What in your experience are the best (old & new) - & this includes value for money criteria as well as IQ - Contax Zeiss lenses?

Contax Carl Zeiss Distagon 28/2.8 with C/Y mount has incredible IQ and a modest price. Many other CZ lenses are also excellent, but I think the 28/2.8 is the greatest hit (for prime lenses below about $700 US).

C/Y 28 2.8 and the C/Y 35-70 3.4 zoom.

Surely, although it's not cheap, the C/Y 21 2.8 must be a contender?

The 28/2.8 and 35-70/3.4 are indeed excellent. The 50/1.4 is no slouch either, and the 50/1.7 an outstanding low-budget choice.

I've had the 28/2.8, 50/1.7, 85/2.8 and the 35-70/3.4, and sometimes I miss them, but I still have the Planar 100/2 and I don't plan on letting it go

I'll offer up 3 of them from my experience. First I'll agree on the 28/2.8 when used on a cropped dslr.

Favourites are:
Distagon 28/2.8
Distagon 25/2.8 (weak wide open but brilliant stopped down)
Makro Planar 60/2.8 AE 1:1 (60 C / MM is very compact and goes to 1:2)
Planar 50/1.4 (closer focusing than the 50/1.7)
Planar 85/1.4
Distagon 21/2.8 (though I didn't use it much at the time)
Planar 135/2 (a little soft wide open but great feel to it)

Distagon 35/2.8 deserves a mention as a brilliant and cheap performer in a small package. I have never liked the 35mm lenses but at least it is a good one.

Sonnar 85/2.8 great lens, compact too.
Planar (or is it Sonnar) 100/3.5 razorsharp and very compact. Too bad it's 3.5.

Good but not reaching the top spot:
Vario Sonnar 80-200/4
Sonnar 135/2.8 (compact and looks good on MTF but doesn't "pop" like the Planars)
Planar 200/3.5 AE (decent but heavy)
Planar 100/2 (I think the bokeh is ugly)

Disappointing:
Sonnar 200/4 (weak wide open, pretty good stopped down)
Sonnar 180/2.8 (lacklustre, much like the old Leica 180/2.8)
Sonnar 300/4 (even more lacklustre, across the aperture range)
Distagon 18/4
Vario Sonnar 28-70.

Of the above my most used lenses were:
Distagon 25/2.8
Planar 50/1.4
Makro Planar 60/2.8
Planar 135/2

Cameras used were Contax RXII, RTS II and RTS III - all brilliant cameras. The RTSII with a fenomenal viewfinder and quite small, but reassuringly heavy. The RTSIII is a tank, most confident inspiring camera of all times. RXII was the "best" for me, wish I had started out with it. Right size and weight, great viewfinder.

I had the ST briefly but it didn't feel right compared to the above three, the shutter had a whining sound and batteries were AAA with the configuration I had.

Contax S2 was good, light and felt flimsy but never failed. Expensive though.

159MM was pretty ok, but wasn't as endurable as the above cameras.
I also had the cameras to be avoided during the film days: 167MT (fell apart, all three I had, both mechanically and electronically) 137/139 (Q) with or without built in motor. In the early days I was on a session with one 159 and a 137/139 and they ALL failed. I managed to resuscitate one of them to save grace but imagine during the film days what a hassle it was to switch films between cameras.

After that I got the RXII and an RTSII and my problems were over for as long as I shot film. The RTS III entered in the last eight months of my shooting small format professionally, as did the D21mm. I am somewhat sorry I didn't get to shoot more with the latter two, but at the time I also had the Contax G2 w 21/28/45/90 lenses.

Contax Aria wasn't too shabby really but the viewfinder was grainy and much darker than the older cameras and it didn't feel inspiring, very plasticky.

Ahhh... ...remembering the film days...

I have failed to mention a few more Contax lenses I have had, I am sure but my memory draws a blank at the moment.

CVickery wrote:
I've had the 28/2.8, 50/1.7, 85/2.8 and the 35-70/3.4, and sometimes I miss them, but I still have the Planar 100/2 and I don't plan on letting it go

I can confirm that Cal's 85/2.8 is superb. Glad he sold it to me.

I would say that list of four lenses is very fine, and represents very good
value. I've never tried the 100/2 Planar. The images I see from it on this
board are very good. A special lens, but I already have numberous fine
primes in that short tele range, so I won't be picking one up anytime soon.

The 85/2.8 makes a fantastic portrait prime for me, since I don't shoot
many low DOF portraits. The sharpness and tonal range are superb.

globalkiwi wrote:
What in your experience are the best (old & new) - & this includes value for money criteria as well as IQ - Contax Zeiss lenses?

I used to walk around with an RTS3 and the holy trinity of image quality, viz., D2.8/21, P1.4/50, P2/100. The camera has changed now, but not the lenses.

The short list: D28/2.8, S100/3.5. In their native habitat, I prefer the Contax Aria.

28/2.8
35-70/3.4

And of course the 21/2.8

Contax Planar 1.2/55 100 Jahre MMG
Contax Planar 1.2/85 50 Jahre MMG
Contax Apo Sonnar 2/200 (MMJ?)
Contax Distagon 2.8/21 MMJ
Contax Distagon 2/28 MMG ("Hollywood")

Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/100 ZF
Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/50 ZF
Zeiss Distagon 2/35 ZF

For me it are the three lenses I kept from a collection of 6, namely

28mm f2 (AE)
60mm macro (AE) the one that goes to 1:1
100mm f2 (AE)

although I must say the 85mm 1.4 was wonderful too.

My favorites in order:
1) Zeiss 16mm f2.8 Distagon
2) Zeiss 100mm f3.5 Sonnar
3) Zeiss 25mm f2.8 Distagon
4) Zeiss 50mm f1.4 Planar

The 35-70 and the 50/1.7 are great bargains. I love my 16mm fisheye. I have been very happy with the 18/4 - but I got it at a decent price - and it performs great on the 5D2.

I would love the 100/2 and the 50/2 makro.

Let's not overlook the Contax G Zeiss lenses.

All are outstanding, except perhaps the 35/2.0 which is merely very good. Thje following were among my favorite lenses:

Zeiss 45/2.0 G Planar
Zeiss 21/2.8 G Biogon
Zeiss 28/2.8 G Biogon
Zeiss 90/2.8 G Sonnar

Never had the 16mm Hologon, which was too expensive and limited. I had the 35-70 G Vario-Sonnar, which was let down by a slow, f5.6, Max aperture at the long end.

Ok, I did not have all the Zeiss lenses in the world, but from what I have/had :

Zeiss 28mm/2.0 Distagon
Zeiss 50mm/1.4 Planar
Zeiss 100mm/2.0 Planar
Zeiss 28-85mm Vario-Sonnar for it's versatility and IQ stopped down.

Others that I had but are not my favourites : D28/2.8,P50/1.7,P85/1.4,S135/2.8 - by no means bad lenses, but the first two lost in favour of the faster brothers and in the short tele range I still like the P100/2.0 most.

CVickery wrote:
I've had the 28/2.8, 50/1.7, 85/2.8 and the 35-70/3.4, and sometimes I miss them....

That's funny, I have the same combo, but I don't miss them (I still have them)

But most probably they will all be replaced with the N 24-85 that is sitting at Conurus at the moment.

The 200 f2 isn't a great lens when compared to the Canon 200 f1.8 or f2 IS. The Canon's are sharper. The Leica 180 f2 is also sharper, and more apochromatic.

Of the ones I have tried, it's quicker to mention the weak ones:
180 f2.8
28-70
200 f2
Contax 25

I still use
Contax 21
28 f2.8
35 f2.8
35 f1.4
50 f1.7
85 f2.8
100 f2.8 Makro
135 f2.8
200 f3.5
500 f8
24-85 N

and I know I can rely on them year in year out to produce beautiful results. They are all good value for money.

35/2.8 @ f4 +5D

globalkiwi wrote:
Surely, although it's not cheap, the C/Y 21 2.8 must be a contender?


The 21 is the best lens I`ve ever owned
My 100 3.5 is a superb lens that is often overlooked because it`s not fast
My 25 2.8 is stellar when stopped down a couple
35 2.8 is a good general purpose lens that delivers the goods
28 2.8 and 50 1.7 are not very impressive
85 1.4 doesn`t get used, nothing special
135 2.8 nothing special

Wish list
100 f2 but apart from cost I can`t see it being any better than my 100 3.5 unless I want shallow DOF which is not that often.

Forgot to mention 35-70C/Y 3.4 a good lens(can be great) but I prefer primes now.

The only one i currently have and seems to be somewhat overlooked, but has been described by some as arguably the best zoom ever made is the :

C / Y Zeiss Vario Sonnar 28-85 f3.3-4

Yeah it has a little bit of pincushion distortion and some CA but these are easily dealt with in PP.But it can hold its own with other Zeiss primes in its focal range.
Here are a few samples that i have taken in the short time i have had it.

Wini: crisp eyes indeed.

The 28-85 I was looking at getting but it felt kind of awkward in the 28mm setting.

The N24-85 lens looks like a solid performer. There was one up for grabs here in Sweden but I think it has been sold already. I would have liked to try it out on the 5D, for sure.