The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
On November 9, 1989 a commander of the GDR border crossing was misinformed by a public announcement of East Germany’s government official Günter Schabowski. As a consequence, the commander allowed the guards to open the checkpoints and let people through with little or no identity checking. Soon afterwards, a crowd of West Berliners jumped on top of the Wall and were soon joined by East German youngsters.
The evening of 9 November 1989 is known as the night the Berlin Wall came down, and marked the fall of the Iron Curtain and the start of the fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe. The fall of the inner German border took place shortly afterwards.
Примеры, снятые объективом Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 2.8/180
Все примеры сняты фотоаппаратом Nikon D3100. Экспорт из RAW, без постобработки.
Резкость Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 2.8/180
На открытой диафрагме объектив имеет хорошую для такой светосилы и фокусного расстояния резкость. Мне показалось, что на ближних дистанциях резкость лучше.
f/ 2,8
Для съемки портретов, резкости достаточно. Может казаться, что резкость слабовата, связано это скорее всего с очень узкой ГРИП на таком фокусном расстоянии, и как следствие с промахами фокусировки.
f/ 2,8
При определенных сценах, на открытой можно наблюдать хроматические аберрации.
f/ 2,8
Я проводил небольшой тест этим объективом, и как видно из примеров, резкость хорошая.
Само собой, при закрывании диафрагмы, резкость возрастает, и ГРИП также.
Рисунок и боке Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 2.8/180
Рисунок это пожалуй самая сильная сторона этого объектива. Фотографии получаются объемными, воздушными.
f/ 2,8
Объектив в первую очередь предназначен для съемки портретов. и с этой задачей он справляется на все 100%.
f/ 2,8
Если снимать лицевые и погрудные портреты, получается самое лучшее размытие фона и при определенных сценах можно получить чудесное боке.
f/ 2,8
f/ 2,8 МДФ
f/ 2,8
f/ 2,8
Впрочем, и для ростовых портретов объектив прекрасно отделяет фон от объекта.
f/ 2,8
f/ 2,8
Контраст и цветопередача Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 2.8/180
Объектив имеет хороший контраст. Я даже не использовал его огромную бленду.
f/ 2,8
Цвета сочные, насыщенные, и в то же время естественные.
f/ 2,8
f/ 2,8
f/ 2,8
При сильном контровом свете контраст падает. В целом объектив устойчив к засветкам.
ВыводыCarl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 2.8/180 — замечательный портретный объектив. Оптическое качество на высоте. Смущает, пожалуй, только его габариты и вес.
f/ 2,8
Zeiss separated into West-Germany and East-Germany during Cold War and reunited in the 1990s after more than 40 years
There was D-Day, then Paris, the Rhine crossing, Weimar, and on 13 April 1945, American troops reached the German university city of Jena, where the precision optical industry was and still is the leading branch. The Americans had penetrated Germany faster than the Russian troops because the German Wehrmacht had made the eastern front their priority — they needed to stop the Russians from capturing the German capital Berlin.
The US troops stayed only a little over two months in Jena. According to the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Jena was to be handed over to the Russians by the end of June.
Jena in 1945: Heavy American bombing raids destroyed many of the Zeiss headquarters and production buildings. (W. E. Williams; National Archives, College Park, USA.) Click on photo to enlarge.
In Jena was the headquarter and main production site of Zeiss, a manufacturer of optical systems. The airplanes, submarines, tanks and guns of the German Wehrmacht were equipped with Zeiss devices. Because of the significance of the military optics produced in Jena, the Americans ‘relocated’ 77 Zeiss engineers and managers into the US occupation zone, which later became part of West Germany.
The decision was also made to relocate certain specific optical equipment and construction plans, which a convoy of trucks transported to Heidenheim, close to Stuttgart. The many big production machines, however, were left in Jena — time was too short for the Americans to organize their removal and they didn’t want to risk serious complications with the Russians.
For more information about the American troops liberating Jena (German language only) and the History of Zeiss, look here:
After the defeat of Japan, the interest of the USA in military optics subsided; it took until 1946 to start up Carl Zeiss West Germany as a repair shop and production facility in an industrial area in the south of Oberkochen, a small city north of Heidenheim.
For more information about the life in Soviet-dominated East Germany look here:
Prague Spring in 1968
The tested Olympia Sonnar Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f2.8 was made in East Germany in 1968. That same year, on the night of August 21-22, 200,000 troops and 2,000 tanks from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary invaded Czechoslovakia and the capital Prague. The Soviet command refrained from drawing upon East German troops for fear of reviving memories of the Nazi invasion in 1939.
In 1968, when the tested Olympia Sonnar Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f2.8 classic lens was made in East Germany, the Soviet Union invaded Prague to end all democratic movements and the Prague Spring. It’s only a 270-km drive from Jena to Prague. Click on photo to enlarge.
The Olympia Sonnar
The first Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f2.8 lens was released especially for the Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin, and was called the Olympia Sonnar. At that time, fast films and fast tele lenses were not available in sufficient quality. To enable sharp photographs of moving athletes at the Olympic Games in 1936, a fast Sonnar type tele lens was produced by Carl Zeiss Jena using a fluorite glass element to increase light transmission and to reduce chromatic aberration.
The name Sonnar comes from the German word ‘Sonne‘, which means ‘sun’.
When gifted German optics engineer Ludwig Bertele constructed the Olympia Sonnar, he made history. Probably developed as a cinema lens for Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda movies, the 1.3 kg lens is the prototype of all modern high-speed sport lenses. With the relatively long focal length and high light transmission, it was the first time that freezing fast movements and spectacular jumps into a photograph became possible. In 1946, Ludwig Bertele moved to Switzerland, where he founded an optical bureau and started to work at Wild Heerbrugg Company (now Leica Geosystems).
In 1961, Carl Zeiss Jena adapted the full frame Olympia Sonnar for the 6×6 medium format and the Pentacon Six camera system. In this article, the descendant lens of the Olympia Sonnar is tested and compared with the classic Canon FD 200mm f2.8 lens and the modern Sony FE 24-240mm zoom lens.
Sonnar types of tele lenses are out of fashion today because a comparable image quality and lens speed can be achieved using cheaper lens constructions with new glass types and without expensive fluorite glass elements. However, the bokeh quality of modern tele lenses is, as a rule, much lower.
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f2.8 medium format lens from 1968 (Zebra version)
Основные характеристики Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 2.8/180
Фокусное расстояние: 180 мм
Диапазон диафрагмирования: f/ 2,8 — f/ 32
Длинна: 120 мм
Вес: 1350 г
Диаметр светофильтра: 86 мм
Количество лепестков диафрагмы: 6
МДФ: 1.7 м
Конструктив и эргономика Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 2.8/180
Объектив имеет огромные размеры и на камере смотрится необычно и привлекает к себе внимание. Из-за большого диаметра передней линзы, кажется коротким, хотя на самом деле, вместе с переходником имеет нормальную для телевика длинну
Из-за большого диаметра передней линзы, кажется коротким, хотя на самом деле, вместе с переходником имеет нормальную для телевика длинну.
Впереди размещено цельнометаллическое кольцо фокусировки, оно имеет ширину около 3 см. При МДФ, передняя часть объектива удлиняется на 2 см. Передняя линза не вращается.
Далее размещено кольцо изменения диафрагмы. Оно металлическое. Также есть переключатель A/M, для переключения режимов управления диафрагмой.
На оправе еще имеется кольцо с гнездом для крепления к штативу.
Объектив имеет 6 лепестков диафрагмы, которые блестят на солнце.
Также в комплект объектива входит огромная бленда с крышкой.
Abstract
In this article about two classic lenses I will address the following:
- After World War II, Zeiss was separated into two co-existing corporate entities for over 40 years: Zeiss in US-dominated West Germany and Zeiss in Soviet-dominated East Germany.
- In my opinion, two inexpensive classic telephoto lenses, the Olympia Sonnar 180mm f2.8, one Made in West Germany and the other Made in East Germany, easily outperform the modern classic zoom lens at 180mm with regards to image quality and bokeh when adapted to a full frame camera Sony a7ii.
- Huge lens hoods, examples of a Ninja star bokeh, high micro-contrast and 3D-pop.
London agreement about the Zeiss brand in 1971
Carls Zeiss Jena lens Made in East Germany (left) and Carl Zeiss T* lens Made in West Germany (right). Click on photo to enlarge.
In the 1950s and 60s, Carl Zeiss in West Germany and Carl Zeiss in East Germany fought heavily in the courts for ownership of the Zeiss brand. Zeiss West Germany alone spent approx. 5 million Euro in litigation. In 1971 London, the parties settled: Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen would label their lenses “Carl Zeiss” with the origin “West Germany“, and Zeiss in East Germany would label theirs “Carl Zeiss Jena“. For the majority of countries, including the Commonwealth and Japan but excluding France, the same rule applied. (This is a very simplified version of the agreement. Write a comment below if you want to know more details.)
While the lens from Zeiss in West Germany was marked “Lens made in West Germany“, the tested lens from Zeiss East Germany showed their “Carl Zeiss Jena” origin only on the front of the lens.
For future breach of agreement disputes, which repeatedly arose on the global market, the London agreement stipulated that the two sides should first discuss the cases with each other. This meant that face-to-face talks were held twice a year, alternately in Oberkochen, West Germany, and in Jena, East Germany.
This regular personal-style dialogue, which was said to have taken place during the daytime about the mutual violations of the London agreement and in the evening in a congenial atmosphere over dinners, was a first step towards the reunification of Zeiss.
Test procedure to compare the sharpness of the lenses
The following lenses were used to compare center and corner sharpness with the Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f2.8 at f8:
The was selected to compete with the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar because it is widely known as a decent sharp 200mm vintage lens for an acceptable price.
The modern Sony FE 24-240mm zoom e-mount lens was used at 180mm and f8 to have some kind of reference quality compared to the vintage lenses. See Ken Rockwell’s verdict about this modern zoom Sony FE 24-240mm lens here.
The three lenses compare center and corner sharpness
Camera used for testing the lenses: Sony alpha 7ii full frame mirrorless camera at ISO 100, several test photos were shot for each lens and aperture value to check a potential variation of test results. Focus peeking and max. focus magnification were used to carefully set the correct focus for the lenses.
Rundown
The final verdict is simple.
Olympia Sonnar Carl Zeiss T* 180mm f2.8 Made in West Germany
Olympia Sonnar Carl Zeiss T* 180mm f2.8 full frame lens made 1987 in West Germany: Contax/Yashica mount, 6 lens elements in 5 groups, 8 aperture blades, 148mm length without lens hood, 830g weight, 72mm filter, small 1.4m min. distance because of floating element (approx. values of reviewed lens without adapter to e-mount)
If you don’t mind spending EUR 400 or more, get a Carl Zeiss T* 180mm f2.8 Olympia Sonnar made in West Germany, which is much more compact and has a higher optical image quality as the test results shown above demonstrate nicely. The effective T* multi-coating is an additional plus of the Olympia Sonnar Made in West Germany and reduces flares and ghosting very well. You get a lot of micro contrast with this lens, and the lens performs quite well with Carl Zeiss Mutar II 2x tele converter and makes a 360mm lens out of it.
Pros
- excellent image quality in center and corner at aperture f2.8
- beautiful bokeh
- T* multi-coating
- high micro contrast and 3D-pop
- compact and light
- perfect for low light events and portrait shooting
- high quality 2x tele converter makes a 360mm lens out of it: Carl Zeiss Mutar II
Cons
Ninja star bokeh at aperture f4
It’s better to buy the “MM” Multi-Mode version, which is typically technically improved compared to the older “AE” lenses. The West Germany Olympia Sonnar tested here is the MMG type of lens with a floating element (“G” stands for Germany). For a lower price you can get a “MMJ” lens, which was made in Japan (probably by Cosina) and delivers the same image quality.
Olympia Sonnar Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f2.8 Made in East Germany
Olympia Sonnar Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f2.8 medium frame lens made 1968 in East Germany: Praktisix P6 mount, 5 lens elements in 3 groups, 7 aperture blades, 1530g weight incl. lens hood, 120mm length, 86mm filter, 1.7m min. distance (approx. values of reviewed lens without adapter to e-mount)
If you want to spend only around EUR 150 and don’t mind its size and weight, go for the Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f2.8 Olympia Sonnar made in East Germany and adapt it to large format cameras up to 24 megapixel sensors. To adapt it to the Sony a6000 series with a APS-C sensor or to a Sony 7R type of full frame camera with 40 megapixels or more is not a good idea — the sweet spot of this lens does not deliver enough resolution.
Pros
- good image quality in center and corner at aperture f2.8
- very beautiful bokeh in front and in the back of focused objects
- perfect for low light events and portrait shooting
- inexpensive, approx. EUR 150
Cons
- prone to flares, thus never shoot without the huge lens hood
- very heavy and large with the mandatory huge lens hood
- low contrast
And the lessons are:
Spend more money on your lenses than on your camera body.
The Zeiss Olympia Sonnar classic lenses deliver an outstanding image quality and bokeh for a small amount of money!
Photos taken with Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 (C/Y)
|
RCE
RCE
|
Next Page »
The sample photos are selected automatically between all photos posted by JuzaPhoto members, using the camera and the lens selected in the techs. If you find evident errors (e.g. photos taken with cameras and lenses that are not available yet), you can contribute to improve the page by sending a private message to the user that has entered incorrect values in the photo caption.
Reviews » Lenses » Lenses Zeiss » Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 (C/Y)