First day with the CZJ Pancolar 50mm f1.8

symphonic · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 550 Location: SE Europe, Croatia

So, today my manual lens family got its second member, it's another CZJ - a Pancolar 50mm f1.8 electric. Smile

The lens is in mint condition, really well preserved, no dust or anything else. One fine gentleman sold it to me for 60 €, a really nice price I think, given that it's in perfect mint condition.

Now, I have to say I'm impressed. It's a fantastic lens. I was blown away by the CZJ Sonnar 135mm f3.5, but this one makes me even more happy. The bokeh from Pancolar is just special, the color rendition is typical Zeiss (warm, saturated colors, I even sense a strong yellow cast while looking through viewfinder). And it's sharp as hell. I think it will be glued to my dslr at least for the next month or so. Smile

I only have it for a couple of hours, but I've already shot over 300 images with it. Smile

One thing I realized is that my focusing skills with the 450D is very poor, I wasted a lot of shots. Smile

Plus I find it a challenge to exposure properly with the plain m42 adapter, so I think I'll be getting a chipped one very soon.
Here are some of them, hopefully I'm not breaking any rule against to many photos.
I'm just not sure about the last 2, they may have been taken with the Sonnar, can't remember anymore.

Starting with some flowers of course. Smile

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Congrats for your new gem! Not easy to find it in MINT condition.

symphonic · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 550 Location: SE Europe, Croatia

My Canon "nifty-fifty" may soon go on a sale. It surely can't compete with the Pancolar. Smile

I hope I'll be getting the Helios-44 these days, so when I find some time, I'll try to make some tests, a comparison of these three lenses.

edit: Thanks, Attila.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Helios-44 not in same league Smile

symphonic · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 550 Location: SE Europe, Croatia

I did a quick sharpness comparison between the EF 50/1.8 II and the Pancolar 50/1.8 MC...

I must say I expected from Pancolar to be better, but it isn't. The Canon is slightly sharper and has more contrast, judging by these samples...

Those are 100% crops of a briefcase lock. The focus is on the rightmost number. The Canon is on the left, Pancolar right. First row is f1.8, second row is f4. I used the same exposure settings on my 450D, but the Pancolar image still turned out slightly overexposed (even more evident on f 8 ).

I'm not usually a pixelpeeper, but this got me thinking whether I should really sell the Canon, which is what I originally intended. I like the Pancolar better because it's has better close focus and macro (reversed or tubes) abilities and it's has better bokeh and build, but now I don't know... I'll compare them once more when I get the time.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

I wouldn't take definitive conclusion on sharpness from these shots, because the Pancolar appears a bit front-focused compared to the Canon.
The only obvious evidence is that the Canon has lots more purple fringing.

symphonic · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 550 Location: SE Europe, Croatia

I agree, Orio. I should probably take some more time to test them, esp. when I get an AF confirm adapter , that should help with the exposition, because I can't understand how is the Pancolar image overexposed with the same lighting conditions and exp. and aperture settings... Confused

But I'm not sure if the Pancolar was front-focused, as I did the focusing in liveview on 10x and on a tripod...

patrickh · Expire: 2011-11-18

Something definitely went wrong for the pancolar. The Canon looks too much beter all around. Pancolars usually behave a lot better than this

patrickh

padiej · Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 7:56 pm Post subject:

Hallo!

This is a great photostream, wonderfull.
A contest with the canon ef 1,8 /50II is very smart, but I am also surprised, that the canon is so good.

The older Pancolar is very nice:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/padiej/sets/72157624126371349/

the electric is also very fine:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/padiej/sets/72157624126417471/

I like pancolars Wink

regards Peter

symphonic · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 550 Location: SE Europe, Croatia

Thanks Peter, for your kind words and links.
I'm very surprised with the test results, but it could be that I did something wrong in the process. When I get the AF confirm adapter I'll try again on several targets. Smile

padiej · Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:39 am Post subject:

If the lens is open, a glowing will be normal. The new Canon Lens must be sharper, the back lens is made for sensor.
But the sharpness ... I will make a comparsion too.

See you later

regards Peter

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

***A contest with the canon ef 1,8 /50II is very smart, but I am also surprised, that the canon is so good.***

erm why! Canon made 100,000's and had plenty of time to get the len's optics and assembly right...I was checking out a Centon (huh) 50mm f1.7 and at f8 (or whatever) would give many nifty fifties some competition and would say many other 50mm ish lenses are very good as well:-

Centon 50mm f1.7 @f8