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Zeiss Jena Olympic sonnar 180mm f2.8 comparison questions
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:05 pm    Post subject: Zeiss Jena Olympic sonnar 180mm f2.8 comparison questions Reply with quote
Hi there to all,
Just have a few questions that i hope some expertens out there might be able to help me with, Very Happy

I have been using a zeiss jena 135mm f3.5 sonnar on my four thirds system camera and i have been getting spectacularly contrasty and sharp shots from it, however, the apature decided to freeze and not move anymore. Hence the thought of a replacement had come to my mind, and ive seen a few options like the 180mm olympic sonnar, and the 200mm mc sonnar.

OK, here in lies the question,
Ive seen a quite a few different version of the 180mm sonnar, but i have had one that caught my fancy, that would be the 180mm olympic sonnar from the 1960's with the tripod collar and single coated i belive.
I just need some opinions/experiance/advice on the performance of this lens vs the newer Multicoated version.
Is there a big difference in perofmance eg sharpness/ contrast?
Please do share your experiance with it.

Is there how does this compare to the sharpness and contrast of the 200mc sonnar as well?


Very Happy

Thank you!


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Welcome!

I have all variants of 180mm and 200mm Jena lenses, quality is rather copy variant issue than edition issue. One of my oldest Olympic Sonnar blame all including MC, Zebra etc. Other 4 Olympic is less good than Zebra. I had two -three 200mm lenses one is exceptional others were very, very good.

In my conclusion all are good lenses but some of them exceptional. Modern Contax 180mm f2.8 MM or AE better than any of them except one Olympic Sonnar.

http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/german/carl_zeiss/carl_zeiss_sonnar_180mm_f2_8_MM_Japanese/

http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/german/zeiss/sonnar/


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hmm,

So you do you mean that the quality of the lenses depends on my"luck" then, if im lucky then i might get a copy that produces a sharper image, rather than the edition that came out eg the earlier non-MC vs later Mc version?

haha this sounds a bit risky....


Thankx


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Zav wrote:
Hmm,

So you do you mean that the quality of the lenses depends on my"luck" then, if im lucky then i might get a copy that produces a sharper image, rather than the edition that came out eg the earlier non-MC vs later Mc version?

haha this sounds a bit risky....


Thankx


Not too much risk because all are good lenses , no lemon just some of them even better and this is not depend from lens edition. Take a look on links what I did put into prev. post.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the links,

From what i notice the olympic 180mm is really really sharp, i thnk sharper than the contax from the pic.

From your experiance attila, how is the contrast of this olympic 180mm with the newer multicoated 180mm sonnar.

Btw, are the newer 180mm sonnar still considered as olympic sonnars? IM abit confused here, as i know the one from the 1960's is considerd as a olympic rite? correct me if im wrong!

Thankx! Very Happy


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Zav wrote:
Thanks for the links,

From what i notice the olympic 180mm is really really sharp, i thnk sharper than the contax from the pic.

From your experiance attila, how is the contrast of this olympic 180mm with the newer multicoated 180mm sonnar.

Btw, are the newer 180mm sonnar still considered as olympic sonnars? IM abit confused here, as i know the one from the 1960's is considerd as a olympic rite? correct me if im wrong!

Thankx! Very Happy



That Olympic Sonnar what is exceptional, yes even beat Contax Sonnar. Other Olympic ones are less good. I think old ones has same good contrast than MC one, but this is depend from light at shooting place I guess. See samples and judge byself. No newest one are not Olympic Sonnars. Newest ones are called , zebra, Mc, with bakelit ring (or star wars edition Wink somebody figure out here the name) .


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:

That Olympic Sonnar what is exceptional, yes even beat Contax Sonnar. Other Olympic ones are less good. I think old ones has same good contrast than MC one, but this is depend from light at shooting place I guess. See samples and judge byself. No newest one are not Olympic Sonnars. Newest ones are called , zebra, Mc, with bakelit ring (or star wars edition Wink somebody figure out here the name) .



Great info!

Looks like its time to start saving and hunting for an olympic 180mm then LOL...
Damn these sonnars are jst great! In my opinion, i thnk its one of the best Lenses made by zeiss jena DDR LOL...

Laughing


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Zav wrote:
Quote:

That Olympic Sonnar what is exceptional, yes even beat Contax Sonnar. Other Olympic ones are less good. I think old ones has same good contrast than MC one, but this is depend from light at shooting place I guess. See samples and judge byself. No newest one are not Olympic Sonnars. Newest ones are called , zebra, Mc, with bakelit ring (or star wars edition Wink somebody figure out here the name) .



Great info!

Looks like its time to start saving and hunting for an olympic 180mm then LOL...
Damn these sonnars are jst great! In my opinion, i thnk its one of the best Lenses made by zeiss jena DDR LOL...

Laughing


Yes, but Carl Zeiss Jena made many exceptional lenses all of them one of the best especially at their price level.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Once i worked out the bugs on my adapter as well as the lens.Someone took the lens apart and put it back with the rear element on backwards, the Carl Zeiss Jenna Sonnar 180 Olympia version is a great lens to use.Sharp as a tack, great color and gorgeous bokeh.Here is a set on my flickr account to look at.The only drawback IMO is that it is a very heavy lens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/footstool67/sets/72157621966245946/
-Jim


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Jim Schemel wrote:
Once i worked out the bugs on my adapter as well as the lens.Someone took the lens apart and put it back with the rear element on backwards, the Carl Zeiss Jenna Sonnar 180 Olympia version is a great lens to use.Sharp as a tack, great color and gorgeous bokeh.Here is a set on my flickr account to look at.The only drawback IMO is that it is a very heavy lens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/footstool67/sets/72157621966245946/
-Jim


So many superb samples! Congrats!!!


PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Unless there is an M42 dedicated version of this lens that I don't know about, the Sonnar 180 is a medium format lens that feels ten times heavier than a Sonnar 135. The Zeiss Sonnar 180 is not an easy lens to lug around for street photography.

If you want a light 180 (or 200) in the Sonnar design I believe that some of the early Nikkor designs in those lengths were Sonnar variants that were reputedly at least as good as the Zeiss lens for 35mm. Nikon lenses need careful research if you are to ensure you get exactly the lens formula you want, as the designs changed from time to time. There are adapters for them for various systems.
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