Zeiss 50mm f1.4 or 1.7

[gunteach]

Interesting thread..just bought some Contax cameras on e-bay and ended up now having the 50/1.7 MM, the 50/1.7 AE, a 50/1.4 AE and the MM version and finally a 45/2.8 Tessar pancake lens. This should make for an interesting test project.

 

[wang]

For those who are interested in MTFs, see below

http://www.zeiss.de/C12567A8003B8B6F/EmbedTitelIntern/Planar_1-4_50_ZFen/$File/P1_4_50ZF_EN.pdf

It is certainly better than the C-Y 50 1.4

 

[rpnagel]

Hi, just a late post to this thread: I bought the 1.7/50 MM (I thought it would be better in resistance to flare than the 1.4/50), but would recommend the 1.4/50 today, because in available light/indoors the 1.7/50 is surprisingly difficult to manually focus (on a 159MM body and non existing choice of Beattie Intenscreen or Maxwell Hi-Lux screens)

resistance to flare is NOT covered be MTF diagrams, nor is performance on real world 3D targets.

Actually, any 50mm lens is damn good.

 

[edwardkaraa]

I have both and they are both difficult to focus in backlit situations. I tend to believe however that this is more likely to be a flaw in the Contax cameras design rather than in the lens as the photos taken at such occasions have no such flare seen in the viewfinder.