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on Aug 15, 2020 2:24:36 GMT
Last Edit: Aug 15, 2020 3:00:08 GMT by lumiworx
A couple of recent acqusitions lead to a very basic impromptu comparison. I got a new test model as a helper, and soon after a little rarity in AEG garb showed up, so I thought it would be a nice way to see how they worked.  The 4 lenses should be pretty familiar, except maybe #3... the 1st iteration of the Zeiss 200mm T* is an AEG only (I think), but it's the slightly slower f/4 version. It's fairly close in size to the Yashica 200 C, and it's the same speed as both the Yashica ML's. The newer Zeiss 200/3.5 is just a little longer, but the width is not close at all, so it's evident where the speed is coming from - i.e., 'big glass'. For all the test shots, the distance from camera to subject is at the minimum focusing distance of the lens with the worst reach... in this case, it's the Yashica 200 C, which requires about 2 inches more than the standard 200 ML. Aside from noise reduction, I set all shots to the exact same Kelvin settings for white balance in Lightroom so that any coloration issues would be easier to see, but no other post processing was done to effect the results. I only did one pass of shots at f/8 to level the playing field -and- keep the time in the heat today to a minimum. The overall setup, taken as a base reference, with a Zeiss 35-70mm, with all the same limitations from Lightroom settings...  One of the cropped closeup test shots  The rest are in the testbed gallery... as 4 wide and 4 closeups from each lens, plus the reference shots. |
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on Aug 15, 2020 14:42:53 GMT
Posted: Aug 15, 2020 14:42:53 GMT
The colour looks more to my taste with the Zeiss lenses, but that’s to be expected.
PS, think it’s the 200mm f/3.5 which is AE only. The 200mm f/4 is most often AE but I can confirm there is an MM Version as I have one.
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on Aug 16, 2020 4:48:58 GMT
Posted: Aug 16, 2020 4:48:58 GMT
In looking at them side by side it's hard for my eyes to say that the colors aren't at least close across all 4 lenses. The ML's do tend to be lower contrast, and that in turn, might account for lower saturation of colors and making them look a bit off. With some added post processing to boost contrast/clarity/vibrance, they seem almost the same. There's slightly more CA in the ML's, but not so much that they look 'mushy' or glowing on the edges to give them any odd tinting. The one thing that might make a difference is in what medium the shots end up on, and what processes are possible if one wants to correct for anything. Digitally, it's easy to punch up the ML's to be where they'd match the real subject matter in short order, and if shooting on film in B&W, there's always contrast control in developing differently and with priniting on contrast papers. I assume that it would depend on the person at the lab to assess color negatives right before printing, but I can't hazard a guess about slides. It's been decades since I even had to think about slide film, let alone use it. And bp_reid ... you're absolutely correct about the AE and MM heritage on the Zeiss f/4's. I tried to find a Zeiss datasheet on them before posting this, but had no luck in finding one anywhere, and the one for the f/3.5 doesn't refer to any other siblings. I found a couple of the MM f/4 versions after some searching, and I'm also getting the impression that all of the 200mm primes were only made in Germany. I have yet to find photos of one stamped from Japan, no matter what speed it is. You could very well be right about the 3.5's too. Nothing pops up in a quick search for MM versions, but I'll keep digging to see where that leads. |
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on Aug 16, 2020 21:50:02 GMT
Posted: Aug 16, 2020 21:50:02 GMT
Lumiworx, you could be right about the 200s all being made in Germany. I can confirm that my 200/4 is an MMG.
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on Aug 17, 2020 2:18:25 GMT
Last Edit: Aug 17, 2020 2:21:14 GMT by biggles3
Hi folks,
A nice comparative test; and the results are exactly what one would expect from these lenses.
The oldest designs are the Zeiss 200 f3.5 and the ML 200 f4 - the Zeiss was only made with an AE mount in Germany and production had been discontinued when the MM mounts were introduced. Indeed the f3.5 was among the very first lenses to be made for the Contax RTS and was launched in 1975. The Zeiss 200 f4 is an oddball as it was mostly out of their catalogues - it was only made for a few years. It was first made in tandem with the f3.5 in its AEG mount and then, like the 3.5, discontinued. It was brought back for a short while as a MMG type and again discontinued. Zeiss kept producing the superior 180 f2.8 and in later years the 200 f2. The 200 f4 sat between these two premium quality lenses in a sort of no-man's-land but at a lower price point. One suspects that Kyocera decided to focus on selling the two top quality lenses and left the Yashica ML C to take up the slack. The Zeiss f4's a slightly better performer, especially wide-open, than its bigger, f3.5 older brother.
I've seen it given a launch date of 1988 but this is very wrong as it pre-dates the MM mount. It was introduced alongside the f3.5 when the RTSII was launched in 1982. It was then abandoned and later re-introduced with no change to its optical formula in the MMG mount for a couple of years before being abandoned again. It's pity because it's a very good lens - just rather boring when compared with the 180mm and superb 200mm f2.
It was a commercial failure in the same way that the 100mm f3.5 was but, guess what, they are now both sought after as people have come belatedly to recognise their optical quality.
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