I just got this little lens. Great build. Smooooth feeling.

Very sharp. The only negative I have found so far is that the contrast is slightly too high for my taste. (I donīt know if it is the micro or macro)

This one is shot wide open with a Nikkor 4T close up lens on a 1D mk2

I never could understand the "high contrast" thing. All lenses lose contrast from the real scene. Good quality lenses such as the Zeiss lose very little while low quality ones lose much more.

edwardkaraa wrote:
I never could understand the "high contrast" thing. All lenses lose contrast from the real scene. Good quality lenses such as the Zeiss lose very little while low quality ones lose much more.

There's a theory that lower contrast lenses somehow save the sensor from embarrassment with high contrast scenes. I think it's nonsense, mainly for reasons of scale, but it would be hard to prove. What I am sure of is that some lenses have weird contrast transmission which detracts from a sense of reality, and some have a very natural looking kind of contrast which feels very real. I would put the Contax 85 f2.8 in the latter category. It seems to me that many Zeiss lenses seem to have less contrast in out-of-focus areas than on the focal plane, and that contrast differential seems to me to be quite desirable as it increases the sense of 3D. Some Leica lenses have very high contrast in the o.o.f. areas, which seems to me to flatten the image and make it more pictorial than veridical. At any rate, in general, high contrast on the focal plane ought to be a desirable quality, regardless of what happens outside the focal plane.

The Contax 85 f2.8 is a real bargain which routinely delivers beautiful results and strong 3D effect.

The Contax CZ 85/2.8 is very good indeed. It's rather long minimum focus
distance is one drawback, but aside from the obvious limitations of stopped-down
metering and manual focus, there's little to say against it, and a great deal in
its favor. A very nice portrait lens.

By high contrast, I think he is refering to the compression of the shadow detail. Our eyes see lots of details in the shadows, but no lens (or film/sensor) can match our vision. A lens with poor contrast will make things look muddy, but one with too much contrast will block up the shadows.

Once the shadows are blocked up it can be hard to recover the detail because there is often considerable noise associated with doing that. Contrast can be increased in PP with less detremental affect.

Yes, It is extremely sharp and has got so called zeiss micro-contrast. Only problem is earlier versions of 5D have mirror clearance issue...i'm parting with mine.

Anden wrote:
This one is shot wide open with a Nikkor 4T close up lens on a 1D mk2

Hmm, I detect optical contamination. That 4T should be replaced by an extension tube or CZ Mutar. As our resident blur-meister, you will surely enjoy the S85: the bokeh is superb.