Zeiss 50/1.5 Sonnar Sample Shot

[Sonnar2]

Yes it's sharper than vintage Sonnars, in particular at near distances. At infinity, sharper than the C-Heliar 2/50 too (which is a quite sharp lens).
Also, colors are more saturated than with vintage Sonnars (obviously because of improved coating). In my comparison it's quite neutral whereas the C-Heliar has a tendency to red/warm colors (bit too much for crtical applications), and the Canon "Sonnar" 1.5/50 is warm as well.
The C-Sonnar isn't resistant to backlight flare - even Zeiss don't has a shade available for it. The Canon with shade vs. the C-Sonnar without shade brings results in less flare for the vintage one...
It' s for sure no "reincarnation" but a modern highclass lens, feasable for critical work, but keeps some "classic" look. I'm sure it's worth the money. It's not a bookeh king either.
I still haven't scanned my slides.
keep on,

 

[Avotius]

im not interested at all in the reincarnation thing, if you want a lens that is like the old one, buy the old one. Im looking for a good alternative to the summilux asph and this is looking better and better.

 

[rxmd]

The old sonnar is not that readily available for M or LTM users. The uncommon LTM versions and the rare LTM adapters are ridiculously overpriced.

I have seen Contax-M adapters sell on eBay for 180 to 270 US-$. I wouldn't buy them at that price, but given that the adapter is more complicated mechanically than a simple LTM-M adapter and, for example, Stephen's rangefinder-coupled SLR-M adapters cost $350, it's apparently still within a normal range. Add Contax Sonnars 50/1.5 and 85/2, both not overly expensive, and you can use the original on you M body for reasonable money if you really want the classic Sonnar look.

Philipp

 

[awilder]

Kyle, if you have the aforementioned lenses, mount the camera on a tripod and take some distance shots with plenty of detail across the frame @ f/1.5, 2, 2.8, and 4 for each lens. Also in a similar tripod set up, take some shots of a subject off center at a portrait distance of around 4-5 feet to compare imaging and bokeh. Once you get the results and review the images, post the ones that demonstrate a visible difference.

 

[Dougg]

I'm looking forward to seeing some comparative results and commentary. My C Sonnar just arrived yesterday, no film shot yet, so it'll be a while before I see any scans. I did post some samples from my Zeiss-Opton 1.5 Sonnar in the CLA thread. At some point I might do side-by-side shots but that would be off a ways...

The C-Sonnar isn't resistant to backlight flare - even Zeiss don't has a shade available for it.

The Zeiss shade for the C-Sonnar is $85 from PopFlash... There's one on my lens now. See it here: http://www.popflash.com/item.cfm?id=$$^NH_

 

[RObert Budding]

I have seen Contax-M adapters sell on eBay for 180 to 270 US-$. I wouldn't buy them at that price, but given that the adapter is more complicated mechanically than a simple LTM-M adapter and, for example, Stephen's rangefinder-coupled SLR-M adapters cost $350, it's apparently still within a normal range. Add Contax Sonnars 50/1.5 and 85/2, both not overly expensive, and you can use the original on you M body for reasonable money if you really want the classic Sonnar look.

Philipp

You could just buy a Contax rangefinder and skip the adapter. After all, $200 gets you about 1/2 way to the cost of a nice IIa. But then you need to spring for a CLA.

 

[Kyle]

Just developed my first roll with the 50/1.5 ZM. The negs are drying right now and I have to leave. I'll hopefully have a couple samples later today or tonight.

 

[Kyle]

I'm not very happy with the shots I took with the 50/1.5, though, the other half were Tele-Elmarit shots. I'm not sure I'm going to post any off this roll. I have another roll I'm close to finishing and I'll develop that and see how they turn out.

 

[Avotius]

hehe at this point I think people would be satisfied with your sonnar's table scraps

 

[Nachkebia]

This will take forever 😀

 

[jano]

If I didn't have a week-and-half of conferences coming up, I'd have this lens and have posted table scraps by now 😛

 

[Kyle]

I haven't had the opportunity to shoot as much as I'd like, especially with this lens. I don't have any real world samples of this lens yet, but here are some quick samples I took today in my backyard. I know the rock behind the tiki man doesn't really do a great job of portraying the OOF areas, but I didn't have a whole lot of time and I needed to shoot something in a shaded area if I wanted to be able to shoot these wide open. This was the best I could do. Anyway, hopefully these will be of at least some use to somebody. Once school slows down again I'll be able to get some real shooting done.

These are straight from the scanner, I don't have time to adjust anything. These were taken on Delta 100, processed in DDX.

Sonnar @ 1.5, 2, 2.8, and 4.

 

[Kyle]

And the Planar @ 2, 2.8, and 4.

Again, sorry I coudln't get anything more useful. I'll try to have some real shots soon, but we'll see. I'm getting pretty overloaded with school.

 

[Dougg]

C-Sonnar 1.5/50...
Wide open at meeting in church basement
About f/5.6 in open shade at farmers' market

 

[Nachkebia]

Dougg! Wide open is niiiice! Thanks for posting!

 

[Dougg]

Dougg! Wide open is niiiice! Thanks for posting!

Thanks... I think I'm going to like this lens! 🙂

 

[Les Lammers]

Very nice Doug! I will get one as soon as I sell my mint rigid Cron.

 

[shenkerian]

Sorry, I should have mentioned in my original post that this is the NEW Zeiss Sonnar 50.

When Tom gets back from Photokina I hope to take both this lens and the Nokton-50 for for a head-to-head comparison.

Hi Sockeyed, have you (or has anyone else) by any chance been able to do this comparison? I'm very interested in the differences between the CV Nokton and the ZM Sonnar, including size and handling.

By the way, I'll be in Vancouver tomorrow through Thursday. How's the weather been? I hope to be able to take a few shots during my too-short stay.

 

[msadat]

here is another sample with R-d1

here is another sample with R-d1

this one is shot wide open