Carl Zeiss Lenses, anybody use them?

Heyy guys,

How many of you out there use these old school MF lenses? I just picked one up from a fellow POTN member, and hopefully it will be here tomorrow!

I am aware that the AF confirmation light will not light up, unless I buy an adapter. However, by looking just at the adapter, it looks like it shorts a few pins together to achieve the AF indicator light.

I believe I saw a thread on this when I first joined, but I cannot seem to find it anymore

Will any Carl Zeiss users chime in on this?

thanks

Eric

nobody!?

MF lenses don't suit my style or needs, too slow to use and too pricey. I'm sure the best of the Zeisses and Leicas are really great optically, but my photography doesn't really stand or fall by that last bit of corner sharpness. Please post some samples when you get the lens though, it's still interesting even if I'll never buy one.

There were a few people on the Fred Miranda site who use them, great lenses.

I have a few and have used them well.
Love them.
You won't be sorry you have them as they open upa whole new world of photography where patience and composition take over from convenience.
Having said that if you are not the patient type then MF photography is not for you.

I use a zeiss 135mm f/3.5 lens, no AF or even AF confirmation but focussing is pretty easy on the 5D & the zeiss has a nice smooth focus action which is really geared down which helps.

Here you go,
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=70506

e r y k wrote in post #4239715
Heyy guys,

How many of you out there use these old school MF lenses? I just picked one up from a fellow POTN member, and hopefully it will be here tomorrow!

I am aware that the AF confirmation light will not light up, unless I buy an adapter. However, by looking just at the adapter, it looks like it shorts a few pins together to achieve the AF indicator light.

I believe I saw a thread on this when I first joined, but I cannot seem to find it anymore

Will any Carl Zeiss users chime in on this?

thanks

Eric

Are you sure about that Eric? the ones ive seen which include AF confirmation have the same brass pads as any Canon lens & a little PCB, although I guess it depends on what mount you are looking at, my zeiss is m42.

Nikolas wrote in post #4241404
I have a few and have used them well.
Love them.
You won't be sorry you have them as they open upa whole new world of photography where patience and composition take over from convenience.
Having said that if you are not the patient type then MF photography is not for you.

It's not necessarily about patience or convenience, but rather about what subjects you tend to photograph. For instance, sports and MF don't go that well together for me.

Yes for those times when you need to take the shot quickly a MF only lens is a real pain in the backside.

FretNoMore wrote in post #4241482
It's not necessarily about patience or convenience, but rather about what subjects you tend to photograph. For instance, sports and MF don't go that well together for me.

worked well for me
Pentacon 300mm f4

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I used to have Hassy's. The 180 is incredible... Heres a couple images I made with it.

Is -->this<-- the thread you were thinking of?

Nikolas - Thanks for that link! I have the patience to MF, but I'm just worried i will be on a OOF streak since i have a 1.6x crop body camera so the viewfinder is quite tiny.

Nick_C - Thats the exact one I bought, do you possibly have some picture examples I can look at? As for the AF indicator light, I'm not sure about the whole pin shorting thing, and even if it did work, I dont think id be too keen on doing that. It must be a lot easier for your to MF on that sexy 5D :P

airfrogusmc - Wow! very impressive pictures, thanks for sharing

xarqi - I cant remember exactly, but i remember seeing a picture of those electrical contacts on the back of the lens.


anyways, the main reason i bought this lens is because i shoot a lot of static automotive car pictures, and im hoping to achieve those pics where the car is really in focus, and the background is just blurred.

this should be do-able right?

A few weeks ago, I was trying to find a Zeiss T 70-300 (Contax mount), and then checked the test done on "photozone"; it changed my mind.

If you look at the MTF charts, you might notice that most of the Canon zooms in this range beat the Zeiss, and some of them beat the crap out of it.

Even the Canon non-L 70-300 does as well:

http://www.photozone.d​e …non_70300_456is​/index.htm

http://www.photozone.d​e …70300_456_canon​/index.htm

Both the Canon f/2.8 and f/4 70-200 L USM IS lenses kill the Zeiss lens, and it's rumoured that the Canon AF, aperture and IS all function properly on a Canon body.

http://www.photozone.d​e …anon_70200_28is​/index.htm

In the VERDICT on the Zeiss the (German) site isn't even too complimentary towards the Zeiss lens.

But there must be a better Zeiss lens somewhere.