Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 is a legendary lens. It is very much appreciated by professional photographers.
TTX Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8:
System: medium format, Pentacon Six (Bayonet type "B")
Optical design: 5 elements in 3 groups
Focal length: 180 mm
Aperture Limits: F2.8-F22
Number of aperture blades: 8
Minimum Focus Distance: 2.2
The weight: approximately 1.4 kg
Filter Diameter: 86 mm
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f / 2.8 P6
A bit of history. It all started with the creation of the legendary Sonnar scheme in 30 codes of the last century. Back in 1936, a 180mm fast lens was created for the Berlin Olympics. Title "Sonnar" comes from the German word "Sonne", meaning the Sun, in fact in those years aperture of 2.8 for such focal lengths was rare.
Sample photo on Sonnar 180 2.8
It is believed that the first lenses were the very best in quality. Further, the optical scheme was repeatedly copied, for example, to create a Soviet lens Jupiter 6. There are different versions of Sonnar 180 2.8 - these are old "zebras”, Newer - black without MS enlightenment, and black with MS enlightenment. Also, the circuit has visited many systems and mounts. Please note that there are lenses Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180 / 2.8 C / Y (Contax Yashica mount), which actually have not Sonnar optical scheme, but its modification Ernstar... You can watch the review with the Zebra frame option - Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 180 2.8
Photo by Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
Actually, The instance presented in this review is the CZJ Sonnar 2.8 / 180 for Pentacon six.
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f2.8 size comparison
Features of the CZJ Sonnar 2.8 / 180 lens for Pentacon six:
1. 180mm focal length for medium format allows you to take great photos. Due to the fact that the angle of view for medium format is different for the same focal length as for 35mm film, sonnar is used on medium format as an excellent portrait. When used on 35mm film or on full-frame CZKs, the lens will have the same 180mm focal length with the appropriate viewing angle. On cropped cameras, the viewing angle will be narrower, and EGF will 270mm for Nikon DX cameras and 288mm for Canon cameras with a crop of 1.6x.
Super bokeh on Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
2. Very large aperture F2.8 for such a focal length. The lens is very easy achieve blurring the foreground and foreground. This allows you to use the lens as a great portrait lens.
Fabulous picture on Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
3. The weightwhich is quite large and makes you tinker with the lens. Holding a camera with such a lens and focusing at the same time is quite difficult. It is not very pleasant to focus, as the lens is “plump”. The best option is to use CZJ Sonnar 2.8 / 180 on a tripod.
Photo by Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
4. Excellent lens hood, which really helps to keep side and back light. The hood is removable and very large. Also worth mentioning lens mount for tripod or monopod. The mount can rotate and lock in place. The diameter of the mounting hole is non-standard for modern cameras. So, I failed to install on a regular monopod from a modern camera. I encountered the same problem when using the Tair-3 lens. But the legendary Helios-40-2 has a conventional tripod thread on the clamp.
Photograph by Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six. Very shallow depth of field
5. The diaphragm setting ring nicely switches the diaphragm while gently snapping.
Photo by Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
6. On trifles: Sonnar is all metal, with all the necessary indicators of distances, depth of field, aperture, which is very important for a manual lens.
Photo by Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
7. The lens gives a wonderful picture quality, about which below.
Photo by Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
About the picture
It is difficult to judge the quality, since I used a lens on a cropped matrix, and this is not even a full frame. The resulting picture will lose from the picture in the medium format at times. But still, what happened to the cropped matrix makes us praise the lens. It's sharp enough for portraits at F2.8 full aperture. The contrast is excellent. The back grip is rather weak, but still better than many other lenses. The color rendering is slightly yellow. The picture is very flexible, smooth, smooth with beautiful bokeh. The blur of the background is "Sonnar's", which is distinguished from other schemes by its softness. Thanks to the large focal length and high aperture, it makes incredible artistic photographs. HA on the open one they are almost invisible, sometimes it nevertheless breaks through small details to violet halos. Probably for a portrait one of the best lenses and so far one of the best that I happened to shoot.
Photo on the lens Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
How to use Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 from a medium format with modern digital SLR cameras?
Using the lens is not at all difficult. The lens is mounted on Nikon D90 using adapter Pentacon 6 / Nikon (KP-6). Focusing on infinity is maintained. For information on how to better configure the camera, read the section Soviet optics... On my Nikon D90, the lens with its large mass feels great. The high mass helps to avoid wiggle when shooting handheld. It's not worth worrying about ripping out the mount, the camera holds it perfectly. But still, you need to be quite careful with such an installation. On the camera, the lens looks worse than Tair-3. How to use CZJ Sonnar 2.8 / 180 on Canon you can read in the section old lenses at canon.
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f2.8 on the D40
For publicity: If you are interested in Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar F2.8 180mm and have a desire to buy it - contact the contacts in the manual optics section.
Photo by Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six
Catalog of modern Carl Zeiss lenses can look at this link.
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Personal impressions:
It is difficult to work with the lens due to its large mass and huge dimensions. You can also see examples of photos taken on the cropped matrix of my D90. Of course, these are far from those photos that can be obtained in a medium format.
Conclusion:
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8 Pentacon Six is a truly legendary lens with a flawless picture. It can serve as an excellent portrait lens on full-frame CZK. On cropped cameras, I do not recommend using it.
Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram
Review from Radozhiva - it's always very interesting and entertaining!) Thank you, Arkady, as always, found something useful and new for himself!
Beautifully draws. Even the crop is nice. Thanks for the review. It would be nice to have more of these.
How many people can be confused? Enlightened optics after the war already simply did not exist. It is clear that we are talking about MS enlightenment. So speak more correctly, and then the forums are full of unenlightened Jupiters-9, the backwardness of Soviet optics, terrible distortions of the picture, etc. d.
Be brave nowadays, do not be alarmed. It's about MS enlightenment. On forums, angry dogs are needed to drive away good people.
Don't you think that “without enlightenment” and “without MC of enlightenment” are a little different things? You just need to understand that a person will read an article, take this statement into service, and then teach everyone the wisdom.
A smart person should look at the result, not the parameters. My Jupiter-37A without MC and what comes out of it - that I should get terrible photos on it. Of course, thanks for the defect, as you can see, the article already contains corrections.
Good day to all, this is what kind of focal on crop it turns out, I can’t figure something out?
180mm on medium format will look like 90mm on 35mm film. On a 35mm film, this lens will give an angle the same as a regular 180mm lens. On the cropped figure will give 270mm. Earlier in this comment, he did not answer exactly.
I work with the following method: a staff for 120 pivots - 80 mm or 90 mm (chain 50 mm for 135 pivots). Vizmemo middle - 85 mm. Tobto 180 mm by 120 bude yak 180/85 * 50 = 105 mm by 135. On crop 1,5 - 160 mm. Here it is.
The method of "middle", here it is, so it is.
And from the GRZP - fig prikinesh. According to the reports on the Northern Fleet at a diaphragm of 4,0 glibin of the rises in mensha, not at 2,8 gbps at the university.
180mm focal length multiplied by 1.5 is equal to 270mm and not any recalculations by 35mm, otherwise 135 = 180 turns out to be fantastic!
Is your site Ukrainian or Russian? How can I purchase a Sonnar 2,8 / 180 lens, can I order by cash on delivery? Thanks
My site is located in the Ukrainian domain zone, it does not sell equipment, you can find the contacts of a person who can help in acquiring old optics in the manual optics section. To him all the questions about purchasing.
Thanks for the very helpful article.
I got a Sonnar 2,8 / 180 in excellent condition.
And my carcass is Nikon D3100.
Now it remains to buy an adapter.
ARKADY AND WHAT ADAPTERS FOR MODERN CARL I WANT TO BUY WITH A D7000 TELL THIS LINK TO IT http://www.cyfrovychok.ua/Carl-Zeiss-Lens-shade-C-Sonnar-1,550-ZM.html
Now there is with a native mount for Nikon and with a chip.
OR ALL THE SAME TO TAKE A HALF? NIKONSKY
Take what you see fit.
TELL PLEASE HOW A CHIP ADAPTER IS NAMED
For CZJ with which mount? I repeat, they are now stamped under different systems. An adapter with a chip for a Nikon system usually has an AE prefix.
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE CEYZE OPTICS FOR THERE ABOUT THE MOUNTING SPACES NOT SAYED WHAT AND THE BUT
Similarly, I do not understand the essence of your question :)
lol
THE WHOLE COMMENT IN CAPITAL LETTERS PRINT IS THE TOP OF INDEPENDENCE! AND AT FORUMS - AS TWO TOP OF INDEPENDENCE.
This is a legendary and beautiful lens, but it also had its own troubles: alas, weak mechanics. So, from time to time it was necessary to change the springs in the diaphragm drive system. However, in the era of mechanical cameras, the problem of "quality hardware" was extremely acute. For example, I once used the extremely interesting Soviet Almaz camera.
Wikipedia reports, they say, “Soviet single-lens reflex cameras intended for professional photojournalists. Cameras of the Almaz family were developed on the instructions of the Union of Journalists of the USSR. " Here in this line, the mechanical design was lame - all the time the springs were stretching, then breaking)) By the way, there was a lamellar shutter, the design also provided for replaceable nozzles such as a pentaprism or a shaft. Before Ekzakta, of course, the convenience did not reach.
Therefore, when buying, it is important to check the operation of the diaphragm assembly at the lens.
I'll put in 5 kopecks. In modern Canon DSLRs, the 2-mirror system is held by a VERY flimsy plastic mount, which can be compared to the mechanism of a disposable lighter (breaks faster than the gas runs out). The spare part is cheap, but it is unrealistic to buy it at an adequate price. They are sold from a showdown together with a shutter (the shutter travels 10 times more, therefore it serves as a "makeweight") for $ 100 at a camera price (on the secondary market) of $ 200-250. The mechanisms of KIT lenses and inexpensive fifty kopecks from Canon fly just as often (it seems that these are demo versions). The trick is that they usually do not have manual control of the diaphragm, the lens is broken - buy a new one. Gentlemen live in such a time ...
Good day. My question is not a bit on this lens (because I haven’t found it in your reviews), but it’s close.
Recently, I finally tested the CZJ Sonnar 2.8 / 200 in the open.
Previously, I used it at relatively short distances (in an urban environment), and it is beautiful there - very sharp and bright already at a slightly closed aperture, beautiful blur.
Unless it’s uncomfortable to hold (there’s nowhere to grab it), then I want to stick a tripod ring with a handle to it.
But when I got out into the open area, where it was necessary to go to infinity, I literally lack 3-5 degrees in order to focus completely. If the objects are, on average, distant from a distance of 300 meters, they can’t go at them sharply.
I use a pixco adapter (programmable, with a chip) M42-EOS with it, and the carcass is a Canon 550D.
This is hardly a jamb of a carcass, because, for example, sigma 70-200 OS works great with it.
What to do and what is it connected with?
Good day, help! On my sonar ms 180 I can not unscrew the M42 shank to get to the bayonet b ... .. The ring was twisted by 2 men, and the screws on the shank were unscrewing everything without a punch ....
There is a slight backlash, but it is worth a stake, not unscrew it with a gas key ... I bought a pancake via the Internet ... ..
I apologize to the "useless" "key"
I’ve repaired everything. Ok, thanks to everyone.
Arkady, what kind of alternative would you recommend for this lens for a cropped Nikon camera?
Any 135tk 2.8, for example, the same Sonnar CZJ 135 2.8 / 3.5
to use this glass at 35 mm, and even more so on a crop - IMHO some kind of perversion. Himself at one time toiled with such foolishness and was surprised: “Well, what's the trick?” Until he put his Sonnar MS on the SF, for which he was created. And I immediately understood why this lens is invariably mentioned among the best portrait painters of all times and peoples.
Actually, this lens was originally designed for a 35mm rangefinder, so you’re talking nonsense, before the MS version they were produced for different mounts, both medium-format and various 35mm camera systems, in some cases just a replaceable shank.
That's right. On SF, the image quality especially at 2.8 is superb.
there is such a lens Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180 2.8 I will give for 25 tr post office boss.wret@mail.ru Voronezh write or call 9003023540
please tell me. which of the 180 is better in the picture? thank you very much
And the picture, and the execution of the best Olympia Sonnar 180 / 2.8
There is such a lens I have been selling for six months already (new) http://ust-kamenogorsk.vko.olx.kz/obyavlenie/prodam-fotooptiku-1090-gv-carl-zeiss-jena-sonnar-180-2-8-ID4Uc13.html
With such a price, you will sell until the end of the world. 1100 bucks for a lens, which in Ukraine and in Europe costs an average of 350 bucks. When you put a price, you need to think with your head, not a seat.
I’ll take for 15, with your payment to Gomel. Or change to Change-2M.
Tell me, how many options are there "not zebra"? Bo recently became the owner of the “black” MC version for the B mount, which nevertheless has a 7-blade diaphragm and an MDF 1,7m. There are also no “metallic” elements in the exterior: the entire lens is painted black.