Advice needed (50mm lens)

Mark · Joined: 01 Dec 2012 Posts: 251 Location: Budapest, Hungary

Earlier I had a Canon 5D and a Zeiss 50mm F1.4 ZE. I loved the combination, but decided to try out other things and sold it. Now I really miss the quality of the Zeiss glass and thinking about buying an E-Mount camera. The only question is which Planar to get? I know that the more modern ZF/ZK/ZS should be fine but those are usually rather pricey and I could use Planars in other mounts with the right adapter. As far as I know the available options are:

Does all of them has some degree of 'Zeiss pop'? What about coatings on HFT Planars? Is it worse than T*?

Slalom · Joined: 10 Dec 2017 Posts: 158 Location: Stourbridge

For E mount or FE mount CY is probably easier than g to adapt:

I would go for the 1.7

https://web.archive.org/web/20010301083449%20/http://www.photodo.com:80/ Paste into a browser tab, Click on products then Contax.

There are also plenty of 1.7s on Ebay in Europe.

Mark · Joined: 01 Dec 2012 Posts: 251 Location: Budapest, Hungary

y · Joined: 11 Aug 2013 Posts: 308 Location: EU

The 'G Planar' is very unique (45mm, bokeh transition) but the ergonomic adapters tend to be pricey.

The 50/1.7 C/Y is a classic but the minimal focus distance of 0.6m is kinda restrictive with FF's FOV.

The HFT 50/1.8 got nice bokeh, sharpness is a bit lower than 50/1.7 but at least the rubberized version got a horrible aging lube.

No first hand experience but I guess, the same point about the lube applies to HFT 50/1.4.

So I'd go for a 50/1.4 C/Y if you can find a sensible priced one...

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7560 Location: Hong Kong

Rollei HFT Planar 50mm F1.4 (Metal version)

blotafton · Joined: 08 Aug 2013 Posts: 1628 Location: Sweden

I have a c/y 1.4/50 and two Rollei 1.8 planars. One with metal construction that has dry grease and a newer plastic version that is smooth to operate.

It's hard to choose one over the other.

Here is a favorite shot with the metal Rollei Planar: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60398074@N03/35957827326/

Raxar · Joined: 25 Mar 2014 Posts: 226

Rollei HFT Planar 50mm F1.4 will hit the mirror before infinity! even if you remove the retainer ring still gonna hit the mirror! C/Y 50/1.7 ML is phenomenon imho.

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

He was asking re: E mount lenses.

Of those I only have the Rollei HFT 50mm 1.8.

Note regarding the long minimum focus on the 50mm 1.7 that there are now helical adapters for many types of mounts including EF. So for about 40 dollars for the E-mount helical to EF and $8 for the C/Y to EF you can have an adapter for that lens which will bring the minimum way closer. I no longer have an EF camera but have kept all of my adapters because there are so many adaptations available that otherwise would not be or would be very expensive.

Mark · Joined: 01 Dec 2012 Posts: 251 Location: Budapest, Hungary

Thanks for your opinions! One more question: which adapter manufacturer is reliable / produces good quality? I had some random Chinese adapters for my Nex-5, and those were crap...

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3460 Location: Northern Ireland

timo832000 · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 544 Location: Germany / Cologne

Novoflex, kind of expensive but worth it.
I had a lot of trouble with cheap E-mount adapters but my Novoflex always work fine.

Raxar · Joined: 25 Mar 2014 Posts: 226