A walk in Heidelberg with Zeiss Pancolar

Hi!

I recently got a Zeiss Pancolar 50mm f1.8. It is a M42 lens and I think one of the later Pancolars with the "zebra" design. I bought it at the online auction site and it is in mint condition. I had finally some free time today and took some shots in my hometown. My initial impressions: I absolutely love the bokeh! I haven't seen so smooth out of focus areas with any other lens. The colors look somewhat warmer I think, but I like it. The lens is may be slightly soft wide open, but is certainly tack sharp from f4. Please remember that I have't done any lab tests and probably never will, so these conclusions come from everyday shooting. I used K20d in Av mode. The metering was more or less accurate, although I think half a stop or so underexposed. In conclusion I believe that it is a top quality walk around lens for people who don't mind manual focusing. It makes a perfect portrait lens as well.


All are uncropped photos below. Slight exposure adjustment and sharpening in Silkypix.

Enjoy the photos!


Urmas

[gawan]

Yeas, the bokeh seems really wonderful! Also in the last shot!

[paulyrichard]

The mouse and hole image is a great one, excellent.

If you don't mind me sayin', hold a piece of paper over the foreground area upto where the scene retains focus jus' under the mouses nose.
I think the image is sooooo much better for it, with much more impact.

Hope you didn't mind me sayin'.

[ftpaddict]

#2 is very film-like. I like that.

[Igilligan]

This is a lens I have wanted to find for a while... you pic really show how well it does in the OOF areas... I need an 11th 50mm lens!

[Urmas R.]

Thank you for looking! Pauly, you've got some interesting ideas as usual. Gus, it certainly is a very interesting lens. Since you can get it relatively cheap on EBay, it is certainly worth it. I'll post some more samples soon.

Cheers!

U