Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar T 50mm f1.5

[wolan]

Hi,
judging by the ratings on this page http://allphotolenses.com/lenses/item/c_287.html#prettyPhoto this seems to be a excellent lens. However I have seen very few pictures and reviews in Internet.

What do you think? If you have photographs please share.

Cheers.

[Sjak]

I have a 1952 Jupiter-3, which is a copy of this lens. I really like it.

[newst]

I have both the pre-war uncoated and post-war T coated versions and love them both. There is something about the way the Sonnar design paints an image that satisfies me personally more than later, Gauss, lenses. Zeiss accepted a reduction in aberration control over the Tessar design in order to increase the speed of the lens and, in my opinion, produced a winner.

The colors are natural, bokeh is creamy and the transition from foreground through the focal plane to the background is very smooth.

Center is SHARP, edges and corners, not so much. It is a portrait lens more than a landscape lens, and definitely not a lens for architecture.

I have owned three different Jupiter 3 lenses over the years. It is a fine lens, particularly at the price it goes for, but it isn't as good as the Opton, T coated, Sonnar 1.5. A couple years back I decided to put together a set of Zeiss Contax Rangefinder lenses, 1.5/50, 2.0/50, 2.8/35 (the Opton, short rear element design for the Contax 2a and 3a cameras that will fit on an APSC Sony camera) 2.0/85, and 4.0/135. Once I had put that kit together I sold off all of my Soviet Kiev mount lenses. They couldn't compete with the Zeiss originals, but they are still fine lenses for the prices they sell for.

These images were taken last year with a Sony A6500 and the Opton produced T coated version.

[stevemark]

[Lightshow]

To my knowledge, these all share the same formula:
CZJ 50/1.5


Zeiss-Opton 50/1.5
http://sangin1122.tistory.com/entry/Zeiss-ZeissOpton-Sonnar-50mm-F15

Jupiter 3


Canon 50/1.5


Nikkor 50/1.5
https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/nhs/50f15/50f15.htm
Still looking for the diagram

Others I thought were the same design
Leica Summarit 50/1.5


Zeiss C Sonnar


Simlar 50/1.5
Topcor 50/1.5


Schneider Xenon 50/1.5 same as Leica Xenon 50/1.5???

These Are Interesting in that they have the same formula as the Zeiss 50/1.5(bottom diagram):

[calvin83]

The Topcor Simlar is in 1/3/2/1 Sonnar based design .

[Lightshow]

[calvin83]

The Xenon/Summarit 50/1.5 is a double Gauss. The C Sonnar is a Sonnar for sure.

I will add 7artisans 35mm F1.2 and 50mm F1.1 which are the fastest yet cheap Sonnar in the market.

[kAAs]

It's a great lens, however, there is a difference between the Russian copy and the CZJ that is clear once you compare. The biggest thing is to find a real one in LTM, new that is a real challenge because the Soviet fakes outnumber the real ones 1 to 50 easy. So get it, but make sure that you get the real thing, and to get one on Ebay for 200 USD, forget it.... How to know it's the real thing? Disassemble it either yourself if up to it or have it CLA'd and take the risk of being disappointed and out of pocket.

[Lightshow]

[kAAs]

How do you mean backwards? btw new = now