Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f1.4 ZS
Carl Zeiss Multi-Mount Standard Lens
A review and photo examples of the Carl Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 ZS.
Table of contents
Gallery
- The example photo was taken using a SONY α900
Review
1.Overview
The Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm F1.4 ZS is an early line of Carl Zeiss lenses that Cosina introduced in 2006 as a lens for single-lens reflex cameras, following the Voigtlander SL series.
The lens mount was first released in Nikon F (ZF) and M42 screw mount (ZS), and was later released in several mounts such as Canon EF and Pentak-KA. As of 2024, it is a long-lasting lens that is still sold under the Carl Zeiss Classic brand.
The lens configuration is 6 groups and 7 elements, and although there are likely changes to the lens coating and glass material, looking at the lens configuration diagram, it is likely to be the same as the Contax Yashica mount Planar®T* f/1.4 – 50 mm released in 1975 during the Kyocera Contax era. The Planar 50mm F1.4 from the Yashio lens era was well-received at the time, and it was deemed to have performance that would still be acceptable in the 2000s, so it was released with the same lens configuration but with a different lens barrel and mount.
ZS stands for Zeiss Screw, and in addition to the 50mm focal length, the ZS lens lineup included three lenses with focal lengths of 25mm and 35mm. This lens was released in 2006, about a year earlier than the Planar 50mm ZM for rangefinder cameras.
The lens is equipped with an aperture pin, so it can be used at full aperture on cameras with a pin pusher plate, and at full aperture on mount adapters without a pin pusher plate.
2.Usage
I purchased this lens to use with the SONY α900. The Nikon F mount, which was released at the same time, had a longer flange back than other SLR lenses, so no mount adapters for Sony or Minolta A mounts were made. Therefore, I purchased the M42 screw mount version, since a mount adapter for A-mount was available.
The α900 viewfinder was easy to focus at F1.4, and I often used it at full aperture. At full aperture, there was some image distortion in the four corners, but this improved when I stopped down to about F4. The viewfinder of a single-lens reflex camera allows you to see the light from the lens as it is, and since it was a new lens from that era, it had a clear and very clear field of view.
At the time of purchase, it was the latest MF lens, and since I bought it new, the focus ring turned smoothly and had just the right amount of torque, making it very easy to focus. The focus ring turns more than half a turn from infinity to the minimum shooting distance of 0.45m, so there is a fair amount of rotation.
There should be almost no situations where you need to move quickly from infinity to the minimum shooting distance with this lens, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
The aperture ring is a type that is often found at the base of the lens, which is common for cameras for SLR cameras. The ring width is thinner than the focus ring, and the ring diameter is also smaller, so there is almost no possibility of misoperation.
3.Add info. About M42 lenses
M42 lenses are a long-lasting mount that has been around since the dawn of SLR cameras, and many lenses are supplied by various manufacturers as a universal mount. Since the flange back is relatively long at 45.6 mm, mount adapters that are compatible with many mounts except Nikon-F are supplied by various companies.
Because it is a screw-in mount, it is difficult to fix the lens position and it is also difficult to add electronic contacts, so it was left behind by the trend of electronically controlled cameras and fell out of use. Some manufacturers made their own improvements by physically determining the lens position with notches, but this did not last long.
If you use a mount adapter that allows you to push in a pin, the aperture blades will close when you turn the aperture ring, allowing you to use the actual aperture. In the case of SLR cameras, the viewfinder may become dark when using the actual aperture, making it difficult to check the focus plane. To avoid this, some camera bodies, such as Cosina’s Bessaflex and Pentax, have a function that allows you to focus at maximum aperture and then press the focus pin down so that the aperture value changes to the one set at the time of shooting.
Specification
| Items | Planar 50mm | Distagon 35mm | Distagon 25mm |
| Focal length(mm) | 50 | 35 | 25 |
| Max aperture | 1.4 | 2 | 2.8 |
| Min aperture | 16 | 22 | 22 |
| Leaf blade | 9 | ← | ← |
| Lens Construction | 7elements in 6groups | 8elements in 6groups | 10elements in 8groups |
| Aspherical lens | None | None | None |
| Min distance(m) | 0.45 | 0.3 | 0.17 |
| Lens length(mm) | 44 | 73 | 66 |
| Max diameter(mm) | 66 | 65 | 65 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 58 | 58 | 58 |
| Weight(g) | 330(ZF) | 510(ZF) | 460(ZF) |
| Lens mount | ZS/ZF/ZE/ZK | ZS/ZF/ZE/ZK | ZS/ZF/ZE/ZK |
| Release date | 2006.4.30 | 2010.2.11 | 2010.2.11 |
| Price(Yen/No-tax) | 59,500- | 89,500- | 89,500- |
Reference links
Update history
- 2024.8.13
- 2024.04.01:update
- 2023.10.06:First draft
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