Need 35mm Color Skopar info

[semi-ambivalent]

I have been looking for a 35mm lens decision for my M3. It seems prices have been going up for the goggled Summarons and I'm not sure I want the extra size at the Leitz price premium. So I'm looking at the Color Skopar f/2.5.

Can anyone give me their assessment of this lens? I'm going to go seat of the pants on framing so I'm not worried about not having framelines on the M.

This summer we spent a couple weeks in Italy (pre-M3 purchase) and I took a couple Nikon Fs. More than 80% of my shots were with a 35mm f/2.8 Auto Nikkor-S and I didn't miss lens speed at all so f/2.5 is not a worry. I just can't seem to justify the money I'd have to put out for Leitz glass when I already have stupid amounts of Nikon glass (that I don't intend to sell). By the way, that old Nikkor has beautiful tonal rendition so that's important to me; moreso than bokeh fever.🙂

I am loving this little M3 though...

Thanks for your insights,

s-a

 

[chrishayton]

Its a great lens, Its as good as all but the current Leica 35mm Summicron in technical terms, Bokeh is nice too.
For the price they cost buy one and if you don't like it then you will get your money back when it sells.

 

[back alley]

IF you have a question about a specific lens, post it in the forum about that type of camera, NOT HERE. Mods are tired of moving threads, and may just delete them instead.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

IF you have a question about a specific lens, post it in the forum about that type of camera, NOT HERE. Mods are tired of moving threads, and may just delete them instead.

My apologies.

s-a

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Its a great lens, Its as good as all but the current Leica 35mm Summicron in technical terms, Bokeh is nice too.
For the price they cost buy one and if you don't like it then you will get your money back when it sells.

Thanks for the information Chris!

s-a

 

[ChrisC]

Its a great lens, Its as good as all but the current Leica 35mm Summicron in technical terms....

Alternatively; that wasn't my experience. I sold it, and the upgrade to a Zeiss C-Biogon f2.8 showed immediate improvement in my files. The Colour Skopar was OK at moderate focus distances, but weaker at longer distances. The Zeiss is my lens-for-life lens, and a substantial improvement [other than size and price] over the C.V..

Sean Reid's [subscription] article '35mm lenses on M9' is compelling reading, as is Erwin Puts :

http://www.imx.nl/photo/zeiss/page116/page116.html

........... Chris

 

[begona]

voigtlander is very bad for BW photography because of high contrast....for color it is very nice....I shoot BW so I sold mine.

 

[joeswe]

The lens is a good design, the problem with this (as with other) CV lenses is sample variation. I have seen pictures from samples of this lens that showed obvious decentering. Make sure you get a good copy. My personal copy is not decentered, but the image center is rather soft at f2.8 and f4 compared to a Summaron 2.8 (to be fair, the Summaron is rather soft in the far edges at these apertures, so the CV beats it there, but that doesn't make up for the lack of center sharpness IMO). I have no idea if this is just my sample or the normal performance of this lens. Sometimes I read claims on the internet, according to which the Color-Skopar is equal to or even better than the f2.8 Summaron, the 8-element Summicron or even the modern Summarit. I cannot testify to these claims.
That being said, my Skopar gives rather sharp images corner to corner at f5.6 and beyond (comparable to the Summaron or the Summarit under "average" shooting conditions, e.g. hand held on TMX) and is good value for the money. So if you shoot mostly stopped down and don't mind the tiny size (for me its okay, but people with larger hands might find the controls a bit finicky), go ahead, but make sure you have a return right, so you can check that your copy is not a dog.
One more thing, my impression is that the lens is quite prone to flare when shooting against the light (I have sometimes gotten a kind of circular flare in spite of always using the dedicated hood). My idea is it could have to do with the chrome ring around the front lens element (version PII), but I am not sure. If you tend to shoot against the light a lot I would therefore recommend going with the Zeiss C-Biogon instead, that is not so much more expensive and probably the better lens overall (but no personal experience).

John

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I like mine very much. I bought it used off of an RFF member. Here is the lens on a Sony NEX-5 indoors at ISO 800. It is a high contrast lens though. I don't think it would be a problem to adjust for this when shooting b&w film though. I certainly had no problem with any modern Nikkor or Leitz lens, which have contrast to spare.

Ben

 

[helen.HH]

must Agree with Benjamin, Great lens Indeed
Big Bang for the Buck...I have the ltm version, same optics / M6 triX

Keeping in Step... by helenhill_HH, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

voigtlander is very bad for BW photography because of high contrast....for color it is very nice....I shoot BW so I sold mine.

I have to disagree that the Skopar 35 is bad for BW. If you adjust your development time and developer accordingly, you can get excellent results with BW film. Of course, it's a modern lens, so the "look" will be different than a Summaron or a Canon lens from the 1950s. I agree w/ other posters that this lens is superb value for money.

I don't find the Skopar overly contrasty for BW:


Old Companions by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I loved the 25/4, 35, and 50mm color skopar lenses. They all gave a similar look to color film images: saturated colors and just a step down from being razor sharp like the Zeiss lenses. I prefer the somewhat understated look these lenses provide. Modern lenses, yes, but not super sharp... I prefer that. The price can't be beat, and any variation in quality from lens to lens is mostly just stuff pixel-peepers notice, in my opinion of course.

 

[zuiko85]

I like my PII version. But then I have nothing to compare it to, so naturally I'm thrilled.

 

[David Murphy]

The Skopar 35/2.5 is about the best value in a rangefinder lens of its type there is. It is a modern, very sharp, and contrasty lens that is fairly well made and compact. Highly recommended.

 

[mretina]

nice compact, quite sharp, great value for money. Contrasty and modern look that you need to like. All true, but ultimately if you shoot rangefinder regularly, lots of people and b&w, you will end up looking for something better in that focal length.

 

[john341]

Color Skopar

Color Skopar

voigtlander is very bad for BW photography because of high contrast....for color it is very nice....I shoot BW so I sold mine.

I have just returned from Germany taking b/w pics with the CS 21mm on a LTM body and they were quite contrasty, and unfortunately vignetted significantly. Haven't tried it with colour film yet. By contrast the canon lens on a different body produced some lovely negatives....cheers