My itch with the Sonnar-C

[mcfingon]

Some J3's come pre-shimmed for Leica focus. How you tell in advance is another story.

 

[mcfingon]

J3 on IIIf Leica, at f2.8 maybe?

 

[Rob-F]

badly needs scratching ..

I love the lens, but the one thing that sucks is the 0.9m close focus. I'd love to get a bit closer. Don't start telling me because of the sonnar focus shift it's impossible to focus n stuff - I don't want perfection there.

I see 3 choices:
- selling it and get a V3 summicron and loose a stop (I like the character of the v3 as far as I could tell from pics in the net)
- getting a Contax Sonnar f/1.5 and a Amadeo-Adapter (I actually already bought the lens) and loose the nice coating of the ZM.
- finding a close focus mod. is this done yet?

Please fill my head with more thoughts about my 1st world problem. I'm looking for input

Since you love the lens, you should probably keep it. How much closer can you actually focus with a different RF lens? To 0.7M instead of 0.9? Or might you be able to get closer than 0.7M with the Amadeo? Would it be worth your while to pick up an SLR or DSLR, say a Nikon F3, or similar, and use a 50/1.4 Nikkor or 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor? It sounds like you do enough work in that range to justify it.

Just my $0.02.

 

[tonyc]

Hello

A cheap fix for Sonnar close focus, is to use the Jupiter 3
and unscrew the lens slightly from the camera/adapter.

Be careful not to unscrew too far . . .

-TC

 

[agoglanian]

I'm planning on getting the C Sonnar personally. I can work with the .9m MFD (though I like many other would prefer to at least have .7m available). However one neat trick with the M240 is having the OUFRO adapter available! Albeit forcing me to use live view or the EVF, but hey it works.

I have the 35mm f/1.2 Nokton II and though it's a real storyteller of a lens, I'm finding that for my one "faster-than f/2" lens I think I would prefer it to be a 50, and the look of this lens reminds me of the canon 50mm f/1.2L that I loved oh-so-much for several years on Canon. (Quirks and all)

 

[k__43]

Update on my doings .. I sold it, it hurts a bit tho.
I bought a M9 with the money and I'm trying to get a nice J3 now that I will mod. It is easier to check the correctness of your shims with the M9.

I don't use 50mm usually as a walk around lens. It's more or less for portraits only, so I can live with the less good coating vs. the C-Sonnar

 

[michaelwj]

Update on my doings .. I sold it, it hurts a bit tho.
I bought a M9 with the money and I'm trying to get a nice J3 now that I will mod. It is easier to check the correctness of your shims with the M9.

I don't use 50mm usually as a walk around lens. It's more or less for portraits only, so I can live with the less good coating vs. the C-Sonnar

In the end they're only lenses. I'm sure you can get another when the time is right!

Enjoy your M9 🙂

 

[SaveKodak]

I'm surprised there is so little love for the VM 50/1.5 Nokton. It's cheapish, with a lot to love both in terms of character and performance.

As for the C Sonnar, I too am trying to sell mine after just a few short months of use. It's a beauty at 1.5 when taking portraits, but so is my ZM Distagon 35 at 1.4, which focuses closer. It's not exactly the same look but it seems to be what I'm looking for, as the lens doesn't really leave my camera.

IMO the C Sonnar is probably THE lens to get with a Sony plus a helical focus adapter.

 

[k__43]

I'm surprised there is so little love for the VM 50/1.5 Nokton. It's cheapish, with a lot to love both in terms of character and performance.

As for the C Sonnar, I too am trying to sell mine after just a few short months of use. It's a beauty at 1.5 when taking portraits, but so is my ZM Distagon 35 at 1.4, which focuses closer. It's not exactly the same look but it seems to be what I'm looking for, as the lens doesn't really leave my camera.

IMO the C Sonnar is probably THE lens to get with a Sony plus a helical focus adapter.

When I tried a M9 last year the C-Sonnar was my main lens for the weekend despite the fact that the loaner came with a Summilux 50 ASPH.

I got the J3 yesterday and so far it seems it is enough 50mm for me. I rather invest in another 35mm now.

 

[Jockos]

http://shop.lomography.com/en/jupiter-3-plus
To .7m!

 

[k__43]

http://shop.lomography.com/en/jupiter-3-plus
To .7m!

Yeah, it's not bad .. I started that thread before the release of that lens - I thought about it when it came out.
I would buy one used as I actually never buy new, I'm not rich. They are not available second hand yet.
Meanwhile the old J3 I have should be enough - even with the wrong focal width and its inability to focus to infinity (I usually never shoot portraits at infinity focus) - I see the glow as an feature (at least for now)

 

[k__43]

Good enough for now 😀 - just need to change the close focus and lube the helical when I'm at it