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Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

theopwildebeest
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

Does anyone currently or previously own the Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Planar? The 50mm focal length is the one I use most frequently. I found a really good deal on a Zeiss 50 f2 Makro in Nikon mount, but since I already have wonderful 50mm lenses, I can only justify buying it if it is useful for macro work. I understand it has a 1:2 maximum reproduction ratio. I’m not looking to do typical macro work, just close up detail shots of people, such as eyes, lips, facial contours, hands. I’ve found a number of reviews and it sounds like a cracker of a lens- however discussion and images of its macro capabilities are frequently extremely limited compared to its non-macro use. I can’t find any detailed macro analysis or quality images. Any advice, links or images would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Aug 02, 2024 at 07:44 PM

madNbad
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

A lot of Zeiss lenses can develop a wobble when certain spacers begin to wear out. It’s hard to find which ones are newer because Zeiss doesn’t publish a serial number list. Having owned a lot of Micro-Nikkors, I know they are capable lenses but that being said, I bought a 28 2.8 Biogon for the Zeiss look. Get one and give it a try!

Aug 02, 2024 at 07:59 PM

philip_pj
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

Reviews of the 50MP are numerous, here are a couple:

https://alikgriffin.com/zeiss-planar-50mm-f2-review-sample-photos/
https://dustinabbott.net/2015/01/zeiss-makro-planar-t-50mm-f2-review/

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Carl Zeiss AG published a very useful book listing all their lenses to date a decade or so ago, it was the best they could do with their records. It presented tables of metadata including: serial numbers, production runs, total number of lenses produced, several more fields. I have a copy but it's elsewhere, I believe it goes up to the ZE/ZF series, from memory.

'There's a decent book (I have it) called Fabrikationsbuch Photooptik III that lists the serial numbers, manufacture dates (though there are some gaps and missing information), and a whole bunch of other info. The book's in German, but it's fairly intuitive.'

FM thread on it:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/551588/

Aug 02, 2024 at 08:27 PM

freaklikeme
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

Own it and love it. It's a very solid all-arounder, though the mid-distance bokeh has more structure that even the 50mm setting of one of the 24-70/2.8 zooms. I use mine mostly for zoo and aquarium small exhibits where it's, in my biased estimate, perfection.

Aug 02, 2024 at 08:58 PM

modlin
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

Don't have 50MP but 100MP...awesome lens. Was considering getting that one as well, but since I have 55 Otus...went for a couple Leica M mounts.
All Zeiss for SLR are super lenses (but 85/1.4 previous gen.)...for many people drawback is their size +wt but I am fine with that.

Aug 02, 2024 at 09:48 PM

Sam_W
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

I used to own the original ZF one (not the slightly newer ZF.2), and it was pretty good. Bokeh can be hit and miss, and the rendering is a bit clinical, in that it's fairly neutral of character. Probably what you're looking for given the intended usage!

When I was selling my photo stuff the first time around, it was the last standing lens, as I got the most utility out of it. The people photos I took with it were really great, and same for the macro work.

I think you can also use extension tubes if you need to get a higher magnification ratio.

As mentioned above, probably better off getting a ZF.2 flavour (so without the ZF's metal "wings" that hooked into older Nikon bodies; the ZF.2s also have an orange colour for the last aperture stop marking), so you get a newer helicoid assembly, and hopefully slightly less chance to get damaged ones.

That being said, if you're finding NOS ones (I was really tempted by a really great price on the 'Bay recently), you might just be fine. And Zeiss/Cosina will still service them from what I recall.

Aug 03, 2024 at 01:13 PM

Desmolicious
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

Because I am cool like that, I just took a couple of shots of my pups (surprise!) with my ZF.2 50 Makro Planar on my Z7.
All at f2. I could have gone closer but did not want dog slobber on the lens. It's a great lens with long but quite heavy focus throw. Long makes sense as it can focus 1:2.
The one downside is I am a bit surprised that it is not very flare resistant, even when using the deep lens hood.

Aug 03, 2024 at 01:55 PM

theopwildebeest
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

A very big thank you to everyone, and especially Desmolicious for going the extra mile… Lovely images and dogs.

Looks like I’ll be ordering one Monday.

Aug 03, 2024 at 06:43 PM

MichaelErlewin
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

I had the 50mm Macro Planar f/2.8 . It was sharp enough, but was too contrasty and had WAY too much CA for me, so much that I stopped using it and sold it. Same goes for its big brother the 100mm Macro Planar. Great build, but not useful for the work I do.

Here is a freebook I did years ago of many of the closeup and macro lenses useful on the Nikon system.

http://spiritgrooves.net/pdf/e-books/cmp_lenses.pdf

Edited on Aug 04, 2024 at 11:29 PM · View previous versions

Aug 03, 2024 at 08:28 PM

Peire
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

I used to have two Makro Planars - in ZF and ZE mounts.They were used with/adapted to Canon EF/Nikon F DSLRs,Sony NEX,A6000 series and A7 series cameras.For macro,close ups and as regular,general purpose 50mm lenses.While my 100/2 Makro Planar was played with more often,as my preferences go to short teles,I liked both 50/2 Makro Planars very much.Below a handfull of samples from differrent cameras:

NEX-5 ---- lens f/1.0 1/100s 400 ISO +0.7 EV

ILCE-7 ---- lens 1/500s 200 ISO +0.7 EV

NEX-5 ---- lens f/1.0 1/3s 200 ISO +1.0 EV

NEX-7 ---- lens 1/500s 100 ISO +0.7 EV

NIKON D600 50mm f/11.0 1s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

NEX-3 ---- lens f/1.0 1/160s 200 ISO +0.7 EV

Aug 04, 2024 at 04:16 AM

theopwildebeest
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

MichaelErlewin, thank you for that tour de force. I admit I went straight to the sections on the Voigtlander 125 Macro APO Lanthar and the Voigtlander 180 APO. Both special lenses. Appreciate the section on the Zeiss 50 MP.

MichaelErlewin wrote:
I had the 50mm Macro Planar f/2.8 . It was sharp enough, but was too contrasty and had WAY too much CA for me, so much that I stopped using it and sold it. Same goes for its big brother the 100mm Macro Planar. Great build, but not

Here is a freebook I did years ago of many of the closeup and macro lenses useful on the Nikon system.

http://spiritgrooves.net/pdf/e-books/cmp_lenses.pdf

Aug 04, 2024 at 07:32 AM

theopwildebeest
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

Lovely work. Thanks for sharing.

Peire wrote:
I used to have two Makro Planars - in ZF and ZE mounts.They were used with/adapted to Canon EF/Nikon F DSLRs,Sony NEX,A6000 series and A7 series cameras.For macro,close ups and as regular,general purpose 50mm lenses.While my 100/2 Makro Planar was played with more often,as my preferences go to short teles,I liked both 50/2 Makro Planars very much.Below a handfull of samples from differrent cameras:

Aug 04, 2024 at 07:39 AM

Steve Spencer
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

I own the lens and love it. It isn't that big and it is sharp and of course has great close up ability. I also like the bokeh better than a lot of the more modern and ultra sharp 50s. For landscape usage you do need to crop just a little from the corners, but I now shoot in 4 X 3, so I don't need to do that. I also like it as a 75 f/2.8 portrait lens when I do a 1.5 crop on my Sony A7r V. In fact, my travel kit has become the Voigtlander 21 f/1.4 and the the Zeiss 50 f/2 Makro Planar. Two lenses that can handle whatever I need very well.

Aug 04, 2024 at 11:34 AM

dimitris77
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

I have it an love it as well. It is pretty sharp, has nice colors and flat focal rendering. I used to own the Zeiss Otus as well and to be honest this is 95% as good without the pain of carrying the Otus around. The only thing that sucks about it is the focal scale is super short at infinity. 10 degrees you go from 2m to infinity. For the same reason I had and sold the 100mp as well (that was way worse).

Aug 04, 2024 at 06:11 PM

Deathchant
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

theopwildebeest wrote:
Does anyone currently or previously own the Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Planar? The 50mm focal length is the one I use most frequently. I found a really good deal on a Zeiss 50 f2 Makro in Nikon mount, but since I already have wonderful 50mm lenses, I can only justify buying it if it is useful for macro work. I understand it has a 1:2 maximum reproduction ratio. I’m not looking to do typical macro work, just close up detail shots of people, such as eyes, lips, facial contours, hands. I’ve found a number of reviews and it sounds like...Show more →
I have the Zeiss 50/2MP since 2014 and I am still loving it! Used it on my 40D, 6D and now R6.
Never had a better 50mm. I still hope Voigtlander will "port" their 50 Apo Lanthar towards the RF mount, but I don't think it will happen anytime soon....

Anyways, the 50MP has a very good 3D rendering and it is really sharp across the frame (extreme corners at f/2 or closeby objects appear a bit softer and 'blurrier'). That's why I bought the lens. I did not buy it for 1:2 macro but I definitely like when a lens has a short MFD. A short MFD makes it more versatile.

Some pictures I took with it:

Macro is razorsharp. But I find macro'ing to be very difficult: it has a really long focus throw near MFD, and 50mm is just a bit "far away" for really good macro. You have to get really really close, and one breeze of wind and everything is out of focus.
The 100MP handles definitely better.
I absolutely prefer the 100MP over the 50MP; it has a really smooth transition from in-focus to out-of-focus, it is sharper and the overall look I find more preferable. The 50MP can sometimes be a bit "harsh", I don't know how else to explain it.

To summarize, 2 things that I don't like:
- busy bokeh, especially with foliage or branches
- CA af f/2, but not as heavy as 100MP (which I also own)

Just like the 100MP, the 50MP has something special, and I will never get rid of it (unless the 50/2 apo lanthar will come to the RF mount).

Aug 08, 2024 at 02:05 PM

Keith B.
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Zeiss 50mm f/2 Marko Planar

I recommend the ZF, or better, the ZF.2 50/2MP or, if you can afford it, the MIlvus 50/2MP. The focus mechanisms on mine are still in excellent shape, having bought the ZF version in 2008-2009. I use them as general purpose 50- and 100mm lenses that happen to focus close. Yes, the axial color is not "apo corrected", which can occasionally show...more noticeably on the 100mm. I recently picked up the newer Milvus version of the 50/2MP on the promise that Zeiss had reworked and improved the AR coatings, and they did....there is less flare from the Milvus 50/2MP. As other posters have mentioned, the 100/2MP does have one of the most pleasant focus transition qualities I've seen.

Aug 11, 2024 at 03:59 PM


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