ideal body for biogon 25?

[noimmunity]

I love the look of photos taken with the Zeiss ZM Biogon 25/2,8. But it seems that there is no 'ideal' body for it. :bang: The Ikon body requires an external VF. The Bessa R4 has a great frame for 25mm, but the lens block part of the finder. What are people who have, or have used, this lens using? What works for you? What would you like to see for an ideal body?

 

[Ronald M]

The ideal body would be compatable with the rangefinder and have frame lines compatable with the other lenses.

I would resign myself to an aux finder. The 21/24/28 Leica one is a crappy finder but is infinitely variable from 21 to 28 and has a nice solid foot with thumbscrew tightening.

 

[Doug]

I have the 25 Biogon on a Minolta CLE at the moment, with a CV 25 finder on top for reference. I'd thought the whole VF window might serve for 25, but the auxiliary finder shows a significantly wider field. Well, it's workable, as it's all approximate anyway, right? The CLE does have the advantage (as does the Z-I) in having the VF farther to the left away from the lens centerline to minimize finder intrusion of the filter ring/hood.

The Bessa R4 is an excellent home for the 25, nearly ideal with built-in parallax-compensated framelines. But the VF window is rather close to the lens, leading to more intrusion with larger lenses. It's great with the little CV25, but the Biogon's intrusion is acceptable too, as it's all approximate anyway, right?

Pick your favored trade-off...

 

[peter_n]

I use a Leica 24/2.8 + hood which I believe is bigger than the ZM Biogon. It's on a Bessa R4 and it works very well for me.

 

[Tom A]

I use the R4M for the 28/2.8 ZM. The hood does block the finder a bit, but it is worth it. You quickly learn to do a sweep to the right to find what is lurking there and then go back to the original viewpoint. I have also used it on a 0.58 MP and just used the outside lines for the 28 as guidelines. hood still sticks in a bit though.

 

[Doug]

I use a Leica 24/2.8 + hood which I believe is bigger than the ZM Biogon. It's on a Bessa R4 and it works very well for me.

I believe you're right about the sizes, Peter... I also have the 21 Elmarit-Asph which I think is the same size as the 24, and have used it ok on the R4. Major intrusion on the 21 framelines of course, just part of using this combination, and with the sweep method Tom mentions it's workable. Amazing to have a camera with both 25 and 21 parallax compensated framelines!

 

[back alley]

i don't care for the bigger lenses on the r4 myself. i have bought all cv, the slower lenses that are smaller in size to take full advantage of the built in framelines.
the 25 zm fits the zi camera perfectly and you can use the full finder to approximate the boundaries but after using the zeiss 25/28 external finder i wouldn't want to go back to no finder.
the zeiss finder is like looking through a picture window, so clear and large.
if i use the inherent dof for focus i can use the finder view for quick framing. quick & easy.

and for lighter and even simpler and smaller i have the r4m set up. it's a joy to use as well.

 

[thomasw_]

I know you are asking about the zm25, but since TomA answered with respect to the zm28, I feel I have something to offer about it as well. I do not like auxilary finders, and therefore i do whatever I can to avoid using any lens wider than 28 mm. But I do love my 28 biogon, and it was Tom A who suggested to me a great hint for using it on my M2 without resorting to an external VF. Just cover the light lines window next to the vf window, which will remove all framelines, leaving the complete viewfinder completely open for you to compose a 28mm focal length shot. It has worked remarkably well for me and it saves me for having to use an external vf. I think you might be able to do this as well with your zm25 as well...though it may be slightly less accurate than with the zm28.

 

[Doug]

...a great hint for using it on my M2 without resorting to an external VF. Just cover the light lines window next to the vf window, which will remove all framelines, leaving the complete viewfinder completely open for you to compose a 28mm focal length shot. It has worked remarkably well for me and it saves me for having to use an external vf. I think you might be able to do this as well with your zm25 as well...though it may be slightly less accurate than with the zm28.

I've heard this suggestion, and it just doesn't work for me. Not a chance. Maybe there are differences in M2's as well as its users, but with my old button-rewind M2 I cannot even see the whole 35 frame clearly at once (without glasses even)... just barely in peripheral vision; if I look at the frame at one side it disappears from view on the other. I can move my eye to maintain that peripheral vision view as the frame moves in focusing. I certainly cannot see outside the 35 frame, so there's no way a 28mm lens field could work for me, and (never having used one) I do wonder how later M bodies with .72x finders can show a 28mm frame... must be either "cheating" on the frame coverage or maybe some optical difference?

 

[thomasw_]

Doug, it sounds as though there is something wrong with your vf, as with my M2 when I look through the vf while wearing contacts, I can see the areas within and outside the 35 framelines quite distinctly. I do have to look around the vf, but I can see the full areas for composition with the 35 and the 28. i never read that the earlier m2s had different vfs than the later ones, but maybe Tom A can tell us otherwise?

 

[MP Guy]

test entry

 

[Tom A]

Just for the sake of trying. Today I stuck my 25/2,8 on a 0.72 M6 and shot "without 25 finder" and then on a M6 0.58 the same way. With the 0.72, the 28 frame is virtually useless if you have glasses and I suspect that the film has a lot of unwanted or surprising extras in the corners. On the 0.58 I felt more secure using the 25's (i shot with both the 2.8 and the 25/4P VC).
The round hood of the 25/2.8 (25/28 hood) works OK on the R4. Intrudes less than the flat, wide hood from the 21/2.8.
The 25/2,8 is a very good lens. Very smooth and sharp, nice out of focus rendition too.