[les3547]

How much better / sharper are the images from the new Milvus range compared with the historic Planar Pancolar Distagon lenses ?

That I can't answer since I only have classic Zeiss. But just being able to take advantage of those Zeiss lenses made for Nikon but not Pentax adds a lot of quality possibilities. It's given me two treasures that are normally unavailable lenses, the Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 135/2 and Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25.

[BobSpot]

Zeiss ZF Makro Planar 100mm f/2

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Zeiss Milvus ZF 85mm f/1.4 lens

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Looking at the posted photos of Fenwoodian the Planar image has done a better job of emphasizing the subject compared to the back ground but other shooting aspects may be involved.
I am trying to see if the Milvus would offer me any advantage in this type of photography over the older Makro Planar

[Fenwoodian]

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Looking at the posted photos of Fenwoodian the Planar image has done a better job of emphasizing the subject compared to the back ground but other shooting aspects may be involved.
I am trying to see if the Milvus would offer me any advantage in this type of photography over the older Makro Planar

I would say that those Milvus lenses that had an entire new re-design are indeed optically better than then older Zeiss Classic counterparts (with the possible exception of the 35mm f/1.4 lens - I own the classic version and doubt that I'd trade it even up for the new Milvus version).

I own the Zeiss Milvus 50/1.4 and Milvus 85/1.4. Each of these lenses represents a completely new optical design. The result is that these two lens that are much better than their older Zeiss Classic lens counterparts.

While I have never owned or even used the new Zeiss Milvus 100/2 lens, from what I've read from reviewers that I trust, the only difference between the Milvus and the Classic versions of these two lenses is that the new Milvus version has better coatings.

If I were buying a short telephoto Zeiss lens today, I would go with the Miluvs 85/1.4 over the Classic 85/1.4. But for the 100mm focal length, I'd buy the Classic 100/2 over the Milvus 100/2 to save some money (however, if you were to find a great deal on a Milvus 100/2 that rendered the price difference trivial, then I'd instead get the Milvus version.

If you will be Leitaxing the lens yourself, you might want to consider that the older/Classic lenses are a bit easier to adapt then are the newer/Milvus lenses.

[Fenwoodian]

Thank you for the link to Leitax it opens up a whole new world of options.
How much better / sharper are the images from the new Milvus range compared with the historic Planar Pancolar Distagon lenses ?

The historic Planar Pancolar Distagon lenses are not in the same league as the more modern Zeiss lenses.

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Last edited by Fenwoodian; 07-29-2018 at 06:41 AM.

[Fenwoodian]

I just got back from a short trip. Took my K-70 with 2 lenses.

Below is a photo I took hand held using my Leitax adapted Zeiss 25mm f/2 lens on my K-70. I love it's field of view on the K-70.

The below photo exhibits the typical rich Zeiss colors.

[les3547]

I just got back from a short trip. Took my K-70 with 2 lenses.

Below is a photo I took hand held using my Leitax adapted Zeiss 25mm f/2 lens on my K-70. I love it's field of view on the K-70.

The below photo exhibits the typical rich Zeiss colors and warmth.

Very nice.

[serothis]

X-post from k-1 picture thread.

This lens has some magical properties. Every so often I get a case of LBA ogle other lenses. A few shutter clicks with this lens and there's no looking back. I bought a new strobe and softbox and gave it a few test shots with my dog.

Zeiss 2/135 APO @f/8.

[les3547]

X-post from k-1 picture thread.

This lens has some magical properties. Every so often I get a case of LBA ogle other lenses. A few shutter clicks with this lens and there's no looking back. I bought a new strobe and softbox and gave it a few test shots with my dog.

Zeiss 2/135 APO @f/8.

I saw the soft detail of that picture and right away thought of the Sonnar 135. An amazing lens. My only complaint about it is that I wish it were 8 or 9 pounds lighter

[travelswsage]

Wonderful shot! & great looking pup. I was fortunate enough to be able to pick up the 135 leitaxed on ebay a couple of months ago but have only had the chance to get it out once or twice -- I was pretty impressed with it. Hopefully I'll be able to get it out some more and post a couple of pics also ...

[Fenwoodian]

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K1 and adapted Zeiss ZF 35mm f/1.4 (classic version) lens...

[Tas]

K-1 and the Makro Planar T* 2/100mm @ f2.



Tas

[travelswsage]

So for something different I picked up a Hoya R72 recently and just had a chance to try it out -- I found the zk 35f2 had hot spots. The zk 25f2.8 so far does not. This is a quick edit with a 2-shot hand merge along a flooded Delaware River ….

[Fenwoodian]

So for something different I picked up a Hoya R72 recently and just had a chance to try it out -- I found the zk 35f2 had hot spots. The zk 25f2.8 so far does not. This is a quick edit with a 2-shot hand merge along a flooded Delaware River ….

Right.. The ZK 25/2.8 is known to be a great infra-red lens! I don't own one now, but I used to own one and it was my favorite IR lens.

[BobSpot]

Quote by Fenwoodian
" The historic Planar Pancolar Distagon lenses are not in the same league as the more modern Zeiss lenses."
Posted below are my attempts to use lens wide open for close ups to separate subject from background bokeh
K-01 Zeiss Jena Pancolar 80mm f1.8 ( at f1.8 ) Not as good as Fenwoodian's I feel.
I pumila on top I reticulata below

[BobSpot]

From the discussions above people imply that the Zeiss T* ZK lenses of old are not the same as the current Zeiss Classic series. With the T* Makro Planar f2 100mm I cannot see any difference in the MTF curves for the old ZK and the current Milvus version (seems the Classic has been discontinued ) and it still has a T* coating and the diagram of the lens elements is the same. Any thoughts from people who have used both? Is the Zeiss just hype about the difference?
The old Contax/Yashica M planar f2.8 100mm is different and I appreciate that the Planar f1.4 85mm is a new design.