The 50mm F/1.7 can be used wide open unlike it's much more expensive brother, the 50mm F/1.4. With a Speed Booster on S35/APSC, you improve the lens' MTF, get an extra stop or light and restore the FF len's original angle of view. A Win/Win!
I found it interesting when you said you bought the lens attached to a Contax 159mm, I knew that before you said it because I bought my 159mm new in 1984, this was packaged with the 50mm 1.7 as a kit. The body alone was $400 CDN and another $100 only for the lens if bought together as a kit. (I should have kept it!). I bought it at Broadway Camera in Vancouver. My 50 1.7 is long gone (though I have other C/Y lenses). My 159mm comes back from it's first CLA ever in about 1 hour, that camera has been all over the world with me, thus the CLA after 34 years of loyal service, it works great with my other Carl Zeiss lenses. Thanks for the video!
'Best 50mm lens in the world' - according to AP magazine way back in the day - always found a lot of CA and fairly soft at 1.7 not surprising given its vintage - many new cheap lenses ( TT etc) are far better. Don't be drawn in by the Zeiss name - try before you buy, if you can.
If my understanding is correct when you put a full frame lens on a crop sensor with a dumb adapter, you are not only restricting the field of view, but your aperture is also effected. So when you use focal reducer, you are returning both near the normal specs of the lens. Meaning, don't expect to get a 1.4 aperture out of a 1.7 lens.
You’re correct about the focal length but light transmission is increased due to the extra elements in the focal reducer which lowers the F stop by focusing light on a smaller, closer sensor. Think of it like an inverted teleconverter.
I got this Zeiss Planar 1.7 with my Contax 139 new and still have it and just bought a Sony A7 1 body a week ago and an C/Y adapter and using my four 35 year old vintage film lenses as I clean them up just a little as kept them all in great shape. Already getting excellent photos with vintage lenses on the Sony A7. So I finally got an SLR again since the last time I used them in 2005. Went through 6 compact digital cameras with zooms from 2006 to now 2019.
If I could add trying the Rollei QBM Lenses!!! You can save $$$Hundreds and $$$Thousands on them, and still shoot through Carl Zeiss, Voigtländer, and Schneider Kreuznach Glass Made in Germany! I actually like the deeper saturation/Micro-contrast of the HFT vs T* which I adore too). But focusing(no pun intended) on Carl Zeiss, I paid $60 for Planar 1.8/50, $130 for a Planar 1.4, $150 for Sonnar 2.8/85, $125 for Distagon 2.8/35((❤️)), $80 Distagon 2.8/25(Etsy Luck-Out), $95 for Sonnar 2.8/135, and $60 for the two Tele-Tessar 4/135 and 4/200(with two Vario-Sonnars made under the name Rolleinar 3.5/35-105 and 4/80-200!!!! All the “Rolleinars” are Zeiss Formulas with expired patents rehoused by Mamiya Japan using Schott Glass and HFT!!! In Schneider Kreuznach, $45 for a SL-Xenon 1.8/50(almost identical in Lens Formula to Summicron 2/50- actually produced Lenses for Leica!!!!) The Rollei Planar or Zeiss for Rollei Planar 1.4/50 is the same glass packaged by Yashica for Contax, also same lens by Cosina-used still today for Nikon and Canon. Also very important!!! These lenses are superbly made!!! All glass and metal construction, with the smoothest weighted long focus throws. It’s extremely easy and moderately priced to convert them to Cine lenses for video. Most filters are 49mm, so they are cheap and easy to find. Adapters are dirt cheap. I do shoot the original system on film(B&W), as well as use the lenses on a Sony NEX 5N and 7. Hope I didn’t detract from these awesome lenses in the video, just to ADD that there is an awesome path to extremely affordable West German Zeiss Glass, with all the pop and micro-contrast of Modern Super Expensive Zeiss- for a FRACTION OF THE COST$!!! Alas! The accessories for these lenses, diving deeper into QBM- extension tubes for Macro photography, Infrared Filters, and Bellows can also be had for pennies on the dollar!!! I can’t say enough about West German Lenses from the 60’s to the 90’s!!! …and gah!!! This is just 35mm format!!! Don’t get me started on Rollei-Zeiss Medium Format!!!✨❤️✨🔥✨💘✨📸🎥🎞
Good stuff! Can’t wait to see more of your vintage lens related content. I bought the cheapest reducer I could find for M42 and it works remarkably well. No complaints.
I just bought a Contax/Yashica 50mm f/1.7 to use on a BMPCC4k, which is M4/3 mount.. I thnk the combination is going to make a very classic cinematic look, given the color science on the BM. Im guessing i will i get a 2x crop making it 100mm, using just a cheap adapter?
I have the carl Zeiss 55 mm. And I also nikon D7200 as body. Will I be able to use the lens with this body? I mean with an adaptor? And if so, what and where sould I get one?
Hi. How do you make focus peaking in red color on XA1? Mine does it only with white color which is often hard to see... Is there a firmware update or i just cant find the setting? :)
I found that lens many times on our local Craig's list, and for reasonable price, all do never with (meaningful) camera, but never bought one course I got droves filled with various 50mm vintage lenses, most of them equally good...
Nice review and a great tip about the metabones adaptor. I'm actually trying to decide which version of this lens to buy. Hard to tell, but it seems that f16 is marked with white color on your lens, not with green, which means it's an earlier AE version and not the later MM. Does it make the "ninja star" appertures at f2-f2.8? This is how it looks with it's brother 1.4/50mm planar: www.fredmiranda.com/forum/ufiles/52/1454252.jpg
The 50mm F/1.7 can be used wide open unlike it's much more expensive brother, the 50mm F/1.4. With a Speed Booster on S35/APSC, you improve the lens' MTF, get an extra stop or light and restore the FF len's original angle of view. A Win/Win!
I found it interesting when you said you bought the lens attached to a Contax 159mm, I knew that before you said it because I bought my 159mm new in 1984, this was packaged with the 50mm 1.7 as a kit. The body alone was $400 CDN and another $100 only for the lens if bought together as a kit. (I should have kept it!). I bought it at Broadway Camera in Vancouver. My 50 1.7 is long gone (though I have other C/Y lenses). My 159mm comes back from it's first CLA ever in about 1 hour, that camera has been all over the world with me, thus the CLA after 34 years of loyal service, it works great with my other Carl Zeiss lenses. Thanks for the video!
'Best 50mm lens in the world' - according to AP magazine way back in the day - always found a lot of CA and fairly soft at 1.7 not surprising given its vintage - many new cheap lenses ( TT etc) are far better. Don't be drawn in by the Zeiss name - try before you buy, if you can.
If my understanding is correct when you put a full frame lens on a crop sensor with a dumb adapter, you are not only restricting the field of view, but your aperture is also effected. So when you use focal reducer, you are returning both near the normal specs of the lens. Meaning, don't expect to get a 1.4 aperture out of a 1.7 lens.
You’re correct about the focal length but light transmission is increased due to the extra elements in the focal reducer which lowers the F stop by focusing light on a smaller, closer sensor. Think of it like an inverted teleconverter.
This lens was sold as a kit lens, I got mine in the early 80s with my first SLR, a Contax 139 Quartz.
same here
I got this Zeiss Planar 1.7 with my Contax 139 new and still have it and just bought a Sony A7 1 body a week ago and an C/Y adapter and using my four 35 year old vintage film lenses as I clean them up just a little as kept them all in great shape. Already getting excellent photos with vintage lenses on the Sony A7. So I finally got an SLR again since the last time I used them in 2005. Went through 6 compact digital cameras with zooms from 2006 to now 2019.
If I could add trying the Rollei QBM Lenses!!! You can save $$$Hundreds and $$$Thousands on them, and still shoot through Carl Zeiss, Voigtländer, and Schneider Kreuznach Glass Made in Germany! I actually like the deeper saturation/Micro-contrast of the HFT vs T* which I adore too).
But focusing(no pun intended) on Carl Zeiss, I paid $60 for Planar 1.8/50, $130 for a Planar 1.4, $150 for Sonnar 2.8/85, $125 for Distagon 2.8/35((❤️)), $80 Distagon 2.8/25(Etsy Luck-Out), $95 for Sonnar 2.8/135, and $60 for the two Tele-Tessar 4/135 and 4/200(with two Vario-Sonnars made under the name Rolleinar 3.5/35-105 and 4/80-200!!!! All the “Rolleinars” are Zeiss Formulas with expired patents rehoused by Mamiya Japan using Schott Glass and HFT!!! In Schneider Kreuznach, $45 for a SL-Xenon 1.8/50(almost identical in Lens Formula to Summicron 2/50- actually produced Lenses for Leica!!!!)
The Rollei Planar or Zeiss for Rollei Planar 1.4/50 is the same glass packaged by Yashica for Contax, also same lens by Cosina-used still today for Nikon and Canon.
Also very important!!! These lenses are superbly made!!! All glass and metal construction, with the smoothest weighted long focus throws. It’s extremely easy and moderately priced to convert them to Cine lenses for video.
Most filters are 49mm, so they are cheap and easy to find.
Adapters are dirt cheap. I do shoot the original system on film(B&W), as well as use the lenses on a Sony NEX 5N and 7.
Hope I didn’t detract from these awesome lenses in the video, just to ADD that there is an awesome path to extremely affordable West German Zeiss Glass, with all the pop and micro-contrast of Modern Super Expensive Zeiss- for a FRACTION OF THE COST$!!!
Alas! The accessories for these lenses, diving deeper into QBM- extension tubes for Macro photography, Infrared Filters, and Bellows can also be had for pennies on the dollar!!!
I can’t say enough about West German Lenses from the 60’s to the 90’s!!!
…and gah!!! This is just 35mm format!!! Don’t get me started on Rollei-Zeiss Medium Format!!!✨❤️✨🔥✨💘✨📸🎥🎞
hi, i use the carl zeiss planar 1.4 (contax) on my x-pro 1 and xt-1...it's great..for only 200 bucks... merry christmas from germany
200... lol right
i use one with an ef adapter on a speed booster with my bmpcc4k
Do you think the Fuji X-T3 and lenses like this would make a good filmmaking setup?
Ideally you want a clickless aperture and a short focus throw. But optically I think vintage lenses are excellent for film making.
Scott Graham thanks for the reply Scott!
Good stuff! Can’t wait to see more of your vintage lens related content. I bought the cheapest reducer I could find for M42 and it works remarkably well. No complaints.
I’m going to pick up a cheap M42 reducer. I have so much M42 glass 😂
Scott Graham It’s like doubling your M42 lens count. One lens, two perceived focal lengths. :)
I just bought a Contax/Yashica 50mm f/1.7 to use on a BMPCC4k, which is M4/3 mount..
I thnk the combination is going to make a very classic cinematic look, given the color science on the BM.
Im guessing i will i get a 2x crop making it 100mm, using just a cheap adapter?
Ya it’ll be a 2x crop on M4/3.
I have the carl Zeiss 55 mm. And I also nikon D7200 as body. Will I be able to use the lens with this body? I mean with an adaptor? And if so, what and where sould I get one?
With the help of a speedbooster itl become a f1.7. As originally intended on full frame.
Cool video, looking forward to more, cheers!
Pentax pain in the ass 😂🤔😁🤣 nice and more of this adapting lens series and some tips and tricks thanks 😊😁👍📸
Hi. How do you make focus peaking in red color on XA1? Mine does it only with white color which is often hard to see... Is there a firmware update or i just cant find the setting? :)
I found that lens many times on our local Craig's list, and for reasonable price, all do never with (meaningful) camera, but never bought one course I got droves filled with various 50mm vintage lenses, most of them equally good...
I have that lens on a Contax RX. Do you use lens hoods, I have one on this lens but it adds bulk.
I have this lens adapted to my Sony. It is a sharp lens but there is a lot of color fringing and bokeh is okay.
does your f-stop work? don't know why but I can't change my f-stop
Is it made in Germany?
I can't wait for the Ektachrome review!
Great video! I love this lens ^^
Nice review and a great tip about the metabones adaptor. I'm actually trying to decide which version of this lens to buy. Hard to tell, but it seems that f16 is marked with white color on your lens, not with green, which means it's an earlier AE version and not the later MM. Does it make the "ninja star" appertures at f2-f2.8? This is how it looks with it's brother 1.4/50mm planar:
www.fredmiranda.com/forum/ufiles/52/1454252.jpg
Is the lens a full frame or crop lense?
Full frame 👍
nice glass