ZEISS BIOGON ZM T* 28mm F2.8

Cosina/Zeiss M-mount wide-angle lens, Biogon ZM 28mm / F2 review and photo examples

Gallery

The photo examples were taken with LEICA M8.

Review

The Biogon 28mm F2.8 ZM is a Carl Zeiss brand lens manufactured by Cosina.

This ZM 28mm lens was announced at the same time as the ZM 50mm, 35mm, 25mm, and 21mm in the same series, but was released a little later than them.
This lens has the same lens format and maximum aperture as the Kyocera Contax G Biogon 28mm, and is a specification that makes it a tough competition, so it is thought that the design was refined before it was released in order to differentiate it from the Contax G 28mm, which had received a certain amount of acclaim.

The lens construction shows a commitment to symmetry, and while the Contax G 28mm has three elements in the front group and four in the rear group, with one more lens in the rear group, this lens has a completely symmetrical design with four elements in the front group and four in the rear group.

The back focus is also short, and the lens length from the mount surface is a compact 37mm, which is preferable for its design that does not look stretched when attached to a Leica M-type camera compared to the ZM Biogon 35mm, 25mm, etc. The angled focus knob common to all ZM lenses is easy to grip and makes focusing easy.

The lens hood is a cylindrical Carl Zeiss lens shade 25mm/28mm (Amazon affiliate link). Since the bayonet shape is the same, it is also possible to attach square Carl Zeiss lens shades 21mm/25mm. 28mm has a longer focal length, so there is no vignetting, but the light blocking effect is lower. From a styling perspective, I think it would be a good idea to install a square hood.

I haven’t used it with a full-frame sensor, but as far as I can see with the M8, there is no distortion. I feel that high-resolution depiction is a common characteristic of ZM lenses. You can get as close as 0.5m, so you won’t have any complaints when using it with a mirrorless camera. I bought it on the border between a film camera and a digital camera, but I regret not using it with film. I had a lot of 28mm lenses, so I got the first generation Elmarit 28mm, but I sold it because I wasn’t using it as often.

BIOGON 28ZM
Figure taken from ZEISS History product

BIOGON G 28
Figure taken from ZEISS History product

Specification

Items	ZM BIOGON	G BIOGON	ELMARIT-5th
Focal length(mm)	28	←	←
Max aperture	2.8	2.8	2.8
Min aperture	22	22	22
Lens Construction	8elements in 6groups	7elements in 5groups	8elements in 6groups
Min distance(m)	0.5	0.44	0.7
Lens length(mm)	37	31	30.7
Max diameter(mm)	55	56	52
Filter Size(mm)	46	46	39
Hood	25/28 common bayonet type	46mm screw-in type	Screw-in type (Old type is hook type)
Weight(g)	220	150	175
Release date	2005.4	1994	2016
Price(Yen/No-tax)	￥95,000	¥57,000	¥355,000