price question: ZM Sonnar 85/2

[maitani]

what would be considered a good price for the discontinued ZM Sonnar 85/2 IN M mount?
considering it was boxed and mint.
thanks in advance to the experts

 

[EdwardKaraa]

I have seen it selling for 3000-3500$.

 

[zuikologist]

There is ne for about $2700 here

http://www.mwclassic.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_NEW_ARRIVED_24th_MAY___Leica__Leica_Copy_1.html

 

[Roger Hicks]

A good price? LOTS!

This is a Zeiss Germany lens, albeit with modest focus shift. And (in focus) gorgeous image quality.

Cheers,

R.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

A good price? LOTS!

This is a Zeiss Germany lens, albeit with modest focus shift. And (in focus) gorgeous image quality.

Cheers,

R.

Roger, I remember reading in Zeiss literature that this lens didn't have focus shift. Are you sure?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Roger, I remember reading in Zeiss literature that this lens didn't have focus shift. Are you sure?

Reasonably.

Cheers,

R.

 

[maitani]

There is ne for about $2700 here

http://www.mwclassic.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_NEW_ARRIVED_24th_MAY___Leica__Leica_Copy_1.html

looks like a decent price, i got offered one at much higher price in 'trade value', but have no idea, i didn't even know this lens exists.. will think over it, seems to be a rare bird, very interesting lens.

thanks for all help

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Reasonably.

Cheers,

R.

I guess it's like the biogon 2/35. Zeiss claims it has no focus shift, but in fact there is about 2-3 cm shift at MFD, which is considered not too serious.

 

[CameraQuest]

what would be considered a good price for the discontinued ZM Sonnar 85/2 IN M mount?
considering it was boxed and mint.
thanks in advance to the experts

are you sure you want one?

the ZM Zeiss 85/2 and 15/2.8 are both among the very worst handling M mount lenses you will ever find.

Stephen

 

[maitani]

are you sure you want one?

the ZM Zeiss 85/2 and 15/2.8 are both among the very worst handling M mount lenses you will ever find.

Stephen

not sure at all, I think I will wait until I find a good deal on a 75 lux, the signature of the lux is more to my liking, also the offer to trade was not bad, so it had me at least thinking

 

[EdwardKaraa]

are you sure you want one?

the ZM Zeiss 85/2 and 15/2.8 are both among the very worst handling M mount lenses you will ever find.

Stephen

In what sense, Stephen? Because of size?

 

[Chiaroscuro]

are you sure you want one?

the ZM Zeiss 85/2 and 15/2.8 are both among the very worst handling M mount lenses you will ever find.

Stephen

In what way? I own both.....

john

 

[brbo]

I guess it's like the biogon 2/35. Zeiss claims it has no focus shift, but in fact there is about 2-3 cm shift at MFD, which is considered not too serious.

Biogon 2/35 shifts focus?

When mine came back from calibration (Zeiss Oberkochen) it was dead on at any aperture and distance. And 3cm at MFD IS serious, that's a Sonnar50-like-shift.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Biogon 2/35 shifts focus?

When mine came back from calibration (Zeiss Oberkochen) it was dead on at any aperture and distance. And 3cm at MFD IS serious, that's a Sonnar50-like-shift.

It doesn't show in casual use, but if you shoot a calibration target at different apertures you will notice it.

 

[brbo]

3cm at MFD (0.7m for Biogon) is quite noticeable in casual use. And I did shoot a target.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

3cm at MFD (0.7m for Biogon) is quite noticeable in casual use. And I did shoot a target.

Here's a test I did on the GXR last year:



http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1129234/1#10784553

 

[brbo]

Very interesting.

As said, mine came back from calibration and it was very sharp wide open (I also had Summicron 28 at that time and Biogon was just as sharp in the center as Summicron wide open). I'm not much of a landscaper, so maybe I missed that Biogon was focusing past infinity at smaller apertures? My observation was that Biogon 2/35 really didn't need any stopping down to get good sharpness and that observation itself could mean that Biogon 2/35 does indeed shift focus.

I wonder if focus shift is the reason for general opinion that Biogon 2/35 is not sharp wide open? I certainly didn't find any lack of sharpness at f2, but mine was obviously calibrated for wide open. What if Biogons 2/35 come calibrated for f4 from factory and people mistake focus shift for softness?

 

[EdwardKaraa]

I think you're absolutely right. Mine was front focusing wide open at close distances, and very sharp at infinity when stopped down to f/5.6-8, but didn't reach infinity wide open.

I send it back to Oberkochen mentioning the above remarks. They said it was perfectly calibrated, but nevertheless, they optimized it for wide open shooting.

It came back as follows: perfect focus wide open. Perfect infinity focus at infinity hard stop. The RF patch shows infinity before the infinity hard stop, this is where the lens is sharpest at f/5.6-8.

So when I shoot wide open at infinity, I just ignore the RF and focus all the way to infinity. When I'm shooting stopped down I follow the RF.

I think the guys at Oberkochen did a great job.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

By the way, with 10x magnification LV on the GXR, it is amazing that you can see the focus shifting live with every 1/3 aperture click.

 

[raid]

My favorite portait lens is a Zeiss Planar 85/1.4 in Rollei QBM mount. I prefer it to my Summilux 75/1.4. I recall paying $200 for the 85/1.4 many years ago. Such a lens is seen listed for $1800 these days. I use it on tne EP2 with 10x magnification, allowing perfect focusing.