conurus

John Black · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 41 Location: Dallas, TX

My $.02 on each lens -

http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_85N.html

http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_100N_Makro.html

I have a 24-85N (again) and will eventually post a review for it too. I haven't had much opportunity to use it yet, so after it has several hundred clicks, I'll write the review.

doc · Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 26

Hello John! I'm using both 85L and N; I find the Canon sharper in corners (my Planar needs to be stopped down @ 5,6) but much more prone to CA (fringing) wide open; I mostly use these lenses for portrait. I'm supposed to choose which one to keep and which one to sell... Crying or Very sad

I'd like to know your opinion. By the way, I also use a Planar 2/100 which is a great lens but also shows CA wide open...
Thanks!
Francesco

jjlphoto · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 102

John-

Thanks for the great reviews.

One thing that the linked PhotoZone review failed to mention was that the Contax 85/1.4 is not merely a reincarnation of the former CY 84/1.4, but a whole new design. Rather than a general purpose lens, it was designed specifically to be a portrait lens, hence the sharpness reduction as you move towards the edges. If one compared the CY 85/1.2 against the Canon 1.2, then you would see the Contax really shine. Unfortunately, a manual focus 1.2 lens is just not practical IMO.

Hopefully this adresses the previous posters findings as well.

doc · Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 26

John Black · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 41 Location: Dallas, TX

jjlphoto · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 102

John-

The Zeiss PDF for this lens's MTF /tech data makes mention that it is an all new design. Unfortunately, I cannot recall where I read that portrait use was its main function.

conurus · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject:

Well, the purported portrait orientation was not explicitly stated but was implied. According to Zeiss, "As a novelty in such a fast lens, the high performance is maintained over the entire focusing range from infinity down to minimum object distance."

This coincides with my own experience: the sharpest aperture is f/4 (at f/5.6 center sharpness begins to decrease due to diffraction, though corner sharpness may continue to increase). f/4 is still a large enough aperture for portraiture. The texture of garments is realistically rendered, indicating high resolution and great microcontrast.

John Black · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 41 Location: Dallas, TX

Thanks. Slight edits made to the articles. Nothing new, I'm editing them all the time. I'm the typo-king! Smile