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Planar 1.4/85 Rollei
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 12:32 am    Post subject: Planar 1.4/85 Rollei Reply with quote
Why, you will ask, did I buy this lens, since I already have the Contax one?
Well, firstly, I found one at a good price (the lens is rare), and secondly, it was a long time that I was longing for the triangles.
What's with the triangles? The fact is that the Rollei version of the Planar 1.4/85 is exactly like the Arriflex cine version of the lens, that was used in the famous movie Taxi Driver.
It has only three blades, but quite sophisticated ones, and they produce highlights with a triangle shape with round corners. I find them fascinating. I had to have them!

So last Saturday I made a short trip to Parma. During the daylight I took film pictures with the Contax G2 and Ferrania film (to be shown in the next days if they turn out good).
When the evening approached I took out the 5DII and mounted on it the wonderful lens for a first approach.
Please note that I forgot the lens hood at home, so the lens was used without any protection.
Here's the results:

01.
A take wide open to test the pictorial quality. No surprise, it renders like the Contax version and of course I am extremely pleased!


02.
And here's finally the triangles! Smile


03.
This causal take demonstrates in my opinion a quite impressive talent for 3D rendering. I can feel the distance between the traffic light pole and the couple, and between the woman on bicycle and the bridge wall.


04.
I missed the focus, but got to love the triangles! Very Happy


05.
Wide open


06.
At f/2.8


07.
Always at f/2.8 but with focus pushed forward. I noticed here that my rollei-eos adapter does not allow to reach infinity. I do not particularly care though: this isn't the lens I would use for landscapes.


08.
f/2.8


09.
f/2.8


10.
Wide open. No flare troubles.


11.
Wide open.


12.
Not sure about aperture


13.
f/2.8 and great flare control by the HTF coating


14.
Wide open and again no flare at all!


15.
Curious low-sized running man. Wide open.


16.
f/2 and perfect control of flare!


17.
f/2 - Ad stand of Mutti, one of our local food factories. Triangles galore.


18.
Wide open. Perfect flare control!


19.
Not sure about aperture


20.
f/2.8 , bikes and triangles festival Smile


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 2:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Beautiful! Is this version same price or more then the Contax versions?


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio, this is in my top ten favorite posts of yours. The varied subject matter,
the street photography (who says you can't use an 85 for street) and that
exquisite lens in your hands makes this a tour de force. Congrats and thanks
for sharing! And yeah, I saw Taxi Driver when it first opened in theaters. lol

After looking at these again (and again and again Wink ) am curious as
to what ISO you were recording these night scenes. Did the lens at wide
open allow for ISO 400 or slower? I'm not seeing any noise amongst the triangles! Smile


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I like the triangles! Much better than, say, hexagons and very special...
Nice photos Orio...
Thank you for sharing and for filling my wish list Laughing (which got empty after the 21mm Distagon)

Could you please post a photo of the lens itself ?


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
congrats! great series, great glass, triangle are perfect for those street lights
perfect rendering and I don't see any CA or sensor bloom
about the flare control, don't forget that lens made by Zeiss are T*, they are labeled HFT for continuity with Rollei naming convention
the lens made under license by Rollei have the HFT


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 8:47 pm    Post subject: Nice Reply with quote
good performance. What about CA? I own the CY version and it has a lot of CA till 2,8


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
TBaker wrote:
Beautiful! Is this version same price or more then the Contax versions?


It used to be less than the Contax version when I started monitoring it, 4 years ago.
But I was stupid not to take it then for 250 Euros.
Now it's solidly more. I have got this one for 390 Eur, which I consider an excellent price, if you think that it's more and more rare to find this lens on ebay, while in shops like Arse'n'all it easily reaches the 800-900 peak and sometimes more.

Katastrofo wrote:
Orio, this is in my top ten favorite posts of yours. The varied subject matter, the street photography (who says you can't use an 85 for street) and that exquisite lens in your hands makes this a tour de force. Congrats and thanks for sharing! And yeah, I saw Taxi Driver when it first opened in theaters. lol


Thanks Bill. I enjoyed doing the series very much! This lens, on a 5DII, really smells like film to me, if you know what I mean.
In the same session I also took some short movies, I'll show them if I find the time to prepare them for youtube.
About Taxi Driver, Marco Cavina took a series of stills from the movie, that show this lens at work, you can see them if you scroll all the way down of this page:
http://www.luciolepri.it/lc2/marcocavina/articoli_fotografici/Zeiss_Planar_85mm_1,4/00_pag.htm

Katastrofo wrote:
After looking at these again (and again and again Wink ) am curious as
to what ISO you were recording these night scenes. Did the lens at wide
open allow for ISO 400 or slower? I'm not seeing any noise amongst the triangles! Smile


The first shots when there was still good light were taken at 800 ISO (except one or two which I attempted at ISO 320 I think, but turned out motion blurred). Most of the times I tried the lens stopped down because of triangles, so I needed a high ISO in order to allow for enough shutter speed to freeze motion.
When the light decreased, I progessively moved to ISO 1000, then 1600, and finally 3200.
River boulevards in Parma are very dark, which is good for photography - I know apparently it's not, but in the night when you have well lighted places with strong street lamps illumination it generally means lots of trash light, rubbish light (parasite lights killing depth). It's better to have dark streets with only the "good" lights (car lights, window lights, shop lights).

nkanellopoulos wrote:
I like the triangles! Much better than, say, hexagons and very special...
Nice photos Orio...
Thank you for sharing and for filling my wish list Laughing (which got empty after the 21mm Distagon)


Laughing sorry Rolling Eyes

nkanellopoulos wrote:
Could you please post a photo of the lens itself ?


Sure, tomorrow I will.
So I will also photograph the Sonnar 180 for Larry

poilu wrote:
congrats! great series, great glass, triangle are perfect for those street lights
perfect rendering and I don't see any CA or sensor bloom
about the flare control, don't forget that lens made by Zeiss are T*, they are labeled HFT for continuity with Rollei naming convention
the lens made under license by Rollei have the HFT


Thanks poilu. I did not remember that information. It makes sense when you try this lens.

agent_cooper wrote:
good performance. What about CA? I own the CY version and it has a lot of CA till 2,8


It has some (all fast planars have). But it's not intrusive, unless you shoot extreme contrast situation. But in those situations, the old rule applies, which goes "Doctor, doctor, my arm hurts if I touch it here!" "Then don't touch it there!" Cool Laughing

In my series, you can see some in picture #5, the river boulevard parapet has some purple halo before the FP and some green halo after the FP. It is almost completely gone at f/2.8 (picture #6). I would classify it as "negligible for real use". You can also see some around the OOF highlights, also negligible.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Great lens and wonderful triangles! Very Happy
So many beautiful photos!


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
So many great samples! I will show this thread to those crazy people who ask always on my sales "how many blades are in the lens" and not buy it because it has less than 100 Smile


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio

You really do show why this is such a desirable lens. I love this series.


patrickh


PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
patrickh wrote:
Orio

You really do show why this is such a desirable lens. I love this series.


patrickh


Agree, Patrick, after viewing these don't know how many times, it's nice
to see what the deep end of the pool looks like. Laughing 3200 ISO, sheesh! Shocked Never mind the lens and Orio's talent...


PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you!
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