pancolar or biometar ?

[estudleon]

I want to buy a CZJ lens to portrait.

I have the 135/3,5 MC CZJ, but i want to have a shorter focal. I think that an 80 mm it's right.

Pancolar 80/1,8 or biometar 80/2,8? The first with planar design and biometar with an hibrid sonnar ?

You are an specialist guys, can anybody tell my wich is better?

Thanks. Rino

[A G Photography]

To my knowledge both are planar designs, the pancolar even more corrected for short distance shots.

[Orio]

The Biometar seems like a hybrid between Sonnar and Planar.
It has fewer elements than Sonnar, but the elements behind the front glass are cemented, like in Sonnar, while Planar elements have air between.

It is visible from the schemes:

Biometar:




Sonnar:




Planar:



My guess (which has no fundament, it's only my hypothesis) is that Zeiss Jena wanted to make a lens that had the characteristics of Planar, but at a lower cost, because it had to be big (for medium format), so they used a cemented couple like in Sonnar, because this reduced the air to glass surfaces and the inherent problems, allowing for construction of a lens at a lower cost. Probably at the expense of some quality, but as we know, in medium format lenses the resolvance was not critical as in 135 format lenses.

[Attila]

I made portraits with both lenses, Pancolar for sure.

[LucisPictor]

A Biometar design is an unsymmetrical variation of the Biotar design which was one of the first fast lens designs (f1.8 in 1910!).
The Biometar replaces a cemented element behind the diaphragm by a simple meniscus, thus representing a mixture between a Biotar and a Topogon it combines either advantage: it's fast and enables a wider FoV.
(Source: Hartmut Thiele: Carl Zeiss Jena, 2007)

[A G Photography]

Very interesting. I really thought that Biometar was the CZJ response to the Planar (as most of people compare the two lenses).
Then a good reason to have both

[Orio]

[LucisPictor]

[Attila]

http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/german/zeiss/Carl+Zeiss+Jena+Biometar/

http://www.mflenses.com/gallery/v/german/zeiss/pancolar_001/

[peterqd]

Wow, there's some really expert advice in this thread.

[dekiller]

I got both and feel the Biometar M42 is more 3D.

[LucisPictor]

[estudleon]

Very thanks for all, my friends.

All that you said was a great help for me. Now I learn more of olds designs.