Sharpness, contrast, compact, lightweight, well built, almost non existent chromatic aberrations, beautiful colors, stunning bokeh, price.

When shooting backlit situations with no hood it flares a lot when compared to other lenses.

The perfect budget 85mm for mirrorless cameras and/or lightweight setups.

Similar Products Used:

Samyang 85mm f/1.4, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8

Sharpness
Bold, saturated color
Exceptional contrast and clarity
Bokeh
Compact size
Fine focus control
Zeiss '3D' look

Only f/2.8
Relatively long minimum focus distance (1m)
Very long focus throw (but this contributes to focus accuracy)

Exceptional contrast, color and sharpness at all apertures. Rivals some of the best Canon L series primes in pure image quality. Bokeh is very nice, though of course slightly limited by the f/2.8 aperture. Lightweight and compact. I was and still am truly blown away by the image quality for such an inexpensive lens. Has quickly become one of my favorite lenses. The Zeiss classic '3D effect' I get from this lens is unrivaled by anything else in my kit.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

Zeiss 50mm f/1.7 Planar
Canon 100mm f/2
Canon 135mm f/2L

the best sharpness I've ever attained with a lens using 35mm film. color and contrast are astounding background blur is to die for! the size of a 50mm lens! much cheaper than it's larger, heavier f1.4 brother.

very high contrast lens. avoid using high contrast film, unless you want to lose the highlights or shadows. i took a roll of my dog in the shade with Kodak Gold 200, metered with Minolta Auto Meter V, and the blacks in her hair became too dark. Lower contrast film will suit this lens just fine, though.

i've used a ton of good lenses before, so I don't make this statement lightly... this is a REDICULOUSLY SHARP LENS!!! took some prelimenary photos, scanned the negatives with a Minolta Dual Scan III, and the photos are sharper than anything I've ever seen in my monitor! I was hoping that this lens would be the equal of the famous 90mm Sonnar G, and based off what I've see so far, this lens might even be better. ULTRA HIGH CONTRAST! The look of this lens reminds me of the Contax 45mm Planar, which is VERY high praise. A roll taken with strobes show the best sharpness I've ever attained with 35mm film. I was a bit skeptical buying this lens, with the bigger 1.4 version being the legend of the Contax family, but after the first two rolls I've seen, I'm thrilled! This lens might be the biggest sleeper in the entire Contax lineup! Hell, it might be the sharpest lens on the planet!

Customer Service

never needed.

Similar Products Used:

you name it... everything Contax G series (21mm-90mm) Contax SLR 28mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 135mm 2.8 Canon EOS 50mm 1.4, 100mm 2.0, 200mm 2.8, and every version of the 70-200mm L lens they make.

Wonderful, sharp, contrasty photos, even at full aperture--use it wide open! Well worth the money. How else do you plan to print detailed 16x20 prints from 35mm film?

Focuses to about 3 feet (wish it was a macro lens)

Light, sharp, exceptional build; a little jewel of a lens.

Customer Service

Very dependable but very slow...can take weeks.

Similar Products Used:

zeiss 28mm f2.8 distagon, 50mm f1.4 planar, 100mm f3.5 sonnar; pentax primes (pretty good...) and nikon primes (not in the same league in terms of sharpness)

Sharp as a tack, a very good portrait lens -its small size makes it easy to carry and use.

None

This is a lovely lens. Sharp, with nice contrast and so good for portraits. I purchased a demo model years ago. Mine is the ae I'm not sure if they ever made an MM version of this lens.

Customer Service

Never Used

Similar Products Used:

Yashica

This Sonnar 85 2.8 is a high performance lens. Tack Sharp, light weight and well built.

None !

The focal length of 85mm is very versatile.

If you are not in the market for a planar 85 1.4 this Sonnar lens delivers equal quality at half of the price as its 1.4 brother. The weight is only 230 grams which is very light indeed. A good lens for portraits and general photography. But this lens is a killer for nature photography, travelling and other activities where the weight of an 1.4 is too much.

The Sonnar 85 2.8 shines on the Contax Aria.
A package of a contax Aria with a planar 50 1.4, distagon 28 2.8 and a Sonnar 85 2.8 cannot be beaten in terms of optical quality, light weight and value for money.
A package for photography with pure pleasure and dedication.

For the Zeiss freaks it could be interesting to know that this Sonnar 85 2.8 MM is produced by Zeiss in Germany only.

Cheers!!

Similar Products Used:

several Zeiss lenses and lenses from Olympus and Nikon.

1. Outstanding performance and reproducing very vivid image.2.
Incredibly sharp.
3. Excellent color rendation.
4. Very good bokeh.

No

1. Its optical performance is outstanding and
evey image from this lens is very impressive.
It reproduce very crisp and vivid images in excellent balance.

Customer Service

Never contacted.

Similar Products Used:

1. Minolta AF 28-135
2. Rollei prego 90