Rollei Planar 1.8/50: if you have it, keep it !

propellor · Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 205 Location: Amsterdam

Hmmmmm, so he only solution would be to shave the mirror and file the lens.
I have think about that.

Thanks guys,
Bart.

BRunner · Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 705 Location: Czech Republic

AhamB · Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 733 Location: Germany

Kram · Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 1344 Location: Portland, OR

propellor · Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 205 Location: Amsterdam

piljke · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 27

DSG · Joined: 04 Mar 2007 Posts: 544 Location: London, UK.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Kram · Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 1344 Location: Portland, OR

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7554 Location: Hong Kong

DSG · Joined: 04 Mar 2007 Posts: 544 Location: London, UK.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3437 Location: Netherlands

Hey Peterqd, you forget the Meyer/Pentacon 50mm 1.8 for the Praktica. I think this one was a little bit more expensive than the Tessar; CZJ Pancolar was more pricey.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

Kram · Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 1344 Location: Portland, OR

For me, this is a very special lens.
Posted images here:
http://forum.mflenses.com/first-rollei-hft-planar-50-1-8-shoot-t35106.html#1096938

BRunner · Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 705 Location: Czech Republic

Keysersoze27 · Expire: 2012-12-24

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Kram · Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 1344 Location: Portland, OR

Keysersoze27 · Expire: 2012-12-24

Only Nikkor 1.8/50 AiS version 1 from my 50s can come close at the sharpness @1.8 of the Planar 1.8/50.

(Central sharpness with tripod at 45cm )

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

I'd like to revitalize the thread with a question. I've got a Rollei Planar 1.8/50 made in Singapore in 1977 following the Paepke Fototechnik who repairs Rollei analog products and who friendly replied to me when I sent them the S/N. I has metal and not rubber focusing ring. The coating is not marked on the lens barrel (like HFT), it just says Planar 1,8/50 Made by Rollei s/n SL. But a red-rainbow relex is well seen under a particular angle. Stunnig lens, impressive 3D effect, beautiful color rendition and microcontrast.

What I discovered testing it, the lens gets pretty much of flare. It is predictibly visible directly opposed to the sun. For example, here is a frontal shot of sunset, which gives red and yellow light spots.

I imagine, those of you who have this lens or its analog expreienced the same effect? (I slightly pushed the contrast).

But what estonished me, in the low light the lens catches even worse some artificial light which is weaker and normally less obtrusive. Look at that night test shot (here I also slightly pushed the contrast). Are not those multiple lamp reflexes weird?

Did you have such an experience with your Rollei Planar or Color-Ultron? If yes, what is your way to cope with it? Is there a good remedy, like a special filter?

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

That sort of green ghosting has been reported from Sony a7r users recently. Are you using a filter?

simbon4o · Joined: 19 Dec 2011 Posts: 390 Location: Bulgaria

The shot with the sun - the flare is from the lens.
The second shot - it is possible to be UV filter or other filter in front of the lens or the lens itself.
Only one 50mm lens I have tested is good enough to shoot against bright lights and it is SMC Pentax M 50 1.7. It is hard to make flares with it.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

Yes, ManualFocus-G, the lens came with a nice B+W UV filter on it. It sits so well on the lens that I did not have an idea to get it off. I think, it is from the same period, the 1970s. More precisely, the filter ring says: B+W 49ES 1*. Both shots were made using NEX-5N, with a FOTGA adapter.

simbon4o, thanks for your tip, next time I will go into the night with the filter off. Agree with your judgment on SMC Pentax lens. I tested an S-M-C Takumar 1.4/50. It cuts any flare to death! But Planar gives a visibly stronger 3D effect, hard to resist.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

I made another test in order to see if my Planar gets flare because of the UV filter it came with. So I waited for the night came and made some shots with NEX-5n. Let's see the difference.

Here is a shot with the UV filter on:

The flare is similar to what I already showed in my first post.

And here is the shot with no filter:

The image esthetics apart, what the filter makes, it only sharpens the flare spot given by the lens itself. This Planar is heavily sensitive to stray light!

That ruined my hope for the filter to be the source of that parasitic reflexes in night shots. Maybe some coating issue in my case, even if I can see no visible defects.

But I am not at all dissapointed with the other (and the main) qualities of the lens. The image quality it produces, both for portraits and landscapes, is outstanding.