Andrew Gough wrote:
...
I just got back from Oberkochen today with both lenses. First, I must say that the people at Carl Zeiss are very helpful and very professional to deal with. My lenses were serviced in just a few days, and are today far better than they ever were.
The 15mm feels like a new lens, it is noticeably sharper. I had my 28/2 serviced and what a change... they replaced the rear element as it was scratched (I could not see the scratch myself) and serviced the lens and it is stellar.
Received wisdom from FM about Oberkochen is that maintenance of AE lenses is discontinued. Are your lenses MM?
The smallest aperture number on an AE is white, on an MM is green. The physical mount on an AE is black, and on an MM is silver. When using these lenses manually on EOS bodies, they both operate the same, the AE vs. MM mechanisms are not doing anything.
Based upon the above information I am not sure... Both lenses have silver lens mounts, however, they have no green aperture numbers present. So I would guess that they are probably MM since Zeiss just serviced them. I also have a second 15mm, and it has a black lens mount with no green number. All are German.
Incidentially, up until the service the 15mm with the black mount was a significantly better lens, now they are equal in performance.
I just saw a pic of a CZ zoom on B/S. It is clearly an AE lens, but the ring is silver. Go figure. I just had a 28/2.0 AE in for service and Zeiss replaced the black ring with a silver one. So I guess the color of the ring is not the indicator.
Thanks for the feedback about repair experiences. I have two C/Y AE lenses that need attention, and will attempt to get service at CZ World HQ. As for AE/MM determination, I think the green aperture label is a good indicator, otherwise look for the signal pin or tab on the mounting surface as shown in the lowermost image:
Lens is a German Planar 100, with MM pin at 7 o'clock. Note chrome mounting ring.
All of the following lens have the long fin whether AE or MM mount:
1) 60mm s planar
2) 100mm makro planar
3) 85mm anniversary
4) 55mm anniversary
5) 200mm f2.0
6) 300mm f2.8
Why is is there? My guess is that cetain lenses need absolutely perfect parallelness to the film plane to operate at peak performance, and the fin looks like it is designed to take some stress off the bayonet mount to prevent the lens from drooping downward. That CY mount has often been under question as being slightly under engineered. (Gasp!)
It is quite seredepidous that the fin has the same plane to butt up on in the EOS bodies. I did not shave it as I did not want to alter the value of my glass. A few marrs inside a disposable DSLR is not worth worryting about. The EOS interior components where it rubs looks like it is some sort of composite material. However, if you use one of the really thin adapters with a fin'd lens (which you should not, as those are for the ultra-wides only) the fin may push on to that EOS interior too hard and perhaps press the bottom of the lens outward interfering with the lenses parallelness.
I shaved the edges of the fin of my S-Planar 60 just a little bit to prevent such a scratch. The lengthens of the fin is almost as before but does not look quite as sharky now.
jjlphoto wrote:
The chrome fin is unique to only a few lenses.
All of the following lens have the long fin whether AE or MM mount:
1) 60mm s planar
2) 100mm makro planar
3) 85mm anniversary
4) 55mm anniversary
5) 200mm f2.0
6) 300mm f2.8
I'm sure there could be a few more. I will add that to my list. I considerd that lens, but since I had the 85/1.2, I already had my fast bokeh lens, so if I find i really am in need of a 100mm, I'll try the Leica APO 100/2.8.
I guess perhaps both of my lenses are AE then, and it would appear that Zeiss is still servicing certain AE lenses. Perhaps it depends upon the lens. I also had a Rollei Zeiss F-Distagon 16mm Fish in for service and they could not replace a scratched lens element as they had no spare parts for this lens left. Luckily, the scratch does not affect image quality
jjlphoto wrote:
I'm sure there could be a few more. I will add that to my list. I considerd that lens, but since I had the 85/1.2, I already had my fast bokeh lens, so if I find i really am in need of a 100mm, I'll try the Leica APO 100/2.8.
The 2/100 is the best lens in the Zeiss arsenal that I have used. Yup.
Andrew Gough wrote:
I guess perhaps both of my lenses are AE then, and it would appear that Zeiss is still servicing certain AE lenses. Perhaps it depends upon the lens. ...
This sounds plausible, and maintains good customer relations for CZ. Certain lenses were always AE and could be purchased new until the very end, e.g. D15, FD16, TAT300. Depending on country, a recent purchase would fall under regulations for 7-year repair assurance, or even under the 3-year warranty (Contax USA).
As for the shark fin, I notice the object plane being thrown off-kilter when my SP60 is mounted (grindingly) onto a Canon D30. My calculus for shaving...
Lens has a shark fin, and
you want to use it on a Canon DSLR, and
Canon body is not EF-S, and
you want to retain infinity focus, and
lens is low-cost, or depressed in value (due to wear, etc)
My P100 is too nice for this treatment, but I plan to shave a couple of other C/Y lenses. My 1Ds is hungry for quality in the corners.
Found another sample for the C/Y chrome/black database:
This is a D28/2.8, MM Japan, with black surface. Note MM tab at 7 o'clock in last pic. On my copy (AEJ), the black anodizing includes the bayonet lugs, too. Yet more variations! The D28/2.8 is a sweet lens, and I use it regularly.
Dug up an old Japanese Contax lens brochure, it lists the lenses as follows:
Zeiss Lenses for Contax 35mm SLRs
15/3.5 Distagon T* Germany AE
16 fisheye 2.8 F-Distagon T* Germany AE
18/4.0 F Distagon T* Germany AE
18/4.0 F Distagon T* Japan MM
21/2.8 F-Distagon T* Japan MM
25/2.8 Distagon T* Germany AE
25/2.8 Distagon T* Japan MM
28/2.0 F Distagon T* Germany AE
28/2.0 F Distagon T* Germany MM
28/2.0 F Distagon T* Japan MM
28/2.8 Distagon T* Germany AE
28/2.8 Distagon T* Japan MM
35/1.4 F A Distagon T* Germany AE
35/1.4 F A Distagon T* Japan MM
35/2.8 Distagon T* Germany AE
35/2.8 Distagon T* Japan MM
35 shift lens 2.8 PC-Distagon T* Germany N/A
45/2.8 Tessar T* Germany AE
45/2.8 Tessar T* Japan AE
45/2.8 Tessar T* Japan MM
50/1.4 Planar T* Germany AE
50/1.4 Planar T* Japan AE
50/1.4 Planar T* Japan MM
50/1.7 Planar T* Germany AE
50/1.7 Planar T* Japan MM
55 # 1.2 *new Planar T* Germany MM
55 # 1.2 *new Planar T* Japan MM
60 macro 2.8 S-Planar T* Germany AE
60 macro 2.8 Macro-Planar T* Japan AE
60 C macro 2.8 Macro-Planar T* Japan MM
85/1.2 Planar T* Germany MM
85/1.2 Planar T* Germany AE
85/1.4 Planar T* Germany AE
85/1.4 Planar T* Japan MM
85/2.8 Sonnar T* Germany AE
85/2.8 Sonnar T* Japan MM
100/2.0 Planar T* Germany AE
100/2.0 Planar T* Japan MM
100/3.5 Sonnar T* Germany AE
100/3.5 Sonnar T* Japan MM
100 macro 2.8 Macro-Planar T* Germany AE
100 macro 2.8 Macro-Planar T* Japan AE
100 macro ** 4.0 S-Planar T* Germany AE
100 DX medical 4.0 DX Medical Macro-Flash Japan AE Yashica
135/2.0 5-5 Planar T* Germany AE
135/2.0 5-5 Planar T* Germany MM
135/2.8 5-4 Sonnar T* Germany AE
135/2.8 5-4 Sonnar T* Japan AE
135/2.8 5-4 Sonnar T* Japan MM
180/2.8 6-5 Sonnar T* Germany AE
180/2.8 6-5 Sonnar T* Germany MM
180/2.8 6-5 Sonnar T* Japan MM
200/2.0 11-9 w/filters ApoSonnar Japan MM
200/3.5 6-5 Tele-Tessar T* Germany AE
200/4.0 6-5 Tele-Tessar T* Germany AE
200/4.0 6-5 Tele-Tessar T* Japan MM
210/.03 4-4 N-Mirotar Germany AE
300/2.8 8-7 w/filters Tele-ApoTessar T* Germany AE
300/4.0 5-5 Tele-Tessar T* Germany AE
300/4.0 5-5 Tele-Tessar T* Japan MM
500/4.5 fixed 5-5 Mirotar Germany AE
500 8.0 ? Mirotar T* Germany AE
600 *** 4.0 10-9 APO Tele-Tessar T* Germany AE
1000/5.6 fixed 5-5 Mirotar Germany AE
28-70mm/3.5~4.5 new APO Vario-Sonnar T* Japan MM
28-85mm/3.3~4.0 Vario-Sonnar T* Japan MM
35-70mm/3.4 Vario-Sonnar T* Japan MM
35-135mm/33~4.5 Vario-Sonnar T* Japan MM
40-80mm/3.5 Vario-Sonnar T* Germany AE
70-210mm/3.5 Vario-Sonnar T* Germany AE
80-200mm/4.0 Vario-Sonnar T* Japan MM
100-300mm/4.5~5.6 Vario-Sonnar T* Japan MM
Tele-converters -
Mutar T* I 2X AE 6/5
Mutar T* II 2X AE 7/4
Mutar T* III 1.4X
If anybody has additional info to add to this list, then PM it to me and I'll add it. Edited for additional content, I will try to get a table up later today much like the Leica one. Thanks for the info!
Andy
Edited by Andrew Gough on Feb 20, 2006 at 10:48 PM GMT
Edited by Andrew Gough on Feb 20, 2006 at 10:59 PM GMT
Andrew Gough wrote:
If anybody has additional info to add to this list, then PM it to me and I'll add it.
Andy
Your brochure missed quite a few (even some we've already discussed here):
200mm/f4.0 MM
and before that, 200mm/f3.5 AE
135/f2.0 MM
300mm/f2.8 MM
28mm/f2.0
100mm/f3.5 (not 2.8)
500mm/f4.5
1000mm f/5.6
40mm-80mm f/3.5 (which came before the...)
35mm-70mm /f3.4 (curiously not on your list)
100mm f/4 S-Planar (bellows lens)
70mm-210mm f/3.5 Vario-Sonnar
55mm/f1.2
85mm/ f1.2
