Zeiss C SONNAR ZM T* 50mm F1.5
The Sonnar name will not be handed down.
Cosina/Zeiss M-mount standard lens, C Sonar ZM 50mm review and photo examples
Table of contents
Gallery
- LEICA M6 +KODAK E100VS reversal film
- Film scanning was done with Minolta’s DiMAGE Scan Multi PRO and VueScan.
Review
1．Overview
The C SONNAR 50mm F1.5 ZM is a Carl Zeiss brand lens manufactured by Cosina.
The 50mm focal length standard Cosina Zeiss lens is the ZM lens series Planar ZM 50mm F2, which was released in 2005, and this lens was released in 2006. The C at the beginning of the lens name is probably an “Classic” C, considering previous Cosina/Zeiss brand lenses.
It is probably a Classic series because the lens structure uses the Sonnar format that Zeiss released in the past. The maximum aperture is F1.5, and the rear group of three elements is a laminated lens, following the Sonnar format. The CANON L39 mount 50mm F1.5, NIKON L39 mount 50mm F1.4, Jupiter3 50mm F1.5, etc. also use the same Sonnar format. This format was commonly seen in rangefinder lenses in the past.
2．Usage
Although the film used is KODAK E100VS, which emphasizes color saturation, the image is more like a sharp modern lens than a classic one, with little distortion on the edges and no suspicious atmosphere like old lenses.
The thickness of the lens barrel is just right and it is designed to match when attached to a rangefinder camera. Since it is a compact lens, it may look a little shabby when used with a large mirrorless camera.
The aperture ring is at the end of the barrel and the focus ring is in the center, which is common to the ZM lens series, so there are no problems with operability.
3．Add Info.
During the heyday of SLR cameras, the double Gauss type (Planar) was often used for a focal length of 50mm, as it was easy to achieve back focus, while the Sonnar type was often used for long focal lengths such as 135mm.
Until the release of this lens, the modern standard lens that was the Sonnar format was the Sonnetar series, which was an extension of the Sonnar format by Miyazaki of Ms-optics. Lenses that were developed from the Sonnar format include the MS-Mode Dual 50mm F1.3, SONNETAR 50mm F1.1, and SONNETAR 50mm F1.3.
I imagine that Zeiss reissued this lens because of their pride in being the original Sonnar manufacturer.
Specification
| Lens name | C BIOGON | DISTAGON | C BIOGON | C SONNAR | TELE-TESSAR |
| Focal length | 21 | 35 | 35 | 50 | 85 |
| Max aperture | 4.5 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 4 |
| Min aperture | 22 | 16 | 22 | 16 | 22 |
| Leaf blade | 10 | ← | ← | ← | ← |
| Lens Construction | 8elements in 6groups | 10elements in 7groups | 7elements in 5groups | 6elements in 4groups | 5elements in 3groups |
| Min distance(m) | 0.5 | 0.61 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Lens length(mm) | 31 | 65 | 55 | 45 | 70 |
| Max diameter | 53 | 63 | 52 | 56 | 54 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 46 | 49 | 43 | 46 | 43 |
| Weight(g) | 190 | 381 | 200 | 250 | 310 |
| Release date | 2007.6 | 2015.8 | 2008.5 | 2006.8 | 2009.5 |
| Price(Yen/No-tax) | ¥106,500- | ¥218,000- | ¥78,000- | ¥105,000- | ¥74,800- |
ZM Lens list
- Distagon T✻ 15mm ƒ/2.8 (Made in Germany)
- Distagon T✻ 18mm ƒ/4
- Distagon T✻ 21mm ƒ/2.8
- C Biogon T✻ 21mm ƒ/4.5
- Biogon T✻ 25mm ƒ/2.8
- Biogon T✻ 28mm ƒ/2.8
- Distagon T✻ 35mm ƒ/1.4
- Biogon T✻ 35mm ƒ/2
- C Biogon T✻ 35mm ƒ/2.8
- C Sonnar T✻ 50mm ƒ/1.5
- Planar T✻ 50mm ƒ/2
- Tele-Tessar T✻ 85mm ƒ/4
- Sonnar T✻ 85mm ƒ/2 (Made in Germany)
Reference links
Update
- 2024.04.20
- 2024.01.24
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