[Douglas_of_Sweden]

For the giraffe I prefer something considerably longer, with a big neck. As for the ibex, I'm not sure f/1.4 is fast enough. Those suckers can really run!

What about one of those real panorama cameras, but held in vertical position?

[Miserere]

Review of the Polar version, with MTF charts and everything. Text is in Koriean, but there are plenty of graphs for the measurebators and 100% crops for the pixel-peepers

Zeiss vz Polar. Now that should generate some talk

The Polar 85mm f/1.4 in P/KA mount (from Kelly's link). Nice! I like that the focus ring turns in the same direction as the Pentax lenses.

Pics from that link:

[Gooshin]

They are also called Polar, and are apparently a supplier for Vivitar. I've been tossing around the idea of trying one of these, but with Christmas so close and already having an 85, I've resisted the urge. Gooshin did you order one of these babies?

Here is a Korean distributor page with links to pics and a lower price. Note, this is an 'A' lens and is manual focus! Note sure the quality of the build or feel.

?????? [POLAR 85mm 1.4 / PENTAX-A ?]

They also had a 28/2.8 "macro" (more like semi close focus if the 1:6 on the side is right)

?????? [28mm 1:2.8 / POLAR PENTAX ?]

Anyway, I'd be curious to hear some field reports - let the LBA begin!

K.

pending this saturday i might have a MZ-S in my hands, in which case i will have to curb my LBA for another month or two

[thePiRaTE!!]

Review of the Polar version, with MTF charts and everything. Text is in Koriean, but there are plenty of graphs for the measurebators and 100% crops for the pixel-peepers

Zeiss vz Polar. Now that should generate some talk ...

Seems like a bargain for the price. The lens formula is quite different to the Planar (9 elements vs 6 in the CZ) and it goes with an 8-blade aperture instead of 9 (matter of taste here). Like the Polar, the Planar also exhibits some CA wide open, it seems like there is a natural barrier with fast teles on digital sensors that is hard to erase. FWIW, I quickly grew to like the additional flavour of the reds and greens - its the purples that I can do without and it appears not too bad here with the Polar. The Polar appears to vignette more noticeably than the Planar wide open. Not sure about edge to edge performance, but down the middle the Polar looks competitive, which is a great thing at this price point. Also noted the Polars highlights tend to have an even distribution of light across them where the Planar is the most consistant lens I have in this regard. As I understand it, this is a clue which denotes a lack of spherical aberration. Its interesting the Planar acheived this without even the aspherical element, I guess there are many ways to skin a horse. Judging strictly on the physical appearance, the Cosina built Planar looks a much better built lens (and sexier, but I digress) but I'd like to have a feel of the Polars focus ring to know for sure.

In the end, the fact its even close is a testament to the Polar with its price tag. I really hope a lot of people buy it and that the news is good. With luck, they'll make more lenses and Cosina/Zeiss will have some competition on price.

pending this saturday i might have a MZ-S in my hands, in which case i will have to curb my LBA for another month or two

Nice. I'll follow your results with curiousity, I may walk the same path someday.

---

Last edited by thePiRaTE!!; 12-16-2008 at 10:21 AM.

[k100d]

Nice. I'll follow your results with curiousity, I may walk the same path someday.

surprised you're not somehow FF already, the extra bokeh is awesomeness. the smoother shutters of the ZX shorter equivalent focal length negates the lack of IS.

[kenyee]

If it uses the "standard" 85/1.4 lens formula that everyone seems to use, it should have great bokeh.

Supposedly, this lens is going to be used for a relaunch of the "Vivitar Series 1" lineup/labelling. This is from another forum I'm on:
================
- Vivitar Brand and ID was lately aquired by Sakar, who reportedly
just presented some Vivitar Series 1 lenses at Photokina 2008,
namely a 85mm f/1.4 (source: photoscala.de). Photoscala also
mentiones more lens models under that brand being presented, but
doesn't name which ones these were.

- The "Sakar" 85mm f/1.4 is produced by Samyang (my guess I think, I
don't remember the logical steps behind), Samyang again sells this
lens under its own brand, as well as having it distributed under
labels like Walimex Pro in Germany (600 Euro) or Polar in Korea (200
Euro). Specs are identical, just the name changes.

[rparmar]

If someone can get this lens for EURO 200, they should. I doubt it would be a bad purchase at that price!

[Miserere]

Supposedly, this lens is going to be used for a relaunch of the "Vivitar Series 1" lineup/labelling.

Now this would certainly be something...

I wonder what would happen to prices of current Series 1 lenses? Would they drop? Would they go even higher cos the new models are plastic, not metal?

I recently had to sell my Original Series 1 90mm f/2.5 macro (the famous Bokina), and it pained me. That said, I would love to be able to pick up a P/KA version, even if it's plastic and still manual focusing, for under $400.

If someone were to relaunch the popular Series 1 lenses in AF mounts and keep them under $400, they would sell 'em like cupcakes. Imagine a small 28mm f/2, this 85mm f/1.4, the 200mm f/3, the 90mm f/2.5 or 105mm f/2.8 macros, all available in AF with full metering capabilities on Pentax DSLRs; wouldn't you guys be interested?

[Tyler]

Apparently this lenses design is more like the 85 1.2L as opposed to the typical 85 1.4 lenses.
"It is a new design that incoporates an aspherical element in it's optical design. The only other fast 85mm lens that has such an element to my knowledge is the Canon 85mm 1.2 L. Asperhrical elements go a long way in insuring high optical quality at full aperture. The Zeiss ZF and ZE 85mm 1.4 does not use an aspherical element in it's design. The Polar/Samyang lens seems to be a newer more advanced optical design then the current offering from Zeiss and at considerably less cost"

Tons of thoughts about it here. Polar 85mm 1.4 Aspherical - FM Forums
Guy I know in Okinawa might try and pick one up and test against his Nikon 85 1.4 AI-S.

[jsherman999]

.

It really vexes me that those shots were so incredibly bad, I'd love to see what this lens can really do. And if that's all it can really do, I'm better off with a Sears 135. Seriously. (Sears is good glass.)

But anyway, those images stank. Kelly, Gooshin, someone, do your forum duty and put one of those babies through some real paces!

[Gooshin]

if someone freaking buys my budget zooms i just might have enough extra cash for this thing

[HGMonaro]

do those aperture blades look like they'll be reliable? seem to fan out alot!

[thePiRaTE!!]

do those aperture blades look like they'll be reliable? seem to fan out alot!

Nah, all my modern lenses look similar, though some overshoot to the front, others the back. It seems a little more pronounced on wider aperture teles because of the sheer size of the blades.

FWIW, only my 1950's lenses with 10+ blades don't do this. They seemed much more elegant designs back then, but they were probably unjustifiably expensive to produce by comparison.

K.

[Miserere]

Now if only these guys produced a white version so we could mount it on the Storm Trooper K2000...

[kenyee]

More from that other forum on who Sakar is what what happened to the Vivitar brand:

===============

From:

Sakar acquires Vivitar brand and IP | Business Tech - CNET News

August 25, 2008 7:35 AM PDT

Sakar International announced on Monday that it has snapped up the
Vivitar brand name and intellectual property http://www.vivitar.com/en-us/home.aspx from Syntax-Brillian in a move
to expand its camera line into the midrange digital-camera market and
gain greater visibility.

Sakar, a consumer electronics maker, plans to use the 70-year-old
Vivitar brand on digital cameras priced in the midprice range of $70
to $300, stretching its current lineup from the low-range market of
$20 to $100.

"Linking ourselves to Vivitar will strengthen our presence on the
retail shelf while also enabling retailers to buy more product from a
single source," Ralph Sasson, Sakar's chief operating officer, said in
a statement that did not disclose terms of the acquisition. "We will
now have an even more extensive product line at multiple price
points."

Sakar markets a range of consumer electronics ranging from digital
cameras and accessories to iPod accessories to digital-music players.
The sale of Vivitar's brand and intellectual property, which comes
approximately two years after Syntax-Brillian acquired the camera
maker and less than two months after Syntax-Brillian filed for
bankruptcy protection, will move Sakar's product offering into a
market that competes with the likes of Olympus' point-and-shoot model,
Canon's PowerShot SD790, and Nikon's Coolpix S600.