Category Archives: Vintage

Vintage, Zeiss

Review: Carl Zeiss Contarex Planar f=50mm 1:2

15 Comments

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The Zeiss Contarex line was Zeiss’ last attempt to produce a competitive camera system in Germany; after that production moved to Japan. Zeiss put a lot of effort into those lenses and cameras. You can read on the internet that they created a line of lenses which is considered by some “the best ever, optically and mechanically“.

So I was curious and bought a Carl Zeiss Contarex f=50mm 1:2 to see whether this assessment checks out. Today the Planar 2/50 is the cheapest of the Contarex lineup but it is still quite expensive at around 300€. I will review it as I would review any other lens, and see if the hype about this lens is justified.

Sample Images

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Sony a7 | Zeiss Contarex Planar 2/50  | f/8 | full resolution
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Sony a7 | Zeiss Contarex Planar 2/50  | f/4 | full resolution
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Sony a7 | Zeiss Contarex Planar 2/50  | f/2.8 | full resolution

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Canon FD-Mount, lenses, Review, Vintage

Review: Canon new FD 24mm 1:2.8 on Sony a7

70 Comments

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There are many manual lenses above 28mm which work quite well on modern cameras like the Alpha 7 but not that many wide angle lenses perform good enough on modern cameras.

The Canon nFD 2.8/24 is one of the sharpest, affordable wide angle lenses and I think it can be a good solution for budget-oriented Sony Alpha 7 users.

A German version of this review can be found on phillipreeve.de.

Sample Images

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Sony a7 | Canon nFD 2.8/24 | f/11 | full resolution
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Sony a7 | Canon nFD 2.8/24 | f/8

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Sony a7 | Canon nFD 2.8/24 | f/11 | full resolution

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lenses, Review, Vintage, Zeiss

Zeiss Milvus Distagon 1.4/50 – Review

32 Comments

DSC09857Classic 50mm lenses are rather small, affordable and not very good wide open. The new Zeiss Milvus 1.4/50 is very big, very expensive and very good from f/1.4.

For this review I used the Milvus on my Sony a7.

All images in this review are processed from raw unless I mention otherwise. I did nothing fancy, just a little contrast and some sharpening.

Disclosure: This copy was loaned from Zeiss at no charge.

Sample Images

 

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Milvus 1.4/50 | Sony a7 | f/2 | full resolution
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Milvus 1.4/50 | Sony a7 | f/1.4 | full resolution

 

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Milvus 1.4/50 | Sony a7 | f/1.4| full resolution

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