[Leica] An informal test of my 50/1.5 Zeiss Sonnar (on aContaxIia)

[langeratcarleton at gmail.com (Mark Langer)]

Henry Scherer has worked on a few lenses and cameras for me.  I had the
prewar collapsible f2 Sonnar  and thought that it was a mediocre lens. It
certainly looked clean to me, but after Henry cleaned and collimated it, I
couldn't believe the difference in performance.  He also worked wonders with
a f1.5 Sonnar.  I have several 50 Sonnars as I seem to accumulate them.
They are remarkable lenses for their time, and I don't think anything else
made prewar or through the war period can touch them.  And you can trust
Henry completely.

Mark

On 3/30/06, Jeffery Smith <jsmith342@cox.net> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the link. He looks good.
>
> Jeffery Smith
> New Orleans, LA
> http://www.400tx.com
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Don
> Dory
> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 9:07 PM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Leica] An informal test of my 50/1.5 Zeiss Sonnar (on
> aContaxIia)
>
>
> Jeffery,
> He is not cheap, but give him a go.
>
> http://www.zeisscamera.com/ContaxIIa/Prices.html
>
> Don
> don.dory@gmail.com
>
>
> On 3/30/06, Jeffery Smith <jsmith342@cox.net> wrote:
> >
> > You're right. The end of her sleeve seems to be in focus. Well, where
> > the heck can I get a Contax IIa rangefinder adjusted? The only camera
> > repair guy in town seems to have been Katrina'ed into retirement.
> >
> > Jeffery Smith
> > New Orleans, LA
> > http://www.400tx.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
> > [mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
> > Don Dory
> > Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 8:27 PM
> > To: Leica Users Group
> > Subject: Re: [Leica] An informal test of my 50/1.5 Zeiss Sonnar (on a
> > ContaxIia)
> >
> >
> > Jeffery,
> > If you look at Susan you will see that part of her sweater looks very
> > sharp. I suspect the focus was off either because the RF is just a
> > little off or that you just missed by a hair.  My Sonnar is pretty
> > sharp at 1.5 in the dead center few mm and then loses it toward the
> > edges.  If you can put your
> > main subject in the middle it looks very good.
> >
> > Don
> > don.dory@gmail.com
> >
> >
> > On 3/30/06, Jeffery Smith <jsmith342@cox.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > I have never seriously used my 50/1.5 Sonnar because my Contax IIa
> > > isn't terribly light-tight and its rangefinder is out of vertical
> > > alignment. However, having just bought a 50/1.5 Sonnar in Leica LTM
> > > mount, I tried to see what the lens could do. I don't have any of
> > > the fancy equipment that Erwin Puts has, so my lens test consists
> > > primarily of walking around the campus annoying people under
> > > different lighting situations. Here are four shots from that roll of
> > > Tri-X.
> > >
> > > http://www.400tx.com/Susan.html f/1.5
> > > http://www.400tx.com/Michael.html f/2.0
> > > http://www.400tx.com/Thomas.html  f/4
> > > http://www.400tx.com/Phillip.html f/5.6
> > >
> > > My knee-jerk reaction is that it is a pretty good lens with nice
> > > bokeh, but isn't razor sharp wide open (Susan may be blurry because
> > > I was at 1/50). So, it gives me pretty much what my Summarit and
> > > Canon 50/1.2 lens give me wide
> > > open...less than stellar images. However, closed down just a stop it
> > > starts
> > > performing fairly well.
> > >
> > > Jeffery Smith
> > > New Orleans, LA
> > > http://www.400tx.com
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Leica Users Group.
> > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
>
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>
>
>
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