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Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Oct 1, 2022 12:19:28 GMT
Posted: Oct 1, 2022 12:19:28 GMT
Walking about on the Welsh/English border on a damp and misty day, I spotted the strange tree sculpture and the knot-hole inside the timber and snapped a piccie using my old 1979 Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 40-80 f3.5 on an Olympus E-3. Unfortunately, just as I grabbed the image, a burst of sunlight broke through and has caused some slight issues with flare; my fault for not taking a lens hood with me.  Zeiss VS 40-80 f3.5But despite the flare, the subject which was the wood grain around that knot-hole has been nicely rendered in the photo. And with the zoom being used wide-open, it is also nicely isolated from the background; it was necessary to snap quickly as the man with his dog helped to balance the photo - a second later and he would have compromised the clean edge of the sculpture. Shortly after that. the dog 'compromised' the previously clean pavement. Since the arrival of the Zeiss MM 35-70 and 28-85 lenses, the much older AE 40-80 zoom gets completely overlooked but it is a very good lens and can stand the test of working with much larger sensors than the one found on my old Olympus. It's been used to good effect on the Fuji GFX 50S which would undoubtedly have highlighted any shortcomings. The lack of popularity of the lens makes it one of the few true bargains of the Contax Zeiss family. |
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Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
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on Oct 1, 2022 23:42:08 GMT
Posted: Oct 1, 2022 23:42:08 GMT
In some ways I'm thankful that someone at Zeiss made the decision to produce a series of middle focus length zooms that some might see as multiple attempts to grab the same wide-ish to portrait-ish sweet spots over the same range. Once upon a time, I think that some might have regarded some of them as redundant to all the others. I really don't see it that way, as each of them seem to have been designed to fill a particular need, and had individual sets of strengths that outweighed their weakness. Some may fall out of favor, but all have a place if one is willing to look and appreciate them.
When using primes at the wider end I'd typically grab a 24mm or 28mm for film or full-frame digital, but I find myself gravitating to the V.S. 35-70mm and the amazing macro ability at the 35mm end. For the way I shoot and for the subjects sitting in front of it, you'd now have to use a blow-torch or small explosive charges to get me to part with it as a default lens for most general stuff I would do. Although it's on my 'shopping list', I've yet to acquire a V.S. 28-85mm, but I'm still happy with the ML for the same range, and the 28-70mm and 40-80mm are still on my list too, so there's more to look forward to.
The photo itself is wonderful, and I've been in awe of trees and their spectacular wood figuring since I was old enough to focus my eyes and appreciate them from inside and out. To go beyond just the gear and the photo itself, and focus on circumstances... I dare say that you and I and several members here, are of a similar mindset about our approach to both taking and presenting photos. Unless there is a parallel universe where it's even a remote possibility, reproducing this shot is a certain impossibility... flare and all. Not another living soul would ever see this image if you hadn't captured it, and no amount of digital magic will ever recreate what you and the camera see. I could be standing 2 feet to your left and even then, I wouldn't see it the same way. And one other thing equally important... I don't see flaws, just truth.
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on Oct 2, 2022 9:13:44 GMT
Posted: Oct 2, 2022 9:13:44 GMT
Excellent shot Graham! I think you are going to have to point out the flare to me .... on looking at the larger image on flickr, I just see a cobweb highlighted by sunlight in the hole in the tree at the top! Great lens!
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Group: Moderator
Post: 1,925 (524 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Oct 4, 2022 9:48:31 GMT
Posted: Oct 4, 2022 9:48:31 GMT
Hi lumiworx and bobblehat , Thank you for your thoughtful and generous comments. However, I still find the oof highlights on the man, especially his head, distracting. Probably the biggest compliment should go to Zeiss for producing such a delightful lens. Generally, the short zooms from both marques are exemplary - the early ML 35-70s and their later Zeiss cousin plus both of the 28-85s will rarely disappoint - and the ML 28-50 (especially) and Zeiss 40-80 are superb. There are also two other Yashica zooms, in the mid-range of focal lengths, that are completely overlooked but which can deliver fabulous images: the ML 75-150 and ML 35-105 although the latter is intriguing as I have 6 copies and 2 of them are quite soft in the corners of the image but the others are all perfectly acceptable, while centre sharpness is excellent across them all. IQ from the 75-150s is very good wide-open throughout their focal range and I've used it often in the past for portraits. ----- On a completely different tack, I see there's another eBay listing for a ML 28mm f2.8 C lens although I note the Japanese seller has produced 3 separate listings, each for a different territory, but used the same photos throughout. |
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