There's a LOT of Zeiss glass out there, dear god.

Anybody have any resources where I can read up on which ones are the more desirable versions?

Trying to map out what I would want if I make the jump to Sony A850/A900 (my 1Ds2 is off to Canon for a checkup/cleaning so I can sell/trade it ).

Would like a "pretty wide" 20-ish mm lens, a ~35mm one, a short tele of some sort (85-135), and that should cover it. But I'm getting information overload on all the classic Zeiss options out there. M42 or other adaptable lens ideally, though I would consider something like a Leitax conversion if the glass is worth it

The M42 mount Zeiss (Jena) stuff (made in East Germany) is generally less desirable than the C/Y mount Contax Zeiss stuff (Made in West Germany and Japan). There are a few Jena gems, but overall not much to really get excited about.

Leitax has a list of supported lenses for your scenario here: http://www.leitax.com/Zeiss-Contax-lens-for-Sony-cameras.html

From that list and from your question, I can recommend the Distagon 21/2.8, the Sonnar 85/2.8, and the Sonnar 135/2.8.

P.S. It would be much easier to simply stick adapters on them and keep your Canon.

Flektogons are East German Carl Zeiss Jena lenses. The only Flektogons of note are the 35/2.4, the 20/2.8, and the 20/4. All three of these are in M42 mount, so you could use them on a Canon or Sony or Pentax, etc with an adapter. I have the 35/2.4 and it's an excellent performer and only cost ~$200.

The Distagons are generally newer and more expensive. There are the Contax/Yashica mount ones (somewhat older) and the currently-in-production Zeiss ZF/ZK/ZE lenses (Z for Zeiss and the other letter to represent the mount F=Nikon-F, E=CanonEOS, K=PentaxK, etc.). The Distagon 21/2.8 is legendary and the 35/1.4 is supposed to be nice as well. The 35/2 is currently being made while the 35/1.4 was in C/Y mount only.

85-135 lenses are usually Planars or Sonnars. The C/Y mount Sonnar 85/2.8 is high quality and pretty small as well. Sonnars are known for a particularly smooth bokeh. The 85/1.4 Planar is another quality lens.

If you want to go with Sony, you'll have access to ZA lenses (Sony-Alpha mount), which are considerably different than the other Zeiss lenses mentioned above. You get autofocus and all the other nice things. Here's a list of all the ZA lenses:
http://www.zeiss.com/c12567a8003b58b9/Contents-Frame/42b1e57ea6944280c12572820048463e
Note that there is no ZA 21/2.8 or 35/2 yet... but there is a 85/1.4 and an excellent 135/1.8.

Unfortunately, if you want wide primes with auto-aperture control you'd be better off with Nikon or Canon.

cogitech wrote:
P.S. It would be much easier to simply stick adapters on them and keep your Canon.

You're quick cogi... 2 posts in the time it took me to make one.

Anyway, he's right. It's easier to just stay with Canon and either use an adapter for C/Y lenses or buy new ZE lenses and not have to mess with stop-down metering.

Thanks, guys! I am still pondering keeping Canon (I will be keeping a 50D + a pair of long teles for birding either way since it's such an excellent setup), but would like a slightly smaller package and a little more "modern" setup with nice LCD and such (the 50D ruined me!). The 5D2 is still in the running, but I am still not sold on the IQ of it compared to Sony FF (when really pushing an image to get the most range out of it)...

Stop-down metering I don't mind at all (I use OM and M42 glass today on my 1Ds2).

I'll take a look at the 85 Sonnar vs Planar -- 2.8 is a little slower than I like, but image quality is also of great importance!

Thanks again.

If it is speed you are after, there is even a rare 85mm Planar f:1.2 for Contax

Another very highly regarded short tele you might consider is the 100 f/2 in C/Y mount.

Note the ZA 85 and ZA 135 are native Sony mount and extremely well regarded. It would be difficult for me to justify going to adapted lenses instead of just getting a ZA for those focal lengths.

philber wrote:
If it is speed you are after, there is even a rare 85mm Planar f:1.2 for Contax

I am aware of two editions: 50-Jahre and 60-Jahre, both very expensive, at over $3000 if you are lucky, and much more if you are not. They are meant to be much better than the regular Contax 85/1,4 but the price is so much higher. Note the various conditions the lenses are being sold in:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Carl-Zeiss-Contax-85-mm-1-2-50-year-Planar-AEG-WOW_W0QQitemZ160374287593QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item25570d6ce9#ht_500wt_1140

http://cgi.ebay.de/Contax-85mm-1-2-Planar-Lens-50-Years-Edt-50-f1-2-Zeiss_W0QQitemZ310173500284QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Lenses?hash=item4837c8037c#ht_2563wt_1125

http://cgi.ebay.de/Contax-85mm-f-1-2-60-Years-Limited-Edition-MINT_W0QQitemZ190336829115QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Lenses?hash=item2c50f586bb#ht_4180wt_899

http://cgi.ebay.de/50-Years-Jahre-CONTAX-Planar-T-85mm-f1-2-AEG-85-1-2_W0QQitemZ380168344437QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Lenses?hash=item5883cc9375#ht_7527wt_899

http://cgi.ebay.de/50-Years-Jahre-Contax-Planar-T-85mm-f1-2-AEG-85-1-2_W0QQitemZ130331502731QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Lenses?hash=item1e585ce88b#ht_7079wt_899

http://cgi.ebay.de/Contax-Yashica-Mount-1-2-85mm-Planar-T-AE-50-Years_W0QQitemZ230387840804QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFilm_Cameras?hash=item35a42f7724#ht_3229wt_1106

http://cgi.ebay.de/50-Year-Contax-Planar-85mm-F1-2-AEG-Lens-85-1-2-MINT_W0QQitemZ280368276070QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Lenses?hash=item4147406266#ht_3953wt_1125

Sam N wrote:
Flektogons are East German Carl Zeiss Jena lenses. The only Flektogons of note are the 35/2.4, the 20/2.8, and the 20/4. All three of these are in M42 mount, so you could use them on a Canon or Sony or Pentax, etc with an adapter. I have the 35/2.4 and it's an excellent performer and only cost ~$200.


No, I have a FLEKTOGON 4/50mm with a Pentacon 6 mount which I use on 5DMII.

My flektogon 50 is superb performer on 6x6 film, sharp from corner to corner on fine grain film at huge prints. I also use mine on Nikon F2 where it's decently sharp.

But i'm sure Sam meant 35mm format lenses and he might be absolutely right. Maybe only other M42 Jena lens worth mentioning is 180 Sonnar, but it's extremely large, being 6x6 that was also manufactured with M42 threads.

Flektogon 4/50mm on 5DMII, 100% crop, top right corner, sharpend

this is a pretty comprehensive list of zeiss lenses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Zeiss_AG#Camera_lenses

I was talking about Flektogons for 35mm cameras... jeez.

Khun Hans wrote:
Flektogon 4/50mm on 5DMII, 100% crop, top right corner, sharpend

This is the third crop in as many days that has me seriously puzzled about 5D MKII image quality.

Yeah, it looks like watercolour.

carstenw wrote:
Yeah, it looks like watercolour.

...on plastic media.

Funny. I was just thinking, "Yep, that's a Zeiss corner."

I used to have the Zeiss CY 35/1.4. I compared this to the Canon 35L and found the Canon much better all round and so sold the Zeiss. The only Zeiss I have still retained are:

CZ 21/2.8
CZ 28/2.8
CZ 35/2.8 PC

cogitech wrote:
Khun Hans wrote:
Flektogon 4/50mm on 5DMII, 100% crop, top right corner, sharpend

This is the third crop in as many days that has me seriously puzzled about 5D MKII image quality.

Nothing to do with the 5DMII. It seems that you don't know what lens I'm talking of.
This is not a original Zeiss lens but one from Jena and it is more than 30 years old. The pic is not pp at all. It shows only that it is tack sharp in the corners but lacks of resolution. As I have this lens since the FD days (tilt/shift) I just tried it by adapt to the 5DMII and it is good enough for small web pics but printing 13x19 fails cause of quality.
Here the original, uncropped