Manual Focus Lenses Forum

bigeyes · Joined: 31 Jan 2011 Posts: 191 Location: Shanghai, China

Flickr 上 F0.95 的 Rollei HFT 35MM F1.4 BY 5D2-3626

Flickr 上 F0.95 的 Rollei HFT 35MM F1.4 BY 5D2-3621

Flickr 上 F0.95 的 Rollei HFT 35MM F1.4 BY 5D2-3627

Flickr 上 F0.95 的 Rollei HFT 35MM F1.4 BY 5D2-3623

hifisapi · Joined: 25 Sep 2012 Posts: 941 Location: USA

the first image has bokeh highlights that look like they were created by a three bladed aperture

Aanything · Expire: 2014-05-30

ckrook · Joined: 02 Oct 2012 Posts: 79 Location: Oslo, Norway

Also the Zeiss Super Speeds mk1 has the three bladed aperture

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Why would they cut costs with a 3-bladed aperture on a premium lens? Seem crazy to me.

cambug · Joined: 06 Jun 2010 Posts: 91

The construction of the aperture has more than 3 blades, just on stopping down, the opening is triangular. There are two lenses for Rollei 35mm camera, the 35mm f1.4 and the 85mm f1.4. The triangular opening probably appeared before Rollei, the Contarex 85mm f1.4 Planar also incorporated the same aperture design, which appeared in 1974 ( I think ) after the demise of Zeiss Ikon. The Contarex also incorporated probably the first T* coating on 35mm lenses. Also, there are Zeiss cine lenses with triangular aperture opening...

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3800 Location: The Netherlands

To be honest, that bokeh gives me an headache!

RSalles · Sat Oct 26, 2013 8:07 pm

The first shot shows the superb optics this lens is, but, what a distracting bokeh! I don't like it, prefering the shots where it is not so distracting,

[]s,

Renato

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Triangles AND pop, so so cool! This (and the Contax variant) has been on my wish list for a while. Thanks for sharing.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Thanks for the explanation Orio.

I'm still not sold on the triangles, but the performance of the lenses looks superb.

fferreres · Joined: 27 Mar 2019 Posts: 4

Reviving this old thread and switching to the 85mm.

I have a few 85mm, including both this lens Planar f1.4) and it's CZ 85mm f2.8 for Rollei cousin (Sonnar type). This lens is an acquired taste. I agree with the previous poster,that at first, I didn't like it that much. Compared to the f2.8 Sonnar, the copy I have has significantly more CA on very high contrast surfaces (black over white strong light), becomes a lot softer. In a 24MP sensor as opposed to film, it also has "gains" onion rings on specular highlights at the widest aperture (and disappears by f4 where it gains a rounded triangular shape). It is also softer on f1.4. At this focal length, f1.4 becomes really really shallow, so for portraits you always need to know if you want the nose or ears out of focus Smile

Yes, that has nothing to do with this lens, but the point is you will use f2.8 or higher most of the time. It's also a lot heavier than it's cousin.

By f2 the CA is is reduced a lot, and almost absent by 2.8. The BIG chunck of glass and wide aperture, in the worst case scenario, against bright light (in this case, a forrest with lots of sun going directly in between leaves) in a DIGITAL body, no hood, will give you something like the picture with the million bubbles. Can it be worst? Or maybe you even like it? It only happens with direct sunlight and f1.4, in this case, it was like 1000s of bright spots.

On the plus side, it has that painterly look. You need to also undertand that a triangular shape is also the least symmetrical of all regular shapes. This means, if you angle your shot differently, the areas of overlap will all be significantly different, even if you are shooting the sames scene from the same position, as the triangles will be pointing in the different direction. This leads to a compositional control that no other lens gives you. And that shape, plus that control, result in that painterly effect that is different than the "very regular" look of just circles (which maximize the overlap and is neutral in all direction).

For me, it's a pleasure to use, and to try out the many possibilities. It behaves very differently than the 5 sided cousin which is very sharp and contrasty wide open, and is superb in any respect. The f1.4 is amazing in low light, a great sharp lens that gives you a lot of things across it's aperture range and focus range, performing in unique ways that sometimes world like no other -unrivaled, and sometimes just plain disappoints.

In capable hands, it's a joy, and let's not also forget, so far as I know, it was the first CZ f1.4 85mm, later ported almost identically to the C/Y system. While it may have been designed with Contarex in mind, as Marco commented, the first appearance I believe was in Rollei mount and only a year later in Contarex (of which only 400 units where ever made).

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Notice this last photo is an almost 1:1 (100%) crop in light intensity from the sun against extremely dim foreground. The light also pases 1000s of branches and scatters into what for me is the test that no lens in my 100+ collection knows what to do. But it shows the onion ringiness wide open on digital sensors, which I am not sure if it's my copy, and is generally not considered great. However, it vanishes under dimmer light and even at f2.

You don't love this lens for its weaknesses, and in my pics I tried to show its ugliness. But this lens won't be loved only for its virtues (which are many) but in the interplay of these in many contexts that just can be replicated by anything else.