Royale With Cheese
Senior Member
Aiyo, naughty boy, buy so many copies! :nono:
no wonder no more surplus around :bsmilie:
Which Sonnar?
- Thread starter The Dry Box
- Start date
Aiyo, naughty boy, buy so many copies! :nono:
no wonder no more surplus around :bsmilie:
artspraken
New Member
Zeiss C Sonnar 1.5 50mm is probably the best lens for Black n White "classic soft wide open look".
The is a focus shift issue which you need to get used to which can get you great results. Basically, "focus on the ears to get the eyes" method.
Compared to Lux pre-ASPH, Sonnar is alot cheaper. More bang for buck.
Sonnar is at least 3 lens rolled into one. If you read read reviews you will know why. At different apertures, Sonnar exhibits different characteristics. Wide open it is a "classic" lens, but at smaller aperture it becomes very sharp modern lens.
Sonnar is also small form factor. It is small. Not a big ass heavy lens.
I highly recommend it if you want a 50mm, especially if you want to do BlacknWhite.
I'm not really a fan of Sonnar for color photo.
The is a focus shift issue which you need to get used to which can get you great results. Basically, "focus on the ears to get the eyes" method.
Compared to Lux pre-ASPH, Sonnar is alot cheaper. More bang for buck.
Sonnar is at least 3 lens rolled into one. If you read read reviews you will know why. At different apertures, Sonnar exhibits different characteristics. Wide open it is a "classic" lens, but at smaller aperture it becomes very sharp modern lens.
Sonnar is also small form factor. It is small. Not a big ass heavy lens.
I highly recommend it if you want a 50mm, especially if you want to do BlacknWhite.
I'm not really a fan of Sonnar for color photo.
The Dry Box
Senior Member
Is yours optimized for 2.8 or 1.5? Did you do any adjustments such as focusing a little more behind?
It has the softness I'm looking for.
And yes, this is definitely 3 lenses in one package.
Atm, I am leaning towards the zm c sonnar. Looks great on the m2 also.
I reckon that a good copy of J-3 is as good as the new ZM C Sonnar and at a fraction of the price. Of course, finding a good copy needs a little luck.
I have got a J-3 with a lot of scratches (it is a test sameple of Raid/RFF in his famous sonnar shoot-out). It still performs superbly. As campared to the zm c sonnar, it is a little more gentle/dreamy. It is also quite a bit more compact than the zm c sonnar. IIRC, I paid ~US$100 for it.
I have got a J-3 with a lot of scratches (it is a test sameple of Raid/RFF in his famous sonnar shoot-out). It still performs superbly. As campared to the zm c sonnar, it is a little more gentle/dreamy. It is also quite a bit more compact than the zm c sonnar. IIRC, I paid ~US$100 for it.
Royale With Cheese
Senior Member
I shot with a J3 on loan from Xavier:
Wide open at F1.5
this is at F8, I think.......
Wide open at F1.5
this is at F8, I think.......
The Dry Box
Senior Member
Thanks everyone for your kind contributions.
I had decided to find a nice chrome color skopar 50mm f2.5 first for my bang around kit(if I am able to). I'll probably try to find the c sonnar or canon 1.5 later.
I have seen many samples from the nikkor... it does struck me that the image render are a little on the "flat" side, while the other two has a more 3d look. I'll probably need to be careful in application if I get that one, hence I decided against it.
The quality of J-3 drawing looks amazing. How is the handling though?
I had decided to find a nice chrome color skopar 50mm f2.5 first for my bang around kit(if I am able to). I'll probably try to find the c sonnar or canon 1.5 later.
I have seen many samples from the nikkor... it does struck me that the image render are a little on the "flat" side, while the other two has a more 3d look. I'll probably need to be careful in application if I get that one, hence I decided against it.
The quality of J-3 drawing looks amazing. How is the handling though?
Royale With Cheese
Senior Member
Seriously a good bang for the buck!
Glass is good but barrel material is aluminum if I'm not wrong, doesnt feel good..
The aperture ring is smooth turning, no clicks.
If you can deal with the short comings, its still a generally a good lens for general shooting.
Small, compact, F1.5, shouldnt cost more than SGD250 on ebay.
I shot with a J3 on loan from Xavier:
Wide open at F1.5
this is at F8, I think.......
Excellent capture!
gommy
Senior Member
Back row:
ZeissOpton50f1.5 in Contax mount with Amedeo's Adapter, CZJ50f1.5 LTM, Jupiter3 LTM
Middle row:
Nikkor50f1.4(Japan) LTM, Nikkor50f1.4(Tokyo) LTM, Canon50f1.5 LTM
Front row:
Simlar50f1.5 LTM(half-Sonnar), Topcor50f1.5 LTM(half-Sonnar, an improvement over Simlar, rendition most similar to Canon50f1.5),
Tanar50f1.5 LTM(very Sonnar-like in size & rendition; quite likely a Sonnar as Tanar has 3 Sonnars in Tanar50f2.0, Tanar50f1.8 & Tanar50f1.9)
Last edited:
hookonclassic
Senior Member
Back row:
ZeissOpton50f1.5 in Contax mount with Amedeo's Adapter, CZJ50f1.5 LTM, Jupiter3 LTM
Middle row:
Nikkor50f1.4(Japan) LTM, Nikkor50f1.4(Tokyo) LTM, Canon50f1.5 LTM
Front row:
Simlar50f1.5 LTM(half-Sonnar), Topcor50f1.5 LTM(half-Sonnar, an improvement over Simlar, rendition most similar to Canon50f1.5),
Tanar50f1.5 LTM(very Sonnar-like in size & rendition; quite likely a Sonnar as Tanar has 3 Sonnars in Tanar50f2.0, Tanar50f1.8 & Tanar50f1.9)
Like kid getting his/her candy, I want ..... Carl Zeiss Jena CZJ 50mm f1.5 LTM Sonnar :angel:
gommy
Senior Member
That's the ONE for you! Only German will do for you.:lovegrin:
hookonclassic
Senior Member
The Dry Box
Senior Member
It's gone!
gommy
Senior Member
I was No. 56 viewer when I saw it & I know it will go in a flash so put HU immediately here.
ZM sonnar is great for me. Old skool look but some find it soft wide open if you can live with it. Thanks to buddy Max for his great help to find one for me.
M9 + c-sonnar
You are welcome!
I am looking forward to receive my M9 to use my Sonnar on it!!! I can foresee that it will be permanently glued to it.
Similar threads
