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Archive 2009 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread

  
 
wfrank
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p.109 #1 · p.109 #1 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Makten wrote:
So, I'm a bit annoyed with people posting images without telling what lens they used. I mean, this thread is about pure gear freakery, so let's get there. Otherwise we could also have a thread named "The official Zeiss 50 mm thread". As you might know, there are like 10 lenses that fits, which are all different.


Right. I'd like to know too though I am easy to fool. Cam is interesting too, 5D2 for me.



Apr 03, 2013 at 04:07 PM
carstenw
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p.109 #2 · p.109 #2 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Makten wrote:
Otherwise we could also have a thread named "The official Zeiss 50 mm thread". As you might know, there are like 10 lenses that fits, which are all different.


I am quite sure that there is way more than 10! I can think of 4-5 medium format lenses right off the bat, and there are old ones too.



Apr 03, 2013 at 04:09 PM
wfrank
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p.109 #3 · p.109 #3 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


People should do like you two guys, brag with their gear in their profile ;-)


Apr 03, 2013 at 04:12 PM
Makten
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p.109 #4 · p.109 #4 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


wfrank wrote:
People should do like you two guys, brag with their gear in their profile ;-)


If people think it's about bragging I will remove the list at once, as I hate bragging. I use the profile for remembering what lenses I've owned or used for an extended period.

Anyhow, I thought it was obvious that the C/Y and Z* were completely different designs.



Apr 03, 2013 at 04:20 PM
Mescalamba
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p.109 #5 · p.109 #5 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Paul Yi wrote:
They were taken with C/Y MMJ version....



Thought so, my favorite, at least based on look. How much did it cost you?



Apr 03, 2013 at 04:28 PM
carstenw
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p.109 #6 · p.109 #6 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Hmm, I am considering adding my old gear to my profile as well. Nice way to keep track...


Apr 03, 2013 at 04:32 PM
ceder
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p.109 #7 · p.109 #7 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


HELP!

I have the C/Y 35/1.4, it was leitaxed for canon mount, and today I got the Metabones speed boost adapter, so I unscrewed the leitax adapter, put on the speed booster and put it on the camera. I immediately noticed it felt like a loose fit, so I put the camera down and realised I had forgotten to screw back the screws into the C/Y 35mm when taking off the Leitax adapter. Well, I un-mounted the speed booster, and noticed that the holes for the screws were still aligned at the back of my 35mm lens, so I screwed them in.

Everything fine and dandy?

NOPE! The aperture ring now slides without the distinct stops between the full apertures (I think it used to do that), and I can now only go to aperture 11, not aperture 16 (which is max). Well, I can go into 16 if I use force, but I do not want to do that.

What is the cure?

Thanks for any help guys!!



Apr 04, 2013 at 04:46 AM
wfrank
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p.109 #8 · p.109 #8 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Sorry to hear ceder!

If youre lucky there's a simple solution, the screws you screwed in came with the Leitax adapter and they are usually longer than the original ones. A guess is that they now press on aperture mechanics making it malfunction. Hopefully just unscrew them (a bit at least) so they not pushing anything for a prolonged time.

If you dont got the original screws together with the lens, it ought to be possible to get the correct ones from Zeiss if it is a MM version (green F/16 mark). Leitax may very well be able to help you too, I understand that he is a helpful guy quick to respond to emails.



Apr 04, 2013 at 05:27 AM
ceder
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p.109 #9 · p.109 #9 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Yes, I will change to the shorter screws! Thanks Frank!


Apr 04, 2013 at 05:48 AM
sebboh
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p.109 #10 · p.109 #10 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


ceder wrote:
Yes, I will change to the shorter screws! Thanks Frank!


i bet the aperture ring came out of alignment at some point without tight screws holding the mount in place and the ball bearing that is responsible for click stops came out of position. those things are slippery devils, hopefully it's still under the aperture ring just out of position (and is what is blocking f/16). otherwise you'll have to get a new one if you want click stops.

note: i believe the ball bearings on all contax lenses are spring loaded? so it's possible the spring might be displaced as well.

my solution would be to put the lens in a shoe box (where the ball bearing won't get away) and remove the aperture ring (after the mount of course) to see if you can locate the bearing (and spring) and put them back in their proper location.



Apr 04, 2013 at 05:00 PM
wfrank
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p.109 #11 · p.109 #11 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


For the ball bearing position and "mount", check this links image #8 and #9. It's an instruction for a different conversion (of the 85/1.4 and 35/1.4) and involves lifting the aperture ring also revealing some other mechanics.

http://leitax.com/conversion/contax/Planar_8514/index.html



Apr 04, 2013 at 05:12 PM
Samuli Vahonen
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p.109 #12 · p.109 #12 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Makten wrote:
Try it! The Planar is really a "double nature" in that it gives very harsh bokeh close up, but is instead very smooth for distant shots (+2-3 meters or so). Personally, I don't understand why one would want smooth bokeh when the background is totally blurred out. I want chaos! Hence 95% of all "bokeh tests" are totally irrelevant for me since they usually are carried out near MFD.

Yes too smooth bokeh is boring, but I like just little rough or "characteristic" bokeh, not your chaos level I'll promise to try 1.4/50 wide open close-ups this summer. Damn now all the time goes shooting wide open (1.4/35 as well I'm planning to try to do that)

Makten wrote:
I think you should try some medium format, if you can afford it. I have only used 6x6 and 6x7 film because of cost, but many of the lenses have characteristics that I'm sure you would love, because they don't have to be faster than ~f/2.8 to give a really blurred background. Especially the humble Hasselblad Zeiss 80/2.8 Planar behaves very much the same as the Z* 50/1.4, but it is of course much sharper at the same DOF.


I have considered going to medium format as option as well, but I'm not very keen on any of the currently in production medium format lens characteristics. So I would be forced to adapt to old Hasselblad (when they were still made by Zeiss) or Contax 645 lenses. In addition to Planar 2.8/80 I'm sure I would love Planar 2/110 and 40mm & 50mm Distagons based on what I have seen them adapted to 36mm*24mm sensor cameras. Also I'm not happy to current implementations of live view in medium format backs. I have no interest to go back to film anymore, so it would be pretty pricey adventure at this point (full frame sensor is must).

Samuli



Apr 04, 2013 at 05:50 PM
Samuli Vahonen
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p.109 #13 · p.109 #13 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Samuli Vahonen wrote:
So my brand new guideline for myself for 2013:
- bokeh shots: shoot f/1.4, if bokeh issues, go closer and/or close aperture to f/3.2-4 depending shooting distance - if vignetting or magenta/green issues close f/2.0-2.8 depending shooting distance
- landscapes: keep shooting f/5.6


Tried yesterday the wide open shooting - all below: Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1.4/35 ZE-version and Canon 5DmkII @ ISO 100


1# 1/5000s



2# 1/3200s - larger



3# 1/2000s - the DOF is hard to see from thumbnail, so here is larger version



4# 1/2000s



5# 1/1000s - larger



Samuli



Apr 06, 2013 at 01:01 AM
wfrank
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p.109 #14 · p.109 #14 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Looks good Samuli, but I'd go with you that for a typical tree shot it looks like you benefit from stopping down a bit for your typical crispness. Type of subject is obviously important as is of course background, distance to it etc. I realize these are just fresh examples and also taken in difficult lighting with snow and harsh light filtered through trees, but the same lens in an evenly lit summer evening on your Volvo (or was it Saab?) is capable of producing more 3D.

EDIT
Watched those first on the iPad. On a 2nd look on laptop the first one does it for me. Bokeh isnt exactly superb but front tree is really "present".

Edited on Apr 06, 2013 at 10:48 AM · View previous versions



Apr 06, 2013 at 03:26 AM
ceder
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p.109 #15 · p.109 #15 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


sebboh wrote:
i bet the aperture ring came out of alignment at some point without tight screws holding the mount in place and the ball bearing that is responsible for click stops came out of position. those things are slippery devils, hopefully it's still under the aperture ring just out of position (and is what is blocking f/16). otherwise you'll have to get a new one if you want click stops.

note: i believe the ball bearings on all contax lenses are spring loaded? so it's possible the spring might be displaced as well.

my solution would be to put the lens in a
...Show more

Thanks!



Apr 06, 2013 at 05:59 AM
ceder
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p.109 #16 · p.109 #16 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


wfrank wrote:
For the ball bearing position and "mount", check this links image #8 and #9. It's an instruction for a different conversion (of the 85/1.4 and 35/1.4) and involves lifting the aperture ring also revealing some other mechanics.

http://leitax.com/conversion/contax/Planar_8514/index.html



Perfect! Many thanks!!



Apr 06, 2013 at 05:59 AM
wfrank
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p.109 #17 · p.109 #17 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


ceder wrote:
Perfect! Many thanks!!


Np ceder. Hope you get it together. I've seen your Flickr pages that you've bombarded with awesome shots so I want to see you use this lens :-)

- - -

Elderly gentleman (quite talkative) and a CY bokeh shot from today. Both wideopen. Harsh light.







Apr 06, 2013 at 05:02 PM
_manny_
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p.109 #18 · p.109 #18 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Hi, I'm new here, long kept reading on here but never posted. The images in this thread pushed me over the edge though! Very impressive.

I'm a Nikon shooter - am I correct in thinking the C/Y model is impossible to use on Nikons? Even if a leitax adaptor was used?

Another thing I've found hard to understand is the issue of how the new Z* version performs at f/1.4. I've read about a veiling glare, yet the photos above taken with the ZE version at f/1.4 look great... Is it just in certain conditions, with a certain mix of colours and light?

I have the Nikon 35G f/1.4 and like it; it has quite gentle bokeh and a pleasing - to my eyes - steady progression from the in-focus to out-of-focus areas... yet it seems to lack the bite of the photos here, that almost medium format look. I hope it's not sacrilege to ask but I would like to know if anyone has compared the new Sigma 35 to either of the Zeiss 35 f1.4s? It looks to have the same sharpness wide-open and also the same abrupt change from in to out of focus as the C/Y Zeiss which I think lends that dramatic 3D look.



Apr 10, 2013 at 04:22 PM
carstenw
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p.109 #19 · p.109 #19 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


I believe that the Contax 35/1.4 will not fit on a Nikon, at least not without major modification, above and beyond Leitax. The ZF.2 version is perfect for Nikons, and has similar (although not identical) rendering.

Several of the ZFs can have glare under some circumstances, but in general they perform great and I wouldn't worry about it at all.

If you develop in Lightroom, you might experiment with Contrast and Clarity to get a little more bite into your Nikon 35/1.4 shots, and definitely make sure that you downsize and sharpen correctly. If you still need more bite, then off to Zeissland you go

The new Sigma appears to be a fantastic lens, but the boke is not nearly as nice as the Zeiss at least in some circumstances, and it doesn't have the same micro-contrast and 3D ability, that I have seen in shots so far.



Apr 10, 2013 at 04:28 PM
_manny_
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p.109 #20 · p.109 #20 · The official Zeiss 35/1.4 thread


Thank you for the response.

Regarding the Nikon lens, I probably should have been clearer about bite, I meant more the combination of sharpness wide-open and a fairly rapid shift to out-of-focus which seems to be the signature of the C/Y version and perhaps the new Sigma although I'm unsure about the latter as most photos I've seen with it are close-ups of pets etc. But you're quite right about downsizing and sharpening - that was actually how I discovered this forum, in the huge Zeiss images thread there are some great tutorials on sharpening that are linked to on many other sites.

It's a pity about the C/Y version not being suitable for Nikons; it seems to offer the kind of rendering I prefer. A while back I found a Noct at good price (well good for a Noct) and have been amazed by it even at f/1.2 and on a D800E which has encouraged me to have a more open mind about older lenses. Alas it sounds like this Zeiss won't be one of them. I'll keep an eye on this thread and see more posted with the Z* versions I hope. As I mentioned the ZE photos above on this page seem wonderful at f/1.4 with even nicer bokeh than what I've seen from the C/Y yet many people have claimed problems at wide apertures with the Z* version which I find quite confusing. Perhaps it's technique, light, subject etc all coming together.



Apr 10, 2013 at 05:13 PM
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