms? cms? cant test it and zeiss doesnt hand out the MTF data regarding focus shift. would be glad if anyone could give a little detailed data how he/she handles the focus shift. I'm likely to shoot all my lenses wide open at least 50% of the time so the decision will be based on this issue since the lenses come in at roughly the same price.

I find the rendering beautiful and the size/filter size would be perfect
 
I don't have the C Sonnar anymore (I miss this lens!!!), but I'd say it focuses about 2-3 cm in front of intended plane of focus at f1.5 (if it's optimized for f2.8). This is at close range (1-2m). Obviously more with longer distances.

If you mostly shoot wide open, you can have it optimized for f1.5.

I had my C Sonnar f1.5 optimized by Zeiss (free if the lens is still under warranty). When it came back it was still front focusing just a little bit at f1.5 (I only noticed that in shooting a chart, not in real life). At the time I thought that my rangefinder was slightly out of calibration, but I read somewhere (maybe a comment by R. Hicks on this forum?) that Zeiss actually optimizes the focus for ~f1.8 so you are mostly fine in the f1.5-2.2 range.
 
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