Review of Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

According provided by Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * lens (Lens made in West Germany, AEG version, Contax / Yashica) many thanks to Andrey Golubenko.

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y). The lens is mounted using an adapter. Contax / Yashica-Canon EOS

In short

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * - a good manual short telephoto lens, primarily intended for portrait and art photography... Optically imperfect, appreciated for good 'portrait' drawing. At one time was replaced by a model Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * for different mounts, while the optical design has not changed.

At one time, the Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * was the icon of the 85-current. In our time, more advanced 'Planars' have appeared:

It is worth noting that at the cost of Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * you can buy autofocus lenses for Nikon / Canon class 85 / 1.4 (a list at the end of the review).

Important: The Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * with Contax / Yashica mount was produced in 'West Germany' and in 'Japan'. This lens, with the usual thin adapter Contax / Yashica-Canon EOS It does not catch a mirror and is easily used with modern SLR cameras.

There are four options for Carl Zeiss lenses with a Contax / Yashica mount, depending on the mount version (AE or MM) and the country of manufacture (Germany and Japan).

  1. AEG - 'AE' + Lens made in Germany
  2. AEJ - 'AE' + Lens made in Japan
  3. MMG - 'MM' + Lens made in Germany
  4. MMJ - 'MM' + Lens made in Japan

The versions of AE and MM are actually very similar and use the same C / Y mount (Contax / Yashica). You can distinguish AE Versions from MM by the following characteristics:

  • MM have a green color for the minimum aperture value on the aperture ring; for AE versions, all digits on the aperture scale are white
  • usually AE versions have notches on the diaphragm openings on covered diaphragms (as on the lens from this review)
  • MM have smaller protrusions on the bayonet side, protrusions on AE lenses are usually longer and larger, which makes it difficult to use them with some SLR cameras because the protrusions catch the mirror of the camera
Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Main technical specifications of Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 ZE T *:

Review Instance Name Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany) 6549519
Basic properties
  • c / y - bayonet Contax / Yashica
  • manual focus only
  • Semi-automatic iris control with compatible cameras
  • T* - special enlightenment of Carl Zeiss T * optics
  • lens suitable for full-length cameras
  • metal case
Front Filter Diameter 67 mm, metal thread for filters
Focal length 85 mm

Zoom ratio 1 x
Designed by for digital cameras with a frame size of 24 x 36
Number of aperture blades 8 petals

  • at f / 2.0 a hole with strong notches
  • at f / 2.8 a hole with strong notches
  • at F / 4 a hole with weak notches
  • on F / 5.6-F / 16 values, a hole in the shape of an irregular octagon

Beautiful 8-star effect on covered diaphragms.

Tags focus distance scale in meters and feet, plotted on the focus ring. The depth of field scale for F / 2 (not explicitly), 2.8 (not explicitly) 4, 5.6 (not explicitly), 8, 11, 16. Label for working in the infrared spectrum.
Diaphragm from f / 1.4 to f / 16. The diaphragm ring rotates with clicks in whole stops without intermediate values
MDF 1 m, maximum magnification ratio 1: 10
The weight November 595, XNUMX
Optical design 6 elements in 5 groups. Usual spherical elements are used.

Optical design Planar 85mm F1.8 CY

'Planar' type scheme

Lens hood metal, screwed into the thread of the front filter, cannot be set to transport mode
Manufacturer country Lens made in west germany
Period Since the 1970s. In December 2008, an option appeared Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 ZE T *
Price Prices for modern Zeiss lenses are available look at this link.

The lens is made very high quality. The whole body is made of metal. The focus ring does not have a rubberized insert made of very tight rubber or something like that, rotates about 220 degrees. The ring travel is smooth and pleasantoily. During focusing, the front retractable body does not rotate. Focusing occurs by moving the entire lens block. Whether there is a focus correction system with floating elements is unknown (most likely not). The focus distance scale is plotted on the focus ring. There is a depth of field scale and a label for working in the infrared spectrum.

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Sample Photos

I did not notice confident sharpness on F / 1.4, but there is a beautiful hips and 'noble drawing', pleasant color rendering, very low distortion. Of the shortcomings, I would note very strong chromatic aberration, in particular, frying and blooming. At f / 1.4 in multiple shots chromatic aberration completely killed image quality (example) On covered diaphragms, you can get blur discs with notches (a.k.a circular saws, Japanese ninja stars, etc., example) Confident sharpness comes on F / 2, in general, the new version Carl Zeiss Planar ZE 1,4 / 85 T * it turned out to be a little sharper optically (most likely, everything very much depends on the specimens, all the same, age can make even Zeiss Planars know about themselves).

On specially designated forums, where connoisseurs who have been filming 'their whole lives', you can hear many tales about the extraordinary volume in photographs taken with the Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T *, especially those with the inscription 'Lens made in West Germany' (ie, the true German Planar). Whether to believe in these fairy tales - each solves itself.

Pictures from Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi (aka Canon EOS DIGITAL 450D, aka Canon EOS Kiss). adapter used for shooting Contax / Yashica-Canon EOS. Photos in the gallery are shown without processing, on camera JPEG. In EXIF of all the pictures, the aperture value F / 1.4 is recorded due to the adapter chip; shooting, in fact, was carried out at different aperture values. Everything was removed from the hands using a hood. You can download the original 'jpeg' photos at this link.

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

My experience

Shoot at f / 1.4 through JVI very very difficult. Acceptable focus accuracy is achieved only in Live View. Perhaps the practical use of this lens on mirrorless cameras with EVI and auxiliary functions for accurate focusing with manual lenses will change the convenience for the better.

Yes, Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * has a nice picture, but the yield of quality material is too low. Nowadays, it is not very practical for the real work of the photographer; personally, I would prefer the most gloomy 85 / 1.8, but with automatic focus.

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * is so bright that on a sunny day I had to use the F / 2.8-F / 4 aperture to fit into the camera's limitations associated with a minimum ISO of 100 and a minimum shutter speed 1/4000 second. Perhaps beggarly 450D simply suffocated from the radiant glory of such a Planar.

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y) and adapter Contax / Yashica-Canon EOS

All autofocus 85s

Choosing a good 85mm portrait lens is very important for a large number of photographers. I pay a lot of attention to this issue, therefore I have prepared this list of all such autofocus lenses for full frame cameras with F <= 2 and a focal length of about 85 mm.

Nikon (F, Z mounts)

  1. Nikon 85mm 1: 1.8 AF Nikkor [December 1987]
  2. Nikon 85mm 1: 1.8D AF Nikkor [March 1994, Thailand/Japan]
  3. Nikon 85mm 1: 1.4D AF Nikkor [November 1995]
  4. Nikon 85mm 1: 1.4GN AF-S Nikkor SWM IF Nano Crystal Coat [August 2010]
  5. Nikon 85mm 1: 1.8G AF-S IF SWM Nikkor [January 2012]
  6. Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm 1: 1.8 S [July 2019]
  7. Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm 1: 1.2 S [January 2023]

Canon (EF, RF mounts)

  1. Canon LENS EF 85mm 1:1.2 L USM [September 1989
  2. Canon LENS EF 85mm 1: 1.8 USM [July 1992]
  3. Canon LENS EF 85mm 1:1.2 L II USM [March 2006]
  4. Canon LENS EF 85mm 1:1.4 L IS USM [November 2017]
  5. Canon lens RF 85mm F1.2L USM [May 2019]
  6. Canon lens RF 85mm F1.2L USM DS (DEFOCUS SMOOTHING) [October 2019]

Yongnuo/YnLens (different mounts)

  1. Yongnuo YN85mm F1.8 (YN85mm F1.8) [9/6, Canon EF, February 2017]
  2. Yongnuo YN85mm F1.8 (YN85mm F1.8N) [9/6, Nikon F, May 2019]
  3. Ynlens YN85mm F1.8S DF DSM (YN85mm F1.8S) [9/8, Sony E, August 2020]
  4. Ynlens YN85mm F1.8R DF DSM (YN85mm F1.8R) [9/8, Canon RF, May 2021]
  5. Ynlens YN85mm 1:1.8Z DF DSM (YN85mm F1.8Z) [9/8, Nikon Z, March 2022]
  6. Yongnuo 85F1.8S DF DSM [9/8, Sony E, August 2022]

Sony / Sony Zeiss ZA / Minolta (E / FE, A mount)

  1. Sony FE 1.4/85 GM (SEL85F18GM) [February 2016]
  2. Sony FE 1.8/85 (SEL85F18) [February 2017]
  3. Sony SAL85F14Z / Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 ZA T* [June 2006]
  4. Minolta AF 85mm 1:1.4 (22) (AF lens 85) / Minolta Maxxum / Dynax / G / G+D / G+RS / G+D+LE and other versions of the same lens, A mount [1987]

Sigma (different mounts)

  1. Sigma EX 85mm 1: 1.4 DG HSM (two sub-versions with different body finishes, for Canon EF, Nikon F, Pentax K, Sony A, February 2010)
  2. Sigma 85mm 1: 1.4 DG | A [Art] (for Canon EF, Nikon F, Sigma SA, Sony E, Leica L, September 2016)
  3. Sigma 85mm 1: 1.4 DG DN | A [Art] (for Sony E, Leica L, August 2020)

Viltrox (different mounts)

  1. Viltrox PFU RBMH 85mm F1.8 STM (Sony E/FE + Fujifilm X, 2018)
  2. Viltrox AF 85/1.8 STM ED IF (Nikon Z, Canon RF, December 2020)
  3. Viltrox AF 85/1.8 II STM ED IF (Sony E/FE + Fujifilm X, July 2020, light version XNUMX)

Pentax (K mount)

  1. SMC Pentax-FA* 1:1.4 85mm IF AUTO FOCUS PENTAX 85 [1992]
  2. HD PENTAX-D FA * 85mm 1: 1.4 ED SDM AW [May 2020]

Samyang / Rokinon (different mounts)

  1. Samyang AF 85 / 1.4 EF (for Canon EF, scheme 9/7, June 2018)
  2. Samyang AF 85/1.4F (for Nikon F, scheme 9/7, April 2019)
  3. Samyang AF 85 / 1.4 FE (for Sony E, scheme 11/8, March 2019)
  4. Samyang AF 85 / 1.4 RF  (for Canon RF, scheme 11/8, May 2020)
  5. Samyang AF 85 / 1.4 FE II (for Sony E, scheme 11/8, July 2022)

Meike (Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony E, Nikon Z, FujiFilm X)

  1. MEIKE 85mm AF 1: 1.8 [review] (Canon EF / Canon EF-S, April 2018)
  2. MEIKE 85mm AF 1: 1.8 [review] (Nikon F, Aug 2020)
  3. MEIKE 85mm 1:1.8 Auto Focus Lens FF STM [review] (for Sony FE/E + Nikon Z, Canon RF, FujiFilm X, June 2022 + March 2023)
  4. MEIKE 85mm 1:1.4 Auto Focus Lens FF STM (for Sony FE/E + Nikon Z, September 2023)

Zeiss (various mounts)

  1. Zeiss Sonnar 1.8 / 85 T * (Batis 1.8 / 85) [April 2015, built-in stabilizer, Sony E/FE mount, 11/8]
  2. Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4/85 ZA T* (Sony SAL85F14Z) ​​[June 2006, Sony A/Minolta A mount, 8/7]
  3. Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * [November 2002, Contax N mount, 10/9]

Tamron (different mounts)

  1. Tamron SP 85mm F/1.8 Di VC USD Model F016 (for Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A [without VC function], March 2016)

Tokina (Sony E / FE mount)

  1. Tokina atx-m 85mm F1.8 FE (for Sony E, most likely a complete analog Viltrox PFU RBMH 85mm F1.8 STM, January 2020)

AstrHori (Sony E/FE mount)

  1. AstrHori AF 85mm 1:1.8 [December 2022]

Panasonic (L mount)

  1. Panasonic LUMIX S 1: 1.8 / 85mm [November 2020]

Separately, you can still highlight non-classic 85s:

  1. macro lens Canon Lens RF 85mm F2 MACRO IS STM [2020, RF]
  2. longer LEICA APO-SUMMICRON-SL 1: 2/90 ASPH. (2018, Leica l)
  3. less aperture Sony 85 / 2.8 SAM (SAL85f28) [2010, A]
  4. shorter SMC PENTAX FA 1:1.8 77mm Limited (1997, K)
  5. shorter HD Pentax-FA 1: 1.8 77mm Limited (2021, K)
  6. shorter Samyang AF 75 / 1.8 FE (2020, E) + Samyang AF 75/1.8X (2023, X)
  7. cropped Samsung Lens 1:1.4 85mm ED SSA i-Function [2011, NX]
  8. cropped and longer FUJIFILM FUJINON LENS SUPER EBC XF 90mm 1: 2 R LM WR [2015, X]
  9. cropped and shorter Viltrox AF 75/1.2 XF STM ED IF [2022, X, E, Z]
  10. cropped, less aperture, macro lens Nikon DX AF-S Micro Nikkor 85mm 1: 3.5G ED VR SWM IF Micro 1: 1 [2009, F]
  11. many 90/2.8 class macro lenses

Comments on this post do not require registration. Anyone can leave a comment. Many different photographic equipment can be found on AliExpress.

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y). The lens is mounted using an adapter. Contax / Yashica-Canon EOS

Results

Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * is a good creative lens, one of the best manual portrait lenses of this kind (85-current with F / 1.4 is not so much).

UPDATE: interesting appeared Samyang 85mm f / 1.2 Premium MF.

Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram

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Comments: 31, on the topic: Overview of Carl Zeiss Planar 1,4 / 85 T * (Lens made in West Germany, C / Y)

  • Jury

    Wow, still the same girl ... buzz))) I can't take my eyes off, however

  • Vova

    It’s better to take Samyang 85 / 1.4 in Belarus b / ear can be taken for 5 million old.
    Even for 4.5

  • Victor

    Arkady, how will he be compared to samyang. It seems that they are not far from the quality of the images received from them.

  • Alexey

    Photos from it are good, I liked the lens, that's just the price ... Thank you for another review.

  • Alexander

    Good contrast and drawing, good at photographing the landscape on postcards. But in most portraits, nuts in bokeh seem to me. In general, as the Americans say, love it and hate it

  • Ilyas

    At cmz zenitar 1.4 / 85 DIVINE POWER aperture. "Cool" glass)

    • Rodion

      .da write about him at least something)

  • Vladimir Pochtarev

    IMHO, of course, but all the new and old but perhaps, Carl Zeiss lenses too overgrown with legends composed by fans of the brand. These legends and led to the firm Zeiss very "zabrendela" and her, for the last 10 - 15 years have surpassed such well-known manufacturers like Nikon and Canon, the quality optics and functionality, and if you take into account the quality / price ratio, and the optics of other brands does not look bad.

    • Michael

      Well, they didn’t go around, of course, but there are enough fairy tales about Zeiss.

      • Reader

        "Well, not bypassed" how many photos I reviewed but did not see the zeiss that would give a picture like a minolta. On minoltovskoy picture visible even the air we breathe is not present at Zeiss. At Zeiss image like sigma - a la vector graphics.

    • Aries

      I join what has been said !!

  • Artem

    Where is your Sony A7? on crope it seems to me that the most complete test did not work out !?

  • Lyulya

    If you show her with such a forehead as in the last photo, wait for the deplorable consequences!

    • Arkady Shapoval

      It’s good that they don’t read photo blogs.

  • Kamil

    How is it tolerantly told that this thousand-lens is overrated by a minimum of two times))

  • Oleg

    Personally, I like the picture from this lens, Arkady, in your photos, they are quite sharp and very flexible, I like it. - as for me this is a portrait drawing

  • NE

    And which of the 85 most sullen 1.8? :) Year 4 already I have 85 1.8G - nothing, like normal. Also gives "extraordinary volume" if you control the light correctly

    • Arkady Shapoval

      1.8AF / 1.8D / 1.8USM

  • Alexander

    Yeah ... German quality ... Change 8M shot better .... It looks like now any smartphone gives better quality ... sharpness is only in the first photo, the rest is soap ...

    • R'RёS,R ° F "RёR№

      Show your smartphone and Change with such aperture and focal length? For a smartphone, EGF is also possible. I'm waiting.

    • anonym

      I have looked all photos. I don't see "soap"

    • dragon yes not snape

      Uncle. But you do not need to whistle about a shift and smartphones. Also found something to compare. It's like comparing a Mercedes with a Cossack.

  • Simon

    Judging by the tests, I see that this glass draws architecture better than a portrait ... I already looked at the detailing that would be the same only with a smaller focus ...

    • Matthew

      I agree. I also came to this conclusion

  • anonym

    Thanks for the review.

  • anonym

    the picture strongly resembled Jupiter-37a. one optical circuit, or what? only jupiter has better bokeh, there are no such dumb circular saws.

    • Michael

      No, different schemes

  • Svetlana

    Please tell me, three years ago used a lens zeiss 28-70mm T * planar film-yashica. Then he spent a long time - now doing frame and touches the mirror. You have to twist it a little to bring it back. This was not the case before…. How can this be solved?

  • Andrei

    I noticed such a feature in Arkady.
    Top glasses are tested on amateur carcasses.
    And the top carcasses with amateur lenses.
    It is interesting for what it is, or as "self" out?

  • Novel

    Does aeg have a mirror on Nikons?

    • Arkady Shapoval

      does not catch

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