35mm SLRs with Zeiss lens

[Ian Grant]

Just a comment, East German Carl Zeiss Jena lenses are optically excellent some of the best work I've seen on 35mm were made with a Varex 1000 and 35mm Flektagon, 50mm Pancolar, and 135mm Sonnar lenses.

Ian

 

[Marco Gilardetti]

Not only, but the exchange of knowledge, technology and materials between Carl Zeiss and CZJ was constant at least up to the '70s, as it is well explained in monographies like Zeiss by Forti & Ghisetti. Tagging the Zeiss Jena lenses as class B products was basically part of the eastern block propaganda.

 

[ic-racer]

No "Jena" equivalent for these Carl-Zeiss lenses designed in the 1980s.

 

[Marco Gilardetti]

Indeed: that's when Carl Zeiss AG began having their lenses made in Japan and later in Thailand, and cameras made in Singapore...

 

[AgX]

No "Jena" equivalent for these Carl-Zeiss lenses designed in the 1980s.

Not quite...
I got a west-german lens test from 1985 of 2.8 180mm lenses where the Zeiss-East model got higher resolution than its Zeiss-East counterpart, and much lesser distorsion. Even its centering was better (so much about workmanship).
But as others said, by the number of lenses we could do a many pages discussion. And who takes photographs of test-charts??
The Zeiss-West version had a shorter minimum focusing distance, which for instance to many photographers would be very important too.

 

[Paul Howell]

Thus to be mounted on a Minolta 5000, 7000 or 9000 camera.

My understanding that A mount Sony and Zeiss lens will only work in late model Minolta bodies, the 3, and 5 and 7 and 9s that had been modified to work with micro motor lens. All the earlier bodies will only work with gear driven lens. You can get a solid Minolta 7 for under a few hundred bucks, A mount Zeiss lens are expensive but all are AF if that's important.

 

[AgX]

Thank you. So there are two versions of A-mounts.

Identifying mounts is a science of its own. I got enough problems to identify manual-focus mounts, let alone more modern ones...

 

[pradheep thavamani]

Wha

What do you mean by "Zeiss lens"? Any lens with Zeiss written on it or do you have something more specific in mind?

I was looking to buy Camera brand that offers Zeiss lens like Contax, Rollei etc.

 

[pradheep thavamani]

How about Nikon with C/Y mount Zeiss lens?

 

[faberryman]

How about Nikon with C/Y mount Zeiss lens?

Why the obsession with Zeiss lenses? Of course Zeiss makes fine lenses, but you would need to compare the particular Zeiss lens against its Nikon (or other manufacturer) counterpart. Not every Zeiss lens is best in class, especially the older ones. Given the scarcity of Zeiss C/Y lenses, they tend to be expensive. I may be mistaken, but I also think the C/Y to Nikon adapter requires stop down metering.

 

[removedacct3]

Easily overlooked ... Praktica offered some CZJ lenses for their B-mount. I know of a Flektogon 35mm 2.4, a planar 50mm 1.4 and a (rumor has it) spectaculair 80mm 1.8. Do not mistake these for lenses marked 'pentacon'.

 

[AgX]

But with a B-mount you would be fixed to Praktica-Bs.

 

[AgX]

As others hinted at, there is so much that makes a camera/lens combo fit to you or not, that one should not restrict oneself to one single brandof lens (in this case actually two) to built anything else upon.

 

[pradheep thavamani]

Why the obsession with Zeiss lenses? Of course Zeiss makes fine lenses, but you would need to compare the particular Zeiss lens against its Nikon (or other manufacturer) counterpart. Not every Zeiss lens is best in class, especially the older ones. Given the scarcity of Zeiss C/Y lenses, they tend to be expensive. I may be mistaken, but I also think the C/Y to Nikon adapter requires stop down metering.

I am trying to experiment different lens, apart from that I am a landscape photographer. On 35mm I use Nikon and Canon film cameras, I want to have set of lens which gives sharp images.

 

[AgX]

I do read lens resolution test. BUT these test were made with a camera bolted to ground, with internal vibration reduced as much as possible and with a flat subject parallel to the focal plane.

Does that resemble your manner of photography?
In real life photography a lot of the differences in a resolution test diminish.


Features not covered in resolution tests:

-) bokeh
-) minumum focusing distance
-) position and grip of focus/aperture ring
-) damping
-) pitch of the helicoid
-) orientation of the helicoid
-) weight
-) readability of figures
etc. etc.

 

[narsuitus]

On 35mm I use Nikon and Canon film cameras, I want to have set of lens which gives sharp images.

Which medium format lenses are you using that give you the sharp images you crave?

 

[narsuitus]

I was looking to buy Camera brand that offers Zeiss lens like Contax, Rollei etc.

My Contax 35mm rangefinder comes with some high quality Zeiss lenses.


Contax G1 by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[AgX]

The OP is looking for a 35mm SLR.

 

[flavio81]

View attachment 207029
No "Jena" equivalent for these Carl-Zeiss lenses designed in the 1980s.

Nice japanese lenses, ic-racer.

But please, keep saying the Carl Zeiss Jena lenses are inferior stuff. That will keep prices low.

 

[WilmarcoImaging]

My understanding that A mount Sony and Zeiss lens will only work in late model Minolta bodies, the 3, and 5 and 7 and 9s that had been modified to work with micro motor lens. All the earlier bodies will only work with gear driven lens. You can get a solid Minolta 7 for under a few hundred bucks, A mount Zeiss lens are expensive but all are AF if that's important.

Hi Paul, my understanding is that any non-SSM A-mount lens will work on bodies as far back as the original Maxxum/Dynax 7000. This would include current production Sony A-mount lenses such as the Sony Sonnar T* 135mm f/1.8 ZA SAL135F18Z.

A-mount lenses such as the Sony Distagon T* 24mm f/2 ZA SSM SAL24F20Z are usable on bodies with SSM capability. There is quite alot written about this on photo.net and dyxum.com.

 

[Dali]

I was looking to buy Camera brand that offers Zeiss lens like Contax, Rollei etc.

OK, Zeiss lenses from the '50, the '80, nowadays? They are all marked "Zeiss" (and some are not even marked as Zeiss...) but have little in common, which is pretty easy to understand.

 

[chip j]

There is, for the BEST Zeiss lenses, the Contarex.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

There is, for the BEST Zeiss lenses, the Contarex.

The Zeiss Contarex is a magnificent camera for those who have one that works. The dials, settings, engravings, and finish on the camera is unparalleled.

Who today is competent to repair or CLA the Contarex - or any Zeiss SLR?

 

[Theo Sulphate]

...
But please, keep saying the Carl Zeiss Jena lenses are inferior stuff. That will keep prices low.

Hear me now and believe me later: Carl Zeiss Jena lenses are optically equivalent to a Coke bottle. Everyone should send them to me for proper disposal.

 

[neilt3]

My understanding that A mount Sony and Zeiss lens will only work in late model Minolta bodies, the 3, and 5 and 7 and 9s that had been modified to work with micro motor lens. All the earlier bodies will only work with gear driven lens. You can get a solid Minolta 7 for under a few hundred bucks, A mount Zeiss lens are expensive but all are AF if that's important.

Minolta A-mount , Sony A-mount and Sony Zeiss A-mount lenses that are focussed via the screwdrive from the body work 100% with all Minolta A/F bodies back to the first 7000AF and 9000AF bodies .
Sony still sell screwdriven lenses .
Only the SSM and SAM lenses require a body from after 2000 to function with auto focus . Dynax/Maxxum 3,4,5,7 and updated 9's , as well as the Dynax 40 & 60 ( Maxxum 50 & 70 ) models .
Later lenses with 8 pins from 2000 ( with exception to the Xi zoom lenses where these are a power supply and command pins) are the "D" type that have a distance encoding chip in for ADI flash control .
Non SSM/SAM 8 pin lenses are fully backward compatible with the 5 pin 5/7000 AF and 9000AF camera bodies with auto focus working just fine .
They don't support ADI flash , so don't need information from the chip .
Flash metering is the then usual TTL OTF flash metering .

Hi Paul, my understanding is that any non-SSM A-mount lens will work on bodies as far back as the original Maxxum/Dynax 7000. This would include current production Sony A-mount lenses such as the Sony Sonnar T* 135mm f/1.8 ZA SAL135F18Z.

A-mount lenses such as the Sony Distagon T* 24mm f/2 ZA SSM SAL24F20Z are usable on bodies with SSM capability. There is quite alot written about this on photo.net and dyxum.com.

You quite right with this .
However , SSM and SAM lenses can still be used on earlier bodies but in manual focus only .
So for landscapes and portraits this is often not a problem .
I often use manual focus lenses on my auto focus bodies , film and digital .
Aperture works the same as another A-mount lens .