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Rollei Planar 1.8/50: if you have it, keep it !
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
From what I've seen that lens can really get great images...what do you guys thing about this offering ..in native mounts...no converter needed ..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harmless-Converted-Nikon-Dslr-Rollei-HFT-Planar-50mm-f-1-8-50-1-8-HFT-/111245299845?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item19e6bc9085


PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 10:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
vanylapep wrote:
Is the 1.4 as good?


HFT Planar 1.4/50mm? I love this lens.. I like it even more than the Contax version.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you for your suggestion, memetph, I will search for another adapter or I will test it with EOS first, in the same night-light conditions, in the end of the month.

simbon4o, nice images, impressive counter-light capacities and joly round bokeh. I have an SMC 1.8/55. Will give it a try.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
darrski, as far as I understand, converting Rollei is rather easy for someone who has an appropriate substitutive mount. Twice a regular price of Planar 1.8 for the conversion seems a bit high. But it's a layman opinion.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
In order to complete tests of my copy, here is a couple of mock macro shots made with Planar put on a reverse ring. Camera NEX-5n, out-of-camera jpg resized and slightly sharpened while resize.

The first one taken at f1.8 looks a bit too dreamy:



But this may be caused by imprecise focusing and handshake at ISO100 (shutter speed around 1/60). For the next shot I set ISO at 400 (shutter 1/320), aperture at f2.8 and that gives a better idea of sharpness and overall image quality that the lens gives being put upside down:



At f5.6 the depth of field predictibly grows. But at f2.8 already (the second image) the lens is already as sharp in its focus peak as at smaller apertures.

Here is a shot at f5.6:



PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hello,

Mine is a Made By Rollei Planar 1.8/50 Rollei-HFT Made In West Germany.. is it any good?


PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
vanylapep wrote:
Hello,

Mine is a Made By Rollei Planar 1.8/50 Rollei-HFT Made In West Germany.. is it any good?

Come-on, try it asap! Shoot first, ask later Wink.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
it's only good if you use it... and if you use it, you don't need to ask Wink


PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, I haven't received it yet that's why. But I was wondering if it's different (in IQ) then the one the OP is talking about. Especially because it's made in Germany and not Singapore.

I'll post samples when I receive and indeed have tried it.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
vanylapep wrote:
Well, I haven't received it yet that's why. But I was wondering if it's different (in IQ) then the one the OP is talking about. Especially because it's made in Germany and not Singapore.

I'll post samples when I receive and indeed have tried it.

Personally i like German version more. Perhaps it's only collector's / nostalgia bias.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
they are all the same including the Voigtländer Color Ultron 1.8/50.. there may be differences in handling and coating.. that's all.


PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
darrski wrote:
From what I've seen that lens can really get great images...what do you guys thing about this offering ..in native mounts...no converter needed ..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harmless-Converted-Nikon-Dslr-Rollei-HFT-Planar-50mm-f-1-8-50-1-8-HFT-/111245299845?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item19e6bc9085


I have such a lens but it was converted by a Taiwanese seller.
Price was about the same though.

The conversion (M42 mount) is well done and the nice thing now is that the lens works on my prev 5D w/o hitting the mirror and is a more universal M42 mount which fits on my Pentax dslr too (as well as A7, though that can take anything anyway Smile )
I'm from Singapore, so I wanted to get it as a memento too.


I agree with the observation of poorer flare resistance as I compared it to the SMC Tak 55/1.8

But its got a nice o/p for sure imo.
DSC0659220140417ILCE-7 by jenkwang, on Flickr
Taken with the lens


PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I was rooting in my lens cupboard and found a lens I never knew I owned - a Rollei Planar 1.8/50. It's made in Singapore, all metal, but has no coating marks - no HFT, nothing. So what do I have? I thought all the Rollei made in Singapore lenses were HFT coated, so do I have a lens assembled in Singapore using double coated glass from Zeiss in Germany?

My lens looks like this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rollei-Planar-50-mm-1-8/252977480316?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D43781%26meid%3D4b38382028f1439f92b2df90bc2463ee%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D261733643371


PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
vanylapep wrote:
Well, I haven't received it yet that's why. But I was wondering if it's different (in IQ) then the one the OP is talking about. Especially because it's made in Germany and not Singapore.

I'll post samples when I receive and indeed have tried it.


I happened to get one of each and did a quick test. The Singapore HFT version (near mint) has smoother operation and natural colors. My German copy is well used and is a little stiff in focusing. Images are slightly more green and the reds are not as deep, but not by much. I place the HFT ahead.


PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I was rooting in my lens cupboard and found a lens I never knew I owned - a Rollei Planar 1.8/50. It's made in Singapore, all metal, but has no coating marks - no HFT, nothing. So what do I have? I thought all the Rollei made in Singapore lenses were HFT coated, so do I have a lens assembled in Singapore using double coated glass from Zeiss in Germany?


ALL of the QBM lenses manufactured in Singapore by Rollei (for Rollei and Voigtlaender cameras) have been made there only under license from Zeiss/Oberkochen.

Obviously there have been both Rollei and Zeiss QBM lenses without HFT coatings as well: http://www.sl66.com/pg/HFT_coating.shtml

BTW, T* and HFT is identical and was a joint development of Zeiss and Rollei: http://www.dantestella.com/zeiss/coatings.html


PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I thought that the only non-HFT Rollei SL lenses were the early German ones, but I guess I must have an early Singapore one without HFT.

T* and HFT are not quite the same, T* has some steps that must be done manually whereas HFT can be done by machines. The end result is practically the same.


PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I wonder what other joys are lurking in the back of this mystical cupboard.


PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, today I found three lenses I didn't know I had - a Pentacon 2.8/135 MC M42, a black Jupiter-8 2/50 on a Zorki 4 I also didn't know I had and a Planar 1.8/50.

Last week I found an early Minolta 3.5/100 that sadly has a stuck iris and discovered I have two identical J-9s for Kiev/Contax one a 1961 and the other a 1963, I remember buying the 1963 one.

I just have too much stuff and not enough space to store it all so it is all easily accessible and catalogue-able.

I'm sure I'm not the only one....


PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Strangely enough.....I got my Planar 50 / 1.8 out of the case today, My lens has Serial No. 1036*** SL Made by Rollei. Planar 1.8 / 50 on the ring, and 'Made in West Germany' on the rear mount. There's no HFT or T*, but the lens is coated. It cam on a Rolleiflex SL35 Serial No 4091*** that is 'Made in Singapore' sometime between 1972 and 1976.

Maybe the cameras were shipped back to Germany and fitted with a lens? or lenses shipped to Singapore before production started there? Who knows?

The main reason I got it out of the case was to compare it to a Contax / Yashica lens because I'd love a Planar to fit on my Contax RX camera and wondered if the QBM mount could be taken off and replaced with a C/Y without modification? The Planar is superb, as is the Contax RX, they would be a perfect match.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
What about either of the native Contax Planars (f1.4 or f1.7)?
Am I missing something?
I shot with my f1.4 and 1.7 on the RX body, and both performed admirably. I recently have had to sell off a lot of lenses, and the f1.7 went off to market.
But already I'm wondering if I kept the f1.4 purely for the extra stop, and if that was worth it or not: the f1.7 was sharp at all f-stops. I might regret the sale.
...no, no: I WILL regret that sale.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
l9magen wrote:
What about either of the native Contax Planars (f1.4 or f1.7)?
Am I missing something?
I shot with my f1.4 and 1.7 on the RX body, and both performed admirably. I recently have had to sell off a lot of lenses, and the f1.7 went off to market.
But already I'm wondering if I kept the f1.4 purely for the extra stop, and if that was worth it or not: the f1.7 was sharp at all f-stops. I might regret the sale.
...no, no: I WILL regret that sale.


The F1.4 versions of the Contax and Rollei Planars are practically the same lenses with different mounts, whereby the Contax version was made by Tomioka/Yashica (Kyocera) in Japan and the Rollei one by Rollei/Singapore (early versions in Germany).

The F1.7 Contax Planar is more or less the same construction as the F1.4 version and was introduced 1982 as a more affordable alternative to the F1.4 version with a slightly inferior center resolution. BTW, the Yashica ML 50/1.7 shares the same construction and is nearly identical in performance.

The slightly slower F1.8 Rollei/Voigtlaender Planar/Ultron is a different construction, already introduced 1974. The performance of the F1.8 and F1.7 versions is on a very high level (according to a comparative test report of the German "Color Foto" magazine from 1984) with very minor and neglect-able differences comparable to the Leitz Summicron-R 50/2 from that time.
The advantage of the Voigtlaender variant is that it is available in a M42 version as well. That's the reason why I went for this one as it's also usable on my FF Sony A850 DSLR.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you for the information Thomas. I personally never noticed a big difference in resolution between the Contax Planars, but I never did any specific tests. So you are probably right.

I'm not sure just how similar the construction was: same optical design scheme perhaps, but the size differential does suggest something else - plus the greater degree of CA exhibited by the 1.4 when closed down to f2 (in comparison to the 1.7 when closed down to f2) also suggests that there was something different between the lenses.

Didn't someone once post the optical schemes here? I shall go hunt for them....


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Found it - and you were correct Thomas:
http://forum.mflenses.com/schneider-sl-xenon-1-8-50mm-in-qbm-t40385,start,15.html

I was contemplating selling my Rollei 50/1.8 as part of an enforced clearout, and nearly sold it to member BarneyL last month. But I took a day to reconsider, and for once, I made the right decision to hold onto the Rollei (sorry Bartek). This thread has helped that feel-good factor.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
l9magen wrote:
Thank you for the information Thomas. I personally never noticed a big difference in resolution between the Contax Planars, but I never did any specific tests. So you are probably right.

I'm not sure just how similar the construction was: same optical design scheme perhaps, but the size differential does suggest something else - plus the greater degree of CA exhibited by the 1.4 when closed down to f2 (in comparison to the 1.7 when closed down to f2) also suggests that there was something different between the lenses.

Didn't someone once post the optical schemes here? I shall go hunt for them....


Lochlann, that's what I've found:





It's not exactly the same but the F1.7 construction was based on the F1.4 construction.

However, I never owned the F1.4 version myself. Therefore I can olny quote what I've read in my books, my magazines and on the internet. The Planar history might be of interest for you to read: http://vintage-camera-lenses.com/carl-zeiss-planar-history-part-3/

Cheers,


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ha, I read that right after I made my earlier posts, which is why I was reminded that I've seen the optical designs somewhere before. But it was good to refresh myself.

Following on from that, are both the SL-Xenon 50/1.8 (QBM) and the Xenon 50/1.9 (M42) both planar-type designs too? And are they same lenses, but just in different mounts? (the difference in maximum f-stop could just be a marketing ploy)

I have had both but found the SL-Xenon to be much better (sharper, better colours, much nicer wide open). I wonder what the difference might be. I found this quote from an old thread here:
Quote:
The slightly asymmetrical Xenon design is exactly the same as the later Zeiss Contarex Planar 50 f2, Zeiss Contax G Planar 45 f2 and Leitz Summicron 50f2.
......strange, neither Xenons remind me of the Contax G planar

Enjoy your weekends everyone.
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