Which prime lens focal lengths to get?

Martti Ekstrand said:
FWIW both Red Rock Micro and Letus sell the Zeiss ZF lenses in packages, Red Rock with a follow focus and gears in a Pelican case.

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.472981/it.A/id.326/.f

http://www.letusdirect.com/cart/zeiss-pro-bundle.html
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Thanks I wasn't aware of that. I don't think the Red Rock package would work since it only has 3 of the 4 lenses I plan on getting. It would make the case useless or I'd have to get a new foam insert for it. I'm also not planning on a follow focus at first.

The Letus kit looks good, though. I'll have to keep that in consideration if I can't get good deals on used ones.

Kholi said:
Being able to own them would be a good way to judge how much I like them in comparison to Contax.

Hmmm.
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We can do a shootout when we get our GH1's.
 
Contax Yashica Zeiss will take EOS adapters from Ebay. Then you can use an EOS mount if you already have one. Or, you can just get a C/Y Adapter to Micro 4/3 to 4/3. That'll work.

Contax N I think you'd have to get an actual Contax N adapter but not sure who makes them.
 
I haven't seen them mentioned at all...but in the sills world I shoot Pentax. There are some great Pentax lenses out there. Their "Limited" line of primes, in particular, are very solidly built, and often compared to Leica. They're not Leica clones, and obviously they have different characteristics than Leica lenses, but still the same, they're fantastic.

"Back in the Day" Pentax was the most popular SLR manufacturer, and other companies (Like Sears) were manufacturing cameras using the Pentax PK mount. Now days Pentax owns very very very little market share. This means there's lots and lots of old lenses around. I have a 50mm/1.7 with Pentax's awesome Super Multi Coating. The lens was about $50 in "like new" condition.

Pentax Lens tests on the Pentax K-7

Added Bonus: Almost any Pentax lens ever made will work on any Pentax body, including their brand new K-7. As noted, old Canon lenses don't work on their dSLRs. Nikon has done a better job, but (depending on which Nikon body you use) there can still be some gotchas. Pentax have the best system for using old lenses on a new body, including a sensor-based image stabilization that will effectively turn that $50 fast-50 prime lens into a fast-50 image stabilized prime lens.
 
Well, I just got back from making a purchase. Picked up Zeiss ZF 50mm and 85mm f/1.4's. Like new and flawless condition except for one needle-sized nick on the 50mm focus ring. Tested them using a friend's Nikon camera. Awesome lenses! Very pleased!

I've been looking for deals on the 28mm and 35mm f/2's but haven't seen any anywhere. I'll keep looking though.

The 85mm came with a Hoya Super HMC UV(0) filter. The 50mm came with a Hoya HMC UV(0) filter. If I'm putting a UV filter on each lens to protect them, should I really be concerned that they aren't all the same? Should I upgrade the 50mm filter to Super HMC?

Also, and Kholi you may be able to answer this best, should I have the UV filter attached to the lens directly and then attach a step-up ring to that or should I get them larger for the step-up ring and put on that with the rest of the filters I use? I'm probably going to go with the 82mm step-up like you recommended in another thread.
 
You should test if the HMC's coating is up to preventing flare and ghosting in your shoots.

Either way works for stepping up; I suspect the former seems more convenient if you want to keep the UV filter on at all times.
 
I suppose. Personally I'm still trying to get a Hoya HD filter for the kit lens. If it's good I'm going to start changing my filters over to Hoya HDs.
 
Those HD filters only have the HMC coating, not the Super HMC coating. I'd have to look for it again, but I did find a chart that shows the Super HMC allows 2-3% more light through compared to the HMC. I do know the UV filters say no light loss, but I don't know how no light loss is possible. Maybe it's just not noticeable?

From what I read about the HD filters, it sounds like the real benefit to them is the dirt and smudge repelling and indestructibility of them. Otherwise I think the regular version with Super HMC would give better performance. I could be wrong, but that's what it seems.

The HD circular polarizer sounds awesome though. Only issue is there's no Super HMC version of it.
 
I'm pretty sure the coatings on the HD are better than the HMC; I just replaced the 62 HNC filter on the 14-140 with a HD filter and I took a little time to compare them. The HD filter appears to have the better coating. It reflected less light, and was a little more neutral. I can't tell light transmission differences though, without specialised equipment.
 
Considering how much ND one has to smack on the GH1 in daylight a light transmission loss of 3% ain't that much to worry about. I'm still wondering if it would be better to have a far red Hot mirror filter instead of UV.
 
Martti, do you know where to get screw on Hot Mirrors? That's the ONLY thing I can't find but I think I should have.
 
I went for a Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm F2.8 Lens (Contax mount), seemed like a good alternative to the famous 28mm F2 variety - at an 8th of the price (£150).

Can't wait to see the resolving power of this beauty at F11. For stills photography in RAW mode, the resolution would be at the extreme end of what's possible with any digital camera right now, per pixel. GH1 is known to be very sharp in raw, and the Zeiss is a very very very sharp lens. Noticed in some footage from the GH1 that the Zeisss lenses - pretty much all of them - have a pretty special feel (high contrast, high detail, nice bokeh).

The rest of my collection is cheap and cheerful! That's the way I wanted to keep it...I'm pretty happy with the kits lens but keep getting tempted. Ooops!

Vivitar 24mm F2 (FD mount, £46 -- as close as I could get to a fast wide without ridiculously high prices)
Canon 50mm F1.4 & 2x extender (FD, £50)
Canon 135mm F2.8 (FD, a tenner!)
Canon 10-22mm EFS F3.5 (Stolen from family member :2vrolijk_08:)
 
The 28/2.8 is an awesome lens. Congrats on the acquisition.

I've just pinned down a full set of Zeiss Zfs. Will have them soon. Although at the moment it only goes up to 100mm I can't wait to give these a full on run in production and play. I'll definitley be doing some light comparisons, especially between the cy zeiss 85/1.4 and zeiss ze 85/1.4.

Will report back with my findings for those interested in primary differences. Actually afraid I may like the ZFs more!

If so I'll probably keep the cy zooms and the telephoto primes until the zf line-up matures on the long end.
 
@Mike
@Commander
@Kholi

which adapter way did you go for mounts for the zeiss? any links?

Kholi said:
Contax Yashica Zeiss will take EOS adapters from Ebay. Then you can use an EOS mount if you already have one. Or, you can just get a C/Y Adapter to Micro 4/3 to 4/3. That'll work.

Contax N I think you'd have to get an actual Contax N adapter but not sure who makes them.
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The Zeiss Contax are yashica mount. Ebay Search: Contax Zeiss to Micro 4/3 adapter

To get Zeiss ZF's to work on EOS Ebay Member search: Roxsen
 
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