Anyone here use and or like the CY Zeiss Primes?

[puredrifting]

Hey all:

My Christmas present from Santa this year was a Top Mint set of CY Zeiss Primes, the 25mm f/2.8 Distagon, 50 and 85mm f/1.4 Planars, all MMJ.
It's hard to believe these were actually owned and used by someone, they look as if they just came out of the factory box. Japanese camera owners
are a great source of 40 year old brand new lenses! I also got the Leitax EF mounts, I am dropping them off at Duclos Monday for declicking, inspection, mount installation.
I bought these just for fun, art projects, small documentaries/short films, music performance videos, I doubt if I will use them on many client projects but you never know.

Anyone else here have a set, shoot with them, like them, have any work they are proud of they can show that they used them on?
I've wanted a set of Zeiss lenses my entire life, but could never afford them. The CY Zeiss are a very unique opportunity to own something
so nice for so little money. Some of the new DZO and Meike primes were tempting but the Zeiss have something that the new Chinese lenses
don't, a slightly more vintage and authentic look but not too vintage like my Nikon AIs that are great but are basically useless for exteriors
because of the extreme CA and flaring.

I kind of wanted a set of the Leica Rs but they are not too affordable anymore, they are more rare than the CY Zeiss and cost accordingly.
I've looked at the side by side shootouts between the two and I slightly favor the Leicas but the Zeiss look amazing for the money too.

I'll post pictures and some test footage or a project with them when I can get them back and get some free time to play.

[mcgeedigital]

I had a set of MMJs and sold them. Great glass.

[Imamacuser]

I think some people on here have Zeiss Contax lenses, which seem well liked.

I've shot some with my Dad's old Hasselblad Zeiss lenses, but the focus rings are very stiff, so they're better for shots that don't require a focus pull. I just used a dumb Hasselblad to Nikon F adapter, but I might get better results with a Kipon Baveyes 0.7x focal reducer.

I didn't notice enough of an IQ advantage at 1080P on APS-C to warrant the extra size & weight, but they were fun to play with. Perhaps I'd think differently if I evaluated them with over sampled 4K.

[puredrifting]

I had a set of MMJs and sold them. Great glass.

Why did you get rid of them Matt? Just curious. I may use these on the X-T3 and occasionally on the Canon C200/300MKII also.

[morgan_moore]

I've shot some with my Dad's old Hasselblad Zeiss lenses, but the focus rings are very stiff, so they're better for shots that don't require a focus pull. I just used a dumb Hasselblad to Nikon F adapter, but I might get better results with a Kipon Baveyes 0.7x focal reducer.

I didn't notice enough of an IQ advantage at 1080P on APS-C to warrant the extra size & weight,

Hasselblad lenses don have an IQ advantage, they are for a 6.6 image circle so need about 1/4 of the LPI of a FF35 lens to match its resolution. Put that lower LPI onto the S35 chip and you have a route to rubbish. Employ a focal reducer and you are getting back into the park.

-----

CY lenses. Dunno why people think of this glass as old or retro or anything.. it is just good Although it should be used with a 'booster' / 'reducer' to get optimal ines per inch on S35

[puredrifting]

I think some people on here have Zeiss Contax lenses, which seem well liked.

I've shot some with my Dad's old Hasselblad Zeiss lenses, but the focus rings are very stiff, so they're better for shots that don't require a focus pull. I just used a dumb Hasselblad to Nikon F adapter, but I might get better results with a Kipon Baveyes 0.7x focal reducer.

I didn't notice enough of an IQ advantage at 1080P on APS-C to warrant the extra size & weight, but they were fun to play with. Perhaps I'd think differently if I evaluated them with over sampled 4K.

I actually like the look I am getting with my cheap Canon still primes but for manual focusing, they are laughably bad. The Zeiss 50 and 85mm, I believe have a 220 degree focus rotation and they are mechanically works of art, so the focus rings feel silky smooth. After Duclos de-clicks them, they should be really nice to use for handheld shooting, which is my hope, that they will inspire me to just grab the camera and go shoot more without it having to be a big tripod, lighting gear, cases, production. Just grab the X-T3 handheld rig and go.

[mcgeedigital]

why did you get rid of them matt? Just curious. I may use these on the x-t3 and occasionally on the canon c200/300mkii also.

gas. ;)

[thekreative]

love mine!

[puredrifting]

gas. ;)

Ha, ha. You're funny.

[homestar_kevin]

I've ended up amassing a Rollei QBM Zeiss set and more recently a Nikon Zeiss ZF Set which has been awesome to put together and cheaper than expected.

Congrats on the CY set, That's a pretty sweet christmas gift!

That is the classic Zeiss set.