According provided by lens MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR many thanks to readers of Radozhiva.
MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR. The lens is shown in film mirror Nikon EL2 camera. Installed with an adapter M42-Nikon F
In short
MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR is a very nice classic fifty dollars from East Germany. Nowadays it can act as a good creative lens. It has a higher aftermarket price and a stronger reputation than many older 50 / 1.8 manual XNUMXs.
Please note that there were quite a few versions and sub-versions of this lens. Basically, there are two key ones: ordinary (without multi-coating), which is also called 'zebra', and such as shown in this review.
MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR
Main technical specifications of MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR:
| Review Instance Name | MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR 9831353 and 9830405 (there were several lenses in the review) |
| Basic properties |
|
| Front Filter Diameter | 49 mm, metal thread for filters |
| Focal length | 50 mm |
| Zoom ratio | 1 x |
| Designed by | for film cameras with a frame size of 24 x 36 |
| Number of aperture blades | 6 non-rounded petals |
| Tags | focus distance scale in meters and feet. The depth of field scale for F / 4, 8, 11, 16, 22. The label for working in the infrared spectrum (red four on the depth of field scale). |
| Diaphragm | from f / 1.8 to f / 22. The lens has an aperture control ring. On the ring there are labels for F / 1.8, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22. You can set one additional value between each pair of numbers. There are two intermediate values between F / 1.8 and F / 2.8. The aperture ring has a switch for choosing between manual or automatic aperture setting. |
| MDF | 0.35 m |
| The weight | 250 g (my measurements show 232 grams) |
| Optical design | 6 elements in 5 groups
|
| Lens hood | Threaded, screwed into the front filter thread |
| Manufacturer country | DDR |
| Period | ? |
| Price | About 80 cu for used option.
Prices for modern Carl Ziss lenses can be found here. |
MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR to the touch well assembled, has full metal case. The focus ring does not have rubberized inserts, metal with a characteristic anti-slip corrugation, rotates approximately 330 degrees (almost a full turn) The ring travel is smooth and pleasant. The original front cover without latches, just snug against the frame of the case, it can easily be removed with a random movement. During focusing, the front retractable body does not rotate. Focusing occurs by moving the entire lens block. The front lens is deeply recessed in the frame of the housing.
A nice little thing is a fairly small MDF, which is only 35 centimeters. Usually fifty dollars have an MDF of 40 to 60 cm.
At different times in the review, I had several of these lenses, some of which suffered a breakdown of the diaphragm mechanism. Some users claim that this is a common problem for this lens.
MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR
Sample Photos
Sample photos on Nikon D90, MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 was installed using the adapter M42-Nikon F
MC PANCOLAR 1,8 / 50 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR
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Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram
Cool photos! Beautiful, everything is green. Vinnitsa is not far from me, therefore, greenery and places similar to our area.
Thank you) We got lost in the forest there and almost missed the train to Kiev.
I see that you have a lot of experience working with Soviet and GDR optics
It is interesting to know your opinion.
I face the choice of 4 lenses for Nikon
Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm 2.8 Zebra
Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50 / 1.8 Zebra
Nikkor-S 50 mm 1.4
MS Helios 81H 2/53
There was Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm 2.8 but it fell away, although focal lengths are more convenient (and I liked the macro)
The goal is to get beautiful, expressive portraits (people, animals) with beautiful bokeh
may advise you to pay attention to other lenses
PS:
Thank you very much for the existence of such a resource.
As far as I understand, the main goal is to get a 50mm portrait lens with beautiful bokeh.
Tessar is too sharp and loses in aperture ratio. Helios is quite sharp at 2.0 and twists bokeh - if you like this style of bokeh - I advise you to take it. Nikkor is just good. Pancolar produces wonderful colors and beautiful bokeh. The choice is quite difficult, but I would choose either Helios or Pancolar, which is three times more expensive.
For advice from other lenses - look at focal lengths in the 85mm region, Soviet ones are Jupiter-9, Helios-40.
All the best.
Thanks for the prompt and comprehensive answer.
all the best
Hello. Thanks for the good review. Only I am interested in one caveat - how to attach this lens to Nikon D3100? What do I need besides the KP-A / N adapter?
You do not need an adapter KP-A \ N. You need for Nikon KP-42 \ N. This information is clearly indicated in the article itself.
... and one more thing. Is there a difference between KP-42 / N and KP-A / N?
There is a difference between the adapters. KP-42 \ N is a lensless adapter between the M42 thread and Nikon (or Kiev). And KP-A \ N is an adapter for lenses with interchangeable shank.
in exchange with an interchangeer, having risen trochies in advance, what is the problem? Maybe you can tell?
With which adapter and to which camera / mount, and what type of offset?
and with KP-42 \ N degrees 15 - 25 towards the center. so that the point vimiru of the indicators of the object is seen to the right from the photoographer.
Question - which in your opinion would be better to take Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 1.8 / 50 or SMC Takumar 50mm 1,4 ??? thanks in advance…
Personally, I really like Pankolar, he has a very lively picture.
Good day!
Arkady, having cleared the question: the other day this lens acquired a very good condition, but I am confused by the tight focusing ring and when rotating, I hear the sound of friction - it looks like the friction of a fiber or something like that, tell me if I got such an example or it is typical for all lenses of this models?
Sincerely .
This is old age. It will either pass over time (decompress) or will need to be returned for repair.
Please tell me the difference between Pentacon Auto 1.8 / 50 Multi Coating and MC Pancolar 1.8 / 50 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR.
Is Pentacon Helios 44 or Biotar? But why then is the bokeh not twisted like on the G-44? It seemed to me sharper than Pancolar.
Is Pancolar (what famous lens does it look like)? The drawing reminds me of Helios 44. But the scheme is different !!! I have a Chinese lens Seagull 610 MC 1.8 / 50mm there are 6 lenses in 5 groups - but it is sharp, dry, bokeh does not twist at all.
Pentacon Auto 1.8 / 50 Multi Coating - Planar, Helios-44 - Biotar, and here is MC Pancolar 1.8 / 50 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR
Hello, Arkady.
If it’s not difficult, please tell us what is the difference between Planar, Pancolar, Sonnar, Tessar, Mirotar, Distagon, Pentacon and Flectogon?
Thank you.
All these names are different optical schemes for different tasks in photography. They differ in the number of lenses and optical characteristics. CZJ called its lenses that way, so that it was immediately clear in what scheme the lens works.
Thanks for the most helpful reviews!
Please help me choose what is best for use on crop (nex), as well as for possible use on a full-frame canon in everyday shooting (artistry is welcome):
Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f / 1.4 M42 (8-element) or Carl Zeiss Pancolar 50 / 1.8 M42?
Both have an interesting pattern. I don’t even know what to advise. But personally for myself would leave Pankolar.
I liked the review, but did not quite understand what to do with the "jump rope" when using it through an adapter on the nex5. And also, please help me choose a "fifty kopeck piece" for this device. There is a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50 mm f / 2.8 silver, for my own purposes it is not very bad, but I want a lens with a large aperture that would do without a flash in most cases, beautiful bokeh while sharp at a closed aperture. I tried it on the nex5 SMC Pentax-M 50 / 1.7 - it seemed not bad, very sharp on a covered aperture Then I found a photo with Carl Zeiss 50 mm f / 1.4, I don't know exactly the model, but the photo from it looked like a picture, I really liked the lens, but since I don't know exactly what it was, I'm trying to choose between SMC Pentax-M 50 / 1.7 , MC pentacon auto 50 mm f 1.8 M42, M42 Mamiya / Sekor SX Auto 55 mm f / 1.8 and SMC Takumar 55 mm f / 1.8.
Jumping must be blocked.
MC Pancolar 1.8 / 50 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR also consider as a candidate.
Look towards Carl Zeiss 50 mm f / 1.4 Planar
Means rather MC pentacon auto 50 / 1.8 or Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston Auto MC 50 / 1.8, Carl Zeiss 50 / 1.4 Planar I will not pull now, thanks for the advice.
Hello, Alexander!
I always read your review articles about the Soviet optics with pleasure, since my friends and acquaintances have such a bulk - there is something to be convinced of your conclusions.
But then I decided that I want to get hold of Carl Zeiss Jena MC Pancolar 1.8 / 50 DDR “forever”. I met completely different prices on many sites, although all sellers claim that the condition is “close to perfect”. So I would like to know how much such a lens costs in “average” quality. For example, it may even be with scratches, but minimal and do not affect the quality of the resulting photos.
Unfortunately, I dare say that my name is Arkady, and you read my reviews very carefully :)
The average normal price of Carl Zeiss Jena MC Pancolar 1.8 / 50 DDR is about 70 cu
Tell me what is the complexity of the machine?
which machine?
You wrote “I got a lens without choosing the method of setting the M / A aperture, but a regular automatic machine, it made the shooting a little more difficult.” What exactly is the difficulty without choosing a m / a?
Thanks Arkady.
On modern cameras, in order to manually control (at least somehow) the aperture on such lenses with a blinking aperture, you need to lock the spindle, which is responsible for setting the aperture value. This requires extra effort, and since the lens is not mine, I could not perform such a maneuver.
Does Canon also need to lock the spindle?
Well, of course :)
Many thanks to Arkady for popularizing old manual lenses, with great pleasure I read everything from cover to cover. I myself have been using a lot of old glasses for a long time, which I have left since the time of Zenith on Nikon mirrors.
Since the branch about Pancolar - infinity on Nikon is very easy to do for him, you don't even need to disassemble. The lens is set to infinity, the rear lens unit is unscrewed with a clamp through an elastic band. A 3 mm thick ring is placed under it, dust is blown out from the inside and the rear lens unit is screwed back. With a thin adapter, infinity will be.
I should note that 50-70m for Pancolar is not infinity yet - the large stroke of the focusing ring affects. When finalizing the ring thickness, focus on at least 200-300m.
Thank you for sharing the information.
Excuse me, where can I see this information?
When installing a ring under the rear lens unit of the Pancolar, you can get focusing to “infinity.” Is there a danger of the mirror touching the lens unit, as it / the unit /
extends beyond the "adapter"
Bolishoe spasibo za statii. Skajite citonibudi pro Pancolar 1,8 50 MC Electric. U menia esti takoi escio s 77-obo goda Ia oceni dovolen teperi ispolizuiu evo na Canon 50d s perehodnicom i toje oceni dovolen
Hello Arkady!
I would like to know your opinion about the CZJ Pancolar 1.8 / 80 mm. Have you encountered this?
Good day, Arkady! I choose myself "fifty dollars". Recently acquired MC Sonnar 3,5 / 135 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR, your reviews helped a lot, thank you for that. So I really like the lens. Hooked on Carl Zeis. Now chose Q18 Pancolar 1.8 / 50 MC Carl Zeiss Jena M42 50mm electric. Here is the last word and confuses me. What does it give me if I use it in a completely manual mode. In the description and translation from Google:
Transmitting the electrical aperture value to camera use with this function (eg LLC, VLC) works fine. In all M42s - the connections do not have this property, the lens works in the usual manner.
I would appreciate the answer.
Where can I read about the special series of thorium Pankolar, they say it is fundamentally different?
I will buy this lens MC Pancolar 1.8 / 50 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR for a reasonable price. Contact Email polter@i.ua
We got the long awaited Pancolar ...
From aperture 2.8 to 5.6, the circle of confusion clearly resembles a circular saw blade ...
It seems that this is a completely uncharacteristic drawing for Pancolar ...
:(
Maybe I got a copy. I have a feeling that it was either dropped or taken apart. The diaphragm has a clear backlash, the focusing ring rattles from 0,6 to infinity ...
The diaphragm does not close to the end (the jumper affects, rests against the adapter)
The seller on Molotok.ru, of course, tactfully kept silent about all this.