Edward Teller
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Upload & Sell: On
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 Re: TTartisan 75mm 1.5 Biotar copy | |
Received my copy yesterday, and did a few late afternoon comparison shots with it and my pre-war/wartime original German 18 blade design. As a side note, before I get into this, it is worth remembering that the 1939-1945 version 1 which I will be using for comparison was a German lens, made in Germany, by Zeiss, and the Number 2 (1946-1952) and number 3 (1952-1968) versions of the lens were, respectively, sort of, and then definitely, Soviet lenses due to the fact of the factory being handed over to the Russians as war reparations, version 2 being thought by some to be the best version due to later manufacturing already on the German drawing board and Russians utilizing existing German Zeiss Lanthanum glass, and materials, in addition to “retained” German Zeiss workers, and the 3rd version being a hearty Soviet replica of the original German Zeiss optical design, using who knows what glass, in a completely different housing.
It gets a bit complicated, but the 75/1.5 Biotar that TT Artisan is making a copy of, is itself a copy. I don’t have one of those, so whatever comparisons I do will be for entertainment value only as it won’t be a direct comparison for anyone who has the V3 CZJ version, which seems much more common than the older version I own. And I am definitely not knocking Soviet CZJ lenses as I have several, and the clean 1951 58/2 Biotar sample I own is exquisite for my needs which might not be your needs.
Having said all that, and because it will take me some time to get this exercise done and post some sample comparisons, because I have other things to do, I should at least jump to the conclusion and say that the TT Artisan is “significantly” better than the old copy of the earlier design that I have if we are looking at the qualities most people look at today, of sharpness, contrast, and resolution. And, “significantly “ is putting it mildly, though the older version does have more than a little charm if one is predisposed to be charmed by it, in some situations.
I will be doing shots at f/1.5 and f/8 and did not do any at f/8 yet, as it got dark. The other difficulty is that these lenses, new and old, were not really general purpose lenses to begin with, so finding multiple opportunities of the limited situations which they would be used for in real life and getting results that demonstrate character on the one hand vs. contrast and sharpness on the other might take a while. But, I’ve already given a history lesson, plus the conclusions, and lowered expectations so that’s probably enough for now.
Lens is very well and precisely put together, worthy of an unboxing video for those who believe in that, is a decided lump, which reviews have already noted, and will be front heavy on an M, unless you own one of the Leica Limited Edition Tungsten bodies, and an amazing deal for $269 in today’s world provided someone wants what it does, and perhaps more usable in more situations than the 100mm Trioplan IMO, FWIW.
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