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Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.4 Flektogon MC
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PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:56 pm    Post subject: Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.4 Flektogon MC Reply with quote

I read some reviews about this lens but does anyone here use it and recommend it? What would be a fair price for a copy in good condition?


PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Around 100 EUR seems to be the average price nowadays. The lens is plenty but hyped too much.

The lens itself is pretty good (macro, bokeh, colors), although its corner performance tends to be weak and it's known for having sticky aperture.


PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 8:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Will I have to stop it down significantly in order to achieve edge to edge sharpness?


PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use mine on my Sony A6000 so I cant comment on edge sharpness, but centre sharpness I can - and it's very good. I generally use it one stop down, as I do with most lenses, and I get great results from the Flektogon. I've got about 10 or 12 M42 lenses between 28 and 37mm and the Flek' is my go to lens every time.


PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 10:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great, well respected lens.


PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 6:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

y wrote:
Around 100 EUR seems to be the average price nowadays. The lens is plenty but hyped too much.

The lens itself is pretty good (macro, bokeh, colors), although its corner performance tends to be weak and it's known for having sticky aperture.


Auction prices on ebay seem to be mostly between 100 and 150€ for the M42 version (less for PB) so yeah, around 100 or 120€ would be a good realistic price, depending on condition. It's a good lens, I have one in nearly perfect condition togeter with its original leather case, and use it often (on film and apsc digital). It's better at mid distance than infinity where corners don't get really sharp until well stopped down (and that's on apsc). There might be some field curvature as well. In general the lens is perfectly usable wide open at close to mid distances (sharp in the center). For landscape type photography it's best to stop down to f/5.6 or f/8. The same as most other lenses really. The strong point of this lens is close focus. MFD is under 20cm which is quite a bit a less than most other 35mm lenses which typically focus only down to around 30cm or more. I also have the older f/2.8 zebra which has similar performance except when it comes to flare resistance where the f/2.4 black MC version is clearly superior.


PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My favorite 35mm MF lens. Much better than the KMZ MC MIR-24M 35mm f/2.0 which suffers from low contrast and flares.


PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's an excellent walk-around lens, well known for typical Zeiss colors, microcontrast and a very short MFD (like 19 cm or so).
Major weaknesses are heavy vignetting wide open on FF and coating not on par with T* (although it's still very good).
I have a mint M42 Black electric copy.


PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Indeed, it is ultimate tabletop lens for APS-C sensor cameras. For other uses like panorama and infinity on full frame you can find cheaper lenses that will do the work.