Very sharp & pretty fast lens. great contrast

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All these lenses for the G series are great - & a bargain

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Contax 35mm, 45mm
Nikon lenses

* sharpness and contrast
* feather weight
* "life size" 1:1 viewing

* some focusing issues with both G1/G2 (see below)

The 90 G-Sonnar is the lens that really showed me what this "German glass" mystique is all about (even though it's put together in Japan). I took a B&W shot of a cat-show judge wearing an abstract silver-nugget pendant. When I made the print, that pendant just seemed to lift away from her skin, with incredible definition and separation between the silver/skin tones and within the various tones in the silver itself. It was like having a little blob of silver sitting on the surface of the print! Not something I've ever seen before, especially from 400 B&W film.

Pop. Photo claimed this was the sharpest short tele they'd ever tested. Could be. I tested the Sonnar against a Leica Elmarit-M, wide-open. Middle of the frame the Leica was slightly sharper, but 1/3 and 2/3 of the way to the corners the Leica's sharpness fell off quickly and the Zeiss was better. (This seems to be a pattern for both Zeiss and Leica) Average sharpness wide-open and stopped down ends up being the same, i.e. outstanding. Zeiss pictures were warmer (red) than the Leica's (or the Leica's were more cyan - take your pick). Zeiss weighs about 40% less than the Elmarit-M.

At its 90mm setting the G viewfinder is LIFE SIZE, so you can shoot with both eyes open. This allows you see the area around the frame and anticipate action coming into the picture - great for sports, street photos, etc!

Focusing issues with the Sonnar:
1. Some G cameras left the factory with bad data stored in their focusing chips - this can cause the AF motor to wind the lens out to the wrong distance, usually about 10-15% off. Since there are separate "look-up" tables stored for each lens, the other focal lengths are not affected. If you get consistent focusing problems at certain distances but not others, this is probably the bug, and can be fixed by sending the camera (not the lens) in for warranty repair.

2. There is another problem specfic to the 90 and its shallow depth of field: The G camera's autofocus can measure distance out to about 45-50 feet, and everything beyond is "INFinity". This works fine with the short lenses, but if your 90 focuses at infinity for a subject 75 feet away, the image won't be sharp. I've found that in this case, using manual focus (kludgy as it is) seems to work better - the manual focusing seems to recognize and adjust the lens for longer distances even if the distance readout just says "INF". Once you get out to about 250 feet it effectively IS infinity, and the AF works fine for landscapes and buildings and stuff even wide open.

3. At the closest focusing distance (say a portrait) it is hard to know where the lens is focused (near eye? far eye? tip of the nose? glasses frame?) and the depth of field wide open may not cover a difference of 2-3 inches. (And I've had the exact same problem with Leica's RF patch.) Playing around with continuous or manual focusing, or "bracketing" the focus by locking it and then swaying back and forth a couple of inches usually solves the problem, depending on exactly what you're shooting under what conditions.

Considering this lens matches the Leica for 1/3 the price, it should get at least ******* for value.

Customer Service

Warranty repairs/upgrades take a couple of weeks - non-warranty can run up to 7 weeks.

Similar Products Used:

Leica 90s: Elmarit-M, Summicron, Tele-Elmarit. Nikon 105 f.2.5

Beautifully made,
fun to use, very sharp, nice contrast, top quality

I have not had the focusing problems others have reported, so far

One reads everywhere online the repeated phrases about how the G series lenses give medium format results from 35mm. I shoot with Fuji 6x7 and 6x9 rangefinders (color neg and E6), and clearly the roll film is tighter, with better contrast, color and shadow detail. The three Zeiss lenses are very good, but I have gone to 16x20 compared to my EOSL lenses (70-200, 50, etc.)and don't notice any superiority either way. I wonder if it is the lab, or am I missing something? Do any of these people shoot medium format professionaly- or at all? I just don't buy the "same as medium format" statements repeated.
The physics just say that for enlargements, this is simply not possible. Hold the negs up and compare the size- sorry folks- its time for the BS to stop. These are great lenses and and are part of a good little "boutique point and shoot system", but they are not superior to the Canon L primes, and lots of marketing hype surrounds them, creating a mystique that doesn't track with reality.

Customer Service

N/A

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90f2.0 OM Macro
90f2.8 R Leitz on R5
85f1.2L on EOS1

Sharp as a tack, flat field (no distortion), small, light and well made.

Paper thin depth of field, especially at close distances. Challenging to focus if you aren't careful!

I've always loved the Zuiko 85mm f/2 for people, as it is a very flattering lens. The Zeiss 90 f/2.8 is definitely sharper, though, and does not exhibit the edge distortion of the Zuiko. The detail this lens renders has to be seen to be beleived, and if you are fond of selective focusing, this lens is for you. For those who find it too sharp for portraits, I'd suggest using f/4 and focusing (very carefully!) on the eyes. The other facial details should go softer, and the bokeh of this lens is wonderful.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Olympus Zuiko 85mm f/2

Very Sharp
Contrasty
Great Value
Solid contruction

A times one can have focusing problems with this lens and the G-2 camera especially when focusing at intermediate diatances. Of course this is a problem more with the camera body than the lens.

A great lens that is very sharp, contrasty and solid built. A must have if you own the G-camera system. The problems focusing this lens with the G2 camera are true as mentioned by other reviewers however if you own the G-camera I would still recommend this lens.

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Small, light, high contrast, sharp, great color.

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It is almost too sharp for portraits. If you take portraits of women, use a soft focus filter. Still, a great lens!

Similar Products Used:

Too many to list individual focal lengeths: Nikon, Canon, Schneider-Kreuznach, Voitlander, Yashica, Wollensack, Tamron,

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All the Zeiss lenses for the Contax G I have used are superb. (21mm, 28mm, 45mm, 90mm) There are extremely sharp and saturated and have very good control of flare. But for me the most visible difference is in the shadow details. I used to have several Canon L lenses, and the G lenses win hands down when it comes to shadow details. Relatively speaking, images taken with the Canon L's look less emotionally involving and more artificial. I have tried showing my portfolio to people, and most of them were able to identify images taken with the G lenses.

The construction of these lenses is superb. They are very compact and the aperture ring feels very smooth on each lens. And it's great that most of these lenses take same size filters. The optional lens hoods are very effective, and one can also buy hood caps, which are very convenient.

Most of the G lenses are not expensive for the image quality and construction that they offer. I have yet to see better lenses for 35mm photography.

Similar Products Used:

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