Carl Zeiss lenses

Seele said:

For my money I can say that the German lenses tend to give a somewhat different "look" to the pictures compared to Japanese - especially Nikon lenses especially in the bokeh department.

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Thanks for the helpful information - and I wonder if it's possible to say a bit about how exactly you think the "look" is different between the two systems? I know bokeh especially is a little subjective but I wonder how they differ? And in any other ways?

Soeren said:

I have a 85mm lens the AFD 1,4 version.
Björn Rörslett has revieved the nikors on his site

http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html

Regards Søren

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Have just seen your post and this link, thank you.

BTW It seems from what you've all said that the lenses come from a Praktica B series camera (possibly BX20).

Thanks for all the helpful info.

Stargazer said:

Thanks for the helpful information - and I wonder if it's possible to say a bit about how exactly you think the "look" is different between the two systems? I know bokeh especially is a little subjective but I wonder how they differ? And in any other ways?

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Correction: the bokeh of a lens is absolutely objective as it is one of its inherent characteristics; whether you like its bokeh or not is subjective.

I know I am going to be drawn and quartered by others, but since you are familiar with Nikon, I can say that I do not warm to Nikon lenses' bokeh as they have a tendency to transition very rapidly into complex bokeh; this is particularly obvious with long focus lenses, but Nikon is not as bad as Topcon in that respect. Meyer and Zeiss have smooth transitions and they tend to hold very well without breaking into complex bokeh; the Japanese family of lenses I can think of which is close to this appealing trait would be the manual focus Minoltas. While I can say I have subjective tastes, but I never seem to suffer from the imaging quality from my Meyer and Zeiss lenses, nor do my clients.

Seele said:

Correction: the bokeh of a lens is absolutely objective as it is one of its inherent characteristics; whether you like its bokeh or not is subjective.

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That's what I meant

Thanks Seele - I think maybe the only way is to decide for myself is to get a suitable body and try out the system, it sounds like it would be worth it in the end.

Stargazer said:

That's what I meant

Thanks Seele - I think maybe the only way is to decide for myself is to get a suitable body and try out the system, it sounds like it would be worth it in the end.

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Stargazer,

At that website you can also find sample photographs taken with the lenses so they might give you some rough ideas too.