p.4 #3 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
It is the lens and a little more. Fits nicely in a small bag. The lens is pretty nice on the SB, since 28mm is something like 28mm. The SB will serve my purposes until I can afford a full frame nex.
CY28-85 at 85mm via EF Speedbooster on Nex 5n,
p.4 #4 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
So after pitting my primes against my two CZ Vario-Sonnar zooms (35-70 and 28-85) I can clearly say confidently that the two zooms have incredible color reproduction that's almost as good if not better than the primes. There's something magical about this zoom in particular that makes itself a permanent extention to my 5D Mark II.
p.4 #5 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
Long time lurker here. I've been using the 28-85 on the NEX series for some time and it was my go-to lens for weddings etc. and found it was fantastic! Unfortunately, it has developed a haze problem in the last 6 months... I showed the pics below to a camera repair group and they thought it was lens separation. What do you guys think?
p.4 #6 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
I know this is an old thread. But I will really appreciate any help from you guys.
Can this zoom be used on Sony A7R II? What adapter would I need, and what can I expect performance-wise?
p.4 #8 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
PratyushPandya wrote:
I know this is an old thread. But I will really appreciate any help from you guys.
Can this zoom be used on Sony A7R II? What adapter would I need, and what can I expect performance-wise?
Sure you can use it with a cy adapter; it's a good zoom, especially for its era, but you'd be using it for economy reasons - it's not like the 35-70 which is decent prime good when stopped down at every fl, and small to boot.
p.4 #10 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
Further looking into the Lothar Kolsch CZ lenses (of which the 28-85 appears to be one, along with the 35-70 and 80-200 VS issues). To illustrate the strength of this one, here are center MTF (%) for the 28-85, 35-70 and 35-135 zooms at noted FLs, all at f8 for our landscapes:
The 28-85 is close to the 50MP IQ at 50mm, for example, a little better in my view.
Photographers looking for high impact imagery and happy enough to correct distortion and the small CA may enjoy these lenses, all of which share a strong family color/contrast signature. From the look of the MTF chart and interpolating a little, it looks like the 28-85 'settles down' at around 30-35mm and is excellent from then on. You see very nice 28mm images from it though. The data chart looks suspect, to be honest, at 28mm. A little heavy at 735g.
p.4 #12 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
I was in HK and bought the C/Y 35-70 in very good condition. I did not buy the C/Y 28-85 3.4-4 as at both 28mm and 35mm the lens showed quite a lot of purple fringing in the corners even when stopped down to f8, f11!!! The C/Y 35-70 is much better in this regard as the purple fringing disappears when stopping down.
Today, I compared the C/Y 35-70 at 70mm to my C/Y 1.4 85. The C/Y AEG 1.4 85 beats the C/Y 35-70 at any aperture. Of course the zoom has no 1.4, 2 and 2.8 hehe. Nevertheless the 35-70 seems to come surprisingly close when stopped down. At 50mm the 35-70 seems really to shine! Will check it against C/Y AE 1.7 50, C/Y S-Planar 2.8 60, Pentax M 1.7 50 and C/Y AE 2.8 35mm.
p.4 #13 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
philip_pj wrotePhotographers looking for high impact imagery and happy enough to correct distortion and the small CA may enjoy these lenses, all of which share a strong family color/contrast signature. From the look of the MTF chart and interpolating a little, it looks like the 28-85 'settles down' at around 30-35mm and is excellent from then on. You see very nice 28mm images from it though. The data chart looks suspect, to be honest, at 28mm. A little heavy at 735g.
I have owned a 28-85 for a few months and would concur with that. I treat it perhaps more as a 35-85 with some extra available on the wide end if I need it.
p.4 #14 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
Well, thanks to this thread, I took advantage of eBay's 15% off promo deal today and bought a 28-85 to try for myself.
Worst case, thanks to the discount, I'll be able to resell it for a smaller loss and have finally scratched an itch that has been pestering me for a while now.
P.S.: I also had my sister buy a 35-70 through her account to get the discount, so I'm finally scratching that itch, too!
p.4 #17 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
Mathieu18 wrote:
Ha, well done. I shot with mine this morning, I really like the lens. Not as good as the 35-70 in my opinion, but a good bit more versitle.
Truth be told, I suspect neither lens is going to work for me -- composing and focusing at f3.4 to f4 will almost certainly be problematic for the nighttime photography I'll be doing with them -- but my hope is that, as with many zoom lenses, they project an oversize image circle, which will come in very handy for some of the architectural-type photos I like to take using my hybrid A7R/Cambo WDS combo.
If so, then they will be two more arrows to carry around in my quiver; if not, then back on eBay they will go!
p.4 #18 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
chris9 wrote:
Any reports of zoom creep with the C/Y 28-85? https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/610306:
"The 28-85 is big and heavy and almost all used samples have loads of zoom creep."
I can’t say I have noticed it with mine
It is true that it is fairly big and heavy, though :-)
p.4 #19 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
Well give me a shout first if the 35-70 doesn't work for you!
Audii-Dudii wrote:
Truth be told, I suspect neither lens is going to work for me -- composing and focusing at f3.4 to f4 will almost certainly be problematic for the nighttime photography I'll be doing with them -- but my hope is that, as with many zoom lenses, they project an oversize image circle, which will come in very handy for some of the architectural-type photos I like to take using my hybrid A7R/Cambo WDS combo.
If so, then they will be two more arrows to carry around in my quiver; if not, then back on eBay they will go!
p.4 #20 · CONTAX C/Y CARL ZEISS VARIO-SONNAR T* 28-85mm F3.4-4.0 MM
Mathieu18 wrote:
Well give me a shout first if the 35-70 doesn't work for you!
So far, the 35-70 is showing some promise, but the 28-85 arrived (finally!) this afternoon and it didn't take me very long to determine that I will be returning it.
As you noted, its IQ does fall slightly, but noticeably short of the standard set by the 35-70, which is a strike against it, as is its larger size and heavier weight. But more importantly for me and my purposes, the size of the image circle it projects across its focal length range is actually smaller than those projected by the corresponding C/Y prime lenses I already own!
Between 28 and 31 mm, the 28-85's image circle allows for only 2-3 mm of rise/fall/shift movements, increasing to only 4-5 mm from 35 to 65 mm, which is the range where I will be working most of the time.
At every focal length where the 28-85 overlaps with the 35-70, it projects a smaller-to-significantly smaller image circle. And since the only reason that I'm willing to consider using a zoom instead of a prime is due to the potential for having a larger image circle within which to work, I can't see that I will have much reason to ever use the 28-85.
Fortunately, the seller I bought it from offers a no-questions-asked return policy, so I'll pack it up and have it on its way back tomorrow. <sigh>
