CY 100-300 strutting its stuff on the a7r. Samye Monastery has been rebuilt several times since its inception in the last years of the eighth century AD. It's the centrepiece of Tibetan Buddhism and attracts huge numbers of pilgrims. This is its central building - the Utse.
Sold my copy of the Contax Zeiss 35-70mm f/3.4 a couple years ago and have found myself missing it, especially when I see others post a lovely shot with it. Got a new one in good condition which actually seems to be a better copy than my original one in terms of sample variation.
I own a bunch of C/Y lenses but never really made use of them, from 25/2.8 to 200/3.5 through a few exotic ones, the wide ones are not my cup of tea and found out that my hands are not that still any longer (if they have ever been) to use the 85 or 100 in MF on my Nikon Z.
Here one from a couple years ago, Contax/Yashica Planar 85 f1.4 on a Fuji X-Pro1
The CY range debuted in 1975, so it's almost fifty years old. Whether you look at: number of lenses, lens range longevity, focal length spread - all measures tell us this was peak Carl Zeiss in 135 stills photography. Below is an image from the only CY lens to survive into the Milvus range, albeit in slightly modified form - the 21/2.8 Distagon. The CYs are great for documentary people like myself, you get a great balance of qualities even as the images reflect the natural world so accurately. They are great mood-capturing lenses. In many ways, digital has been a curse on the world.
The Chinese know how to build roads. They are very good at it. They use a line of concrete blocks on either side of the bitumen to strengthen and stablilise the roadway, and the whole construction sits atop a raised and prepared surface of rubble, with enough room to pull off in a regular sized vehicle (no one drives RAM trucks there). They even had the wit to put the power lines 50-100m away from the road surface. All that puts them decades ahead of our miserable 'she'll be right' deathtrap 'roads' in Australia. The best parts of Tibet have no trees and very few large animals wandering around. Most people do 100 kph or so across these lightly trafficked thoroughfares, but I estimate these fabulous straight roads are good for 150-175 kph with great safety. No cops, so that is what I would want to do, but they don't let foreigners drive there. (CY 35-70).
Another from the venerable mid-zoom. Zeiss does, sorry did, such a fine job of colour rendition - they don't do anything any more, as they slide steadily into photographic history. Focus is on cabbage, radish and green peppers but see the lovely fall-off front and back where detail is smoothed but very recognisable; and still retain great colour (very important). And the green separation, how many green tones are shown? I also like the stranded hand, disembodied at the bottom right. (CY 35-70).
Does anyone here use/have used the 100mm f/2 Planar and have some images taken with it they can share? Despite having a good reputation, finding photos taken with it that aren't ancient/tiny and that show off the lens's rendering is very difficult.
MKRhodes wrote:
Does anyone here use/have used the 100mm f/2 Planar and have some images taken with it they can share? Despite having a good reputation, finding photos taken with it that aren't ancient/tiny and that show off the lens's rendering is very difficult.
I got the 100/2 but never really had the chance to take some portrait with it so nothing I can show you but if you tell me which kind of shot would you like to see I can try and have the chance to take it for a spin, go ahead please
GiovanniAprea wrote:
I got the 100/2 but never really had the chance to take some portrait with it so nothing I can show you but if you tell me which kind of shot would you like to see I can try and have the chance to take it for a spin, go ahead please
Just anything that shows off its bokeh wide open, and how it looks stopped down for something like a landscape shot would be fantastic
There you go, weather is not the greatest so no way to go out and shoot something else, I don't have a cat so you have to make it, this time, with a flower...
The 100/2 at f2
The 35/1.4 at f1.4
SOOC jpg, if you wanna inspect the raw files send me a pvt message with your email and I will be glad to send them over
The CY lenses were capable of depicting fine gradations of colour tones, whether it be the glass CZ chose to use at the time, or their (already very mature) coatings technology. It's very important to a lot of landscape work if you need to convey dimensionality. particularly if you work in challenging light conditions, as I do.
These are from the Vario-Sonnar 35-70/3.4, designed by later-to-be Leica design supremo Lothar Kolsch. Ten elements, all spherical, at a pack-friendly 475 grams. It managed to throw shade on the 35/50 primes and displaced them in many a bag. In the images below, see the rate of change in colour tones from the greens and yellows to oranges and blues, and how it adds to the shaping of the image's motifs. Skies look natural, green tone separation is the best I have seen.
It's a favourite lens of mine, I bought this one NIB in 2009. It handles ultra strong light better than my latest lenses, and not by a little. The CY lenses I have (21 - 28 - 35-70 - 100 - 100-300) are an excellent match for Sony sensors, which tend to be both high dynamic range and neutral in base colour - both tendencies take advantage of the zoom's tonal range in both colour and brightness tone spectra, and its lively organic colour/contrast combination.
(CY 35-70).
