Just got the C-Biogon 35mm f2.8

It's a great little lens.

It's a great little lens.

Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Last week I bought a 35mm f2.8 C-Biogon
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Congrats on the lens, Chris, it's a beaut. I used it for images of 30th st. Station in Philly. I like the lens a lot.
9.jpg
 
sleepyhead said:
I have the old 35mm Biogon in classic Contax RF mount.
Does any one know if that lens has the same optical formula as this newer C lens in M mount?
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I think its a little different, because the old ones stuck so far inside the camera that they almost touch the film. The C-Biogon has more space behind the rear element when mounted, though it does stick further into the Leica than the 35mm Summicron pre-ASPH.
 
ChrisC said:
Hi - I'm a fan of relatively 'slow' lenses. I have the C-Biogon, and the more I use it, the more amazed I am by it's rendering.

I believe I have the best 35mm lens for ME on the 'M' platform that I could get at ANY price. I have no inclination to photograph at f1.4 or f2.0, and I prefer f8 photography to wide-open/fast-shutterspeed photography, so my C-Biogon is my 35mm lens-for-life. Why not treat yourself, and maybe you too might have the best 35mm 'M' lens you could have. I heartily recommend you subscribe to Reid Reviews and read Sean's recent article on 'slow' 35mm lenses on the M9.

.............. Chris
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I agree with you and yes Sean's insight is great. Please subscribe.
I might soon be carrying 3 35mm lens for walking around.
IE VC35f1.2 35f2v4 and the c-biogon
 
fdigital said:
Curious: Why do you want 3 35mms? I can understand the big 1.2 nokton and the small summicron but to add the biogon too?
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The pre ASPH is great lens but its can be a little soft for my taste. In some light the "glow" due to undercorrection of blue look really good its great for people photographs but now always. Often I have to push the black level up. I will use it when shooting old people as it is more forgiving but doesn't give nitty realism which sometime is what I want. It give an impressionist look. Good and bad.

It doesn't give confidence when i want to print large.

Sometimes i want sharp which means the nokton in the day not something i fancy doing.
 
This lens continues to blow my mind.

Scanned this neg and found the following.

ACROS at ISO 100, developed in XTOL 1:1. The shaded rectangle shows the enlarged region below. It's a 1:1 enlargement of a 4000 d.p.i. scan (the lower-mag crop shown is 20 megapixels -- 5500 x 3600). The scan was done on an old Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 and is in no way optimized -- just one pass with my usual defaults. Obviously, I haven't bothered to deal with some dust spots.

955003538_mGKWu-M.jpg


The grid pattern in the ceiling essentially gives us a field-acquired MTF under extraordinarily unfavorable conditions -- handheld with a too-slow shutter speed (and indeed, there are signs of camera movement), focus most likely swung hard to the infinity stop (it was a grab shot), and the steps for the MTF are very strongly backlit, so this is a strong test of both resolution and suppression of veiling flare.

955001128_tqStV-XL.jpg


Under these absolutely awful conditions we're still easily getting 30, and maybe close to 40 lp/mm (this is the absolute limit of what the scanner can see in the film; the lack of moire tells us that there's an AA filter on the scan head).

Someone want to tell me again why I'm supposed to be shooting digital?
 
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LeicaFoReVer said:
It has such a silky zeiss bokeh...

how is OoF areas compared to CV 35mm f2.5?
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I have not used the CV but the bokeh is superb, both in foregrounds and backgrounds. As linked above, here are three more examples.

I've developed, scanned, and carefully inspected about 15 rolls of film so far, and I just can't find a weakness in this little lump of machined metal and silica. It's the closest thing to a flawless lens for general photography that I've ever used.
 
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Chriscrawfordphoto said:
billywashere.jpg

Billy Was Here!

Here's another of mine from the 35 C-Biogon. I have a lot more to scan, this lens has gotten A LOT of use lately!
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Chris. I remember you felt Color-Skopar 35mm you got from me was too crisp too contrasty. I sold the lens for the same reason, but Ive got another one for the time being and thinking about C-Biogon.

How does C-biogon compare with Color-Skopar? It's hard to see this from scans on computer display, you know? Probably you haven't got time to print yet, but looking forward to your opinion.
 
Well depends on which film you use for c-skopar. HP5 is good choice as it is low contrast film. But my curiosity is the OoF areas...c-skopar can be so smooth wide open too. I will try to post an image to show.
 
coelacanth said:
Chris. I remember you felt Color-Skopar 35mm you got from me was too crisp too contrasty. I sold the lens for the same reason, but Ive got another one for the time being and thinking about C-Biogon.

How does C-biogon compare with Color-Skopar? It's hard to see this from scans on computer display, you know? Probably you haven't got time to print yet, but looking forward to your opinion.
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Sug,

The C-Biogon is contrastier than the 35mm Summicron version IV that I had before but not as contrasty as the 35 Color Skopar. Its about the same as the current 50mm Summicron, which I have, so I think the 35 C-Biogon and the 50mm Summicron go great together. The C-Biogon has less light falloff at the edges than the Color-Skopar too, which is nice. Overall I like the C-Biogon a lot more than the Color-Skopar.
 
The C-Ciogon is the most technically corrected lens I've ever used. Sharp wide open out to the corners, flare resistent, distortion corrected. Wide open it;s the sharpest 35mm lens at 2.8 available. What more could you want, but speed? So I have a Nokton 35 to solve that issue when it comes along.
 
Man Chris....
You had to post and brag on the C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8...😉
I just received the C-Sonnar 50mm from a trade with Back Ally, and I am loving this lens and how it draws and the bokeh too... Oh yeah.... The colors are unreal on my G1.

I have been thinking of selling my 35mm f/1.4 Nokton and adding some $$ to get this lens...

Now, I am hooked, I want one. 🙂

I know finding a used one {now} is impossible after this thread was posted and read by many 😛

Thanks for the experience your sharing with the ZM 35mm f/2.8 C-Biogon. It sealed the future for me.
 
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