Sharpness, color.

No AF

I've used Planar 85/1.4 on Contax-cameras, and now via an adpaterring on a Canon EOS 450. This combination is a winner. Because, there arent anything as sharp and with that lovely colors that a Planar are all the money worth of.

High resolution
Excellent contrast
Smooth bokeh
Lack of distortion
Excellent build quality

An outstanding portrait lens, also suited to general medium tele work.

None that I can see.

My sample is an AE version, Made in West Germany.

This is an outstanding lens which displays a superb combination of sharpness, low distortion and good bokeh. This combination makes it an excellent portrait lens.

Wide open, it is sharp in the centre and there is a distinct softness at the edges. Background bokeh is smooth and the transition between in-focus and out of focus areas of the shot gives an almost 3D effect.

Stopping down to f/2.8 yields sharpness across the frame and this is optimised at f/4. There is no need to stop down further except to obtain more depth of field. As expected, resolution deteriorates after f/11 due to diffraction.

I have used the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AIS which has a remarkably similar optical design, but doesn't quite equal the Zeiss design, and the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L which lacks the sophistication of either, but offers an extra 0.5 stop. Of the three lenses, the Zeiss optical design is clearly the best.

I used this lens on a Contax 167MT and various Canon SLRs and DSLRs using adapters.

Customer Service

Never needed.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 50mm f/1.2 L
Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AIS

None....

Poor optics from GREAT CZ

When I use small aperture such as f11 and f16 with studio flash the images are still not sharp enough.The colour is not good enough either.In view that the lens cost even less than the Minolta lens but the resolution and the colour rendition are poor too,I write this review to express my dissatisfaction with CONTAX.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 85/1.4 D, Minolta 100/2, Minolta 200/4 macro, Minolta 100/2.8 macro D, Minolta 80-200/2.8 APOHS Rented Canon 85/1.4; Canon 100/2.8 macro; Canon 300/2.8

Super sharp Best bokeh lens on this planet Great color Great performance at f/4

focus only up to 1 meter

Zesis Fans must have

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 105mm F2.5

Short compact and bright. with 2X mutar will extend to 170mm good value at street price of $690.

Never encounter

The 85mmF1.4 was the best amoung the short tele photo of the zeiss range( range 70 - 180 )except 135F2.0. The 1.4 f stop produce soften sharp image that is good for potraiture.My personal encounter with the MM and AE mount type Both made in W.Germany. These are my commences; Both are different. The older AE type will have a better colour redition than the MM type under tunsten lighting night shots and the MM tend to biased to reddish hue. From the first appearance from pictures ,the MM has a more dynamic appeal than the AE type. but if you are comparing the shadow detail the AE have much better resolving power. Come to sharpness at infinity the AE will able to produced fine razor sharp detail while the MM will tend toward softer image . At closed shot the AE will suffer some vigenet at the 4 corners but the MM will not appear.Overall MM tend to be more contrast which lead me to believe there are some changes in the the optical construction. But I'm very much convinced Zeiss had strive to maintain and enhanced the standard but they may have introduced new glass material to remain competitive.The sharpness of this AE lens is great as comparable to 50 mm F4 CF lens but CF is still a more superior lens overall.

Customer Service

Never send for local service yet. No Commence.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 85mm 1.4; Hassablad 50mm f4 CF lens

Nice "Bo-ke" of the out-of-focus areas when it is used wide-opened. Ideal for tight head portrait. The lens is pin-sharped when stopped down. Natural reproduction of subtle tone and hue.

Sometimes it is a bit too sharp for portrait: it shows every pores and spots of the model face in tight head shot with diffused daylight. I would recommend the use of the ultra-high qulaity soft filter: 67mm Softar I ( but costs around $170).

This is a fellow-up of my previous review. After two years of using it regularly, it still remains one of my favourite lenses. This lens is one of the best portrait lenses (although some would say Marko-Planar 100 is as good). I always use it for studio and outdoor portrait. It is definitely worth buying the Contax 67mm dedicated rubber hood to go with it. This lens was orginally developed for the Contarex system. It is a bit sharper than the famous Contarex Sonnar 85/2 which I also own. I believe the new Contax N 85/1.4 has the same basic design and construction.It is not only useful for portrait but also great for general landscape, architectual and low light photography. I needed to clarify the point about Made in Japan vs Made in Western lens issue. Carl Zeiss told me that there is absolutely no difference in term of performance and construction between the old W. German made AE lenses and the new Japanese made MM lenses. All those things said by the dealers are pure fairy tales! The only difference is that "made in West Germany" is more "purely Zeiss" in collector's mind.

Similar Products Used:

Zeiss Contax 28/2.8, 50/1.7, 135/2.8, 180/2.8 and 500/8. Zeiss Contarex 85/2 and 50/2.

Beautiful color of the lenses

a little bit of heavy, and body selection is very important for stable holding.

Best portrait lens at moderate price in Zeiss. This gives both of soft and very sharp images. The people who own this lens sometimes says its difficult to focus through it. I dont think so, and I can make it best by adjusting the view finder. Most popular one in Japan as well as 50 f1.4.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

N/A

Superb wide open and stopped down. Amazing sharpness and contrast wide open. Compact and lightweight. One of the best 85's out there. No optical distortion. In comparision, Nikon 1.4/85mm AIS is very flat and a bit soft wide open. Zeiss 85mm is much better at every aperture except for f:16.

None.

Superb lens all around.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon, Leica R

1. Super sharp
2. Best bokeh lens on this planet
3. Great color rendering
4. Best contrast
5. Best performance at f/4 but f/1.4 still great

Sometimes too sharp to take people face.

Contax said to use Hood#4 but most Contax gang use #5 -so do I. I rarely found different between hoods for flare issue. But I found superior contrast from Hood#5.

Customer Service

No need

Similar Products Used:

Almost all Contax Zeiss optics

*Famous portrait lenses for its supreme optical quality.
*Metal lenses barrel.
*Very fast.

*Pricy

Before I bought this lense, I have seen amazing pictures taken with it from two Japanese books devoted to CONTAX camera and Carl Zeiss lenses.
I checked out several second hand dealers in Hong Kong and surprised to know that the second hand West Germany made 85 F1.4 AE lenses are substantially more expensive than the Japanese ones. I did not understand the logic of it, why do nationality of the factory makers make any different to the lenses quality of the same brand in theory? But all the dealers claim that the German made lenses are better; being sofer, less sharp and giving better color reproduction under low condition than the Japanese MM lenses. The dealer claimed it is even better than Leica lenese. Whether this is an exaggeration or not is another matter. So I was convinced by the dealer and bought the West Germany lenses. I got some pictures coming out taken under dull, dim winter light conditions.
The color saturation is good even with ultra high speed film. It is reasonably sharp, although nowhere as sharp as the pictures taken with a medium format camera under similar conditons( sorry, really not a fair comparison!). For the same amount of money I paid, I could buy a second hand 250mm lenses for my Mamiya RZ67 Pro II. So it is a really expensive investment for 35mm photography.

One advice for people who want to buy second hand West Germany lenses; bring a small touch with you to check the interior lense elements with aperture wide open in the shop. I did this at home and found lots of scratch marks inside the convex lense surface on one of the 6 lense elments. I was dismayed and realised that the lenses was opened up and serviced before, and the repairer made a bad job of cleansing the fungus!

Similar Products Used:

Canon, Sigma, Mamiya,
Minox