Rollei Planar 80mm F2.8 HFT LTM

In 2002, Rollei made the commercial decision to commission an improved version of the Cosina-Voigtlander Bessa R2. This was known as the Rollei 35, which includes a reproduction of their three most successful lenses:

1) The 40mm f/2.8 Sonnar that had incorporated the original compact Rollei 35S

2) The improved 80mm f/2.8 Planar with HFT coating as used on the Rollei GX/FX Medium Format Camera

3) The 50mm f/1.8 Planar as used on the Rollei 35 series of SLRs, which never made into actual production.

The Rollei Planar 80mm f/2.8 was designed by Carl Zeiss and made in Germany by Rollei of Braunschweig. This 80mm lens is based on the design of the famous twin lens Rolleiflex 2.8GX/FX TLR, which is an amazingly sharp and high resolution performance lens.

Despite being marketed as an Leica M mount or Rollei M RM mount lens, this lens is actually a Leica screw mount lens sold with an LTM to M adaptor. Therefore, it can be mounted on earlier screw mount cameras as well. Unlike the Rollei Sonnar 40mm f/2.8 HFT, which had an option of an external 40mm viewfinder, there is no external 80mm viewfinder by Rollei for this lens.

Specifications

Lens Mount: L39 | LTM

Production Year: 2003

LTM Mount

Construction: 5 Elements / 4 Groups

Diaphragm: 10 Aperture Blades

Maximum / Minimum Aperture:  F2.8 - F22

Closet Focusing Distance: 1.2m

Dimension: 55mm X 73.5mm (90mm with Hood)

Filter Size: 43mm

Weight: 475g

Gallery 

Zeiss 50mm F1.5 C-Sonnar T* ZM Lens

The Carl Zeiss 50mm F1.5 C-Sonnar T* ZM Lens is inspired by its predecessor from the 1930s with the Classic Sonnar lens design. It’s fast maximum aperture at F1.5 makes it suitable for portraiture and people especially in low light conditions. The C designation in the lens stands for compact lens design and classic optical performance with signature Zeiss colour rendering. The Classic Sonnar optical design produces high sharpness combined with modern Carl Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating to reduce flare and provides high contrast and clarity.

Build Quality

The Zeiss 50mm F1.5 Sonnar ZM has classic design that makes the lens compact in size. The Sonnar lens is relatively small and lightweight for its fast maximum aperture. The focus ring turns smoothly and the aperture clicks in place nicely. However, there presents focus shift with this lens design and it can be countered by keep the issue in mind when adjusting the focus or find a better lens copy less prone to focus shift.

Image Quality

The Zeiss 50mm F1.5 Sonnar ZM lens produces signature Zeiss colours with classic rendering. The separation between the subject and background manufactures that 3 dimensional pop effect to its rendering. In addition, the vintage sonnar lens design also offers unique soft glow and smooth creamy bokeh, which makes it perfect for portraits.

Comparison

The Leica 50mm F1.4 Summilux ASPH is bigger, heavier and more expensive than the Zeiss 50mm F1.5 Sonnar Lens. Both lenses produces amazing bokeh with shallow depth of field but the rendering is very different. The Leica 50mm Summilux is clinical sharp with modern rendering and the Zeiss 50mm Sonnar produces pleasant images with classic rendering. The Zeiss 50mm Sonnar is convenient to carry due to its compact size and weight with less viewfinder blockage than the Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH.

Specifications

Lens Mount: ZM | Leica M Mount

Production Year: 2004 - Present

Construction: 6 Elements / 4 Groups

Diaphragm: 10 Blades

Maximum / Minimum Aperture:  F1.5 - F16

Closet Focusing Distance: 0.9m

Filter Size: 46mm

Weight: 240g (Black | Silver)

Conclusion

The Zeiss 50mm F1.5 C-Sonnar T* ZM Lens is a great alternative to Leica 50mm lenses. It’s price to performance ratio is exceptional compared to similar lenses. The lens compact design and unique rendering is perfect for people portraits.

Zeiss Hologon 15mm F8 for Leica M

The Zeiss Hologon 15mm F8 is a legendary wide angle lens. It is ultra rare as only 225 sets ever produced for Leica M Cameras. The Zeiss Hologon was released in the 1960s and the original 15mm F8 lens was made as a fixed ultra wide angle lens for the Hologon camera. Leica converted the remaining Hologon lenses to M-Mount in 1972, which was the widest angle lens available for Leica M Rangefinders.

Build Quality

The Zeiss Hologon 15mm F8 for Leica M is an incredibly small and thin lens. The size of the Hologon lens is almost identical to a regular metal cap for Leica M Cameras. The lens is made of full metal and has hefty weight when held in hands. It is still solidly built and well constructed but you wouldn’t notice its weight when mounted on the camera.

Image Quality

The Zeiss Hologon 15mm F8 was the widest angle lens at the time and obtained legendary status in the world of wide angles due to its amazing optical performance. The Hologon lens offers 110° diagonal angle of view and capable of handling strong glare. The lens delivers extremely high resolution across the field along with great contrast and colour rendition.

There is barely any visible distortion and the edge distortion is minimal. This is almost impossible to achieve for ultra wide angle lenses thatmade possible by a tight tolerance lens construction, which consists of a triplet lens design formula combining with an incredible minimal back focusing distance to ensure perfect optical performance.

Practical Use

The Zeiss 15mm Hologon feels almost non-existent when mounted on Leica M Rangefinders. It is incredibly tiny and thin but you wouldn’t have issues turning the focus ring. There are two metal bars on the top and bottom of the lens, the top section is marked by a white central dot with white metric scale and the bottom section is marked by a red central dot with red distance scale measured in feet. The focus turns in both directions and the turning motion is exceptionally smooth.

The Hologon lens set comes with a Graduated Centre Filter and an Optical Viewfinder. The optical viewfinder provides the exact 15mm frame line required to compose accurately. The graduated centre filter is effective to reduce the vignetting and chromatic aberration of this ultra wide angle lens.

Specifications

Lens Mount: Leica M

Production Years: 1960s - 70s

Construction: 3 Elements / 3 Groups

Fixed Aperture:  F8

Closet Focusing Distance: 0.2m (Non RF Coupled)

Filter: Graduated Centre Filter

Versions:

1. Zeiss Hologon 15mm F8 Original Fixed Lens for Hologon Camera

2. Zeiss Hologon 15mm F8 for Leica M

3. Zeiss Hologon 16mm F8 for Contax G

Comparison

The differences between the original 15mm f8 hologon and the hologon for Leica M remains cosmetic rather than optical. Both versions maintained the same optics but there are slight differences in the appearance. The Hologon for Leica M version uses red coloured scales and the distance scale is provided at the opposite end. The Hologon for Leica M also comes with accessories of separate optical viewfinder and graduated centre filter made by Leica as standard.

The 16mm F8 Hologon was reintroduced in the 1990s for Contax G series cameras. The focal length has been increased marginally from 15mm to 16mm and the aperture remained the same at fixed f8. The Lens was produced in both black and silver finishes, supplied with modern bubble optical viewfinder and a rectangular graduated centre filter as standard accessories. The optical construction for 16mm F8 hologon has been modified with 5 elements in 3 groups compared to the original lens design consisting of 3 elements. The lens coating on the 16mm f8 hologon has also been improved with modern T* coating by Zeiss.

Conclusion

The Zeiss 15mm F8 Hologon for Leica M is a legendary lens in the world of wide angle lenses. Due to its rarity and astonishing optical performance, it remains as the most desirable and high collectible ultra wide angle lens among Leica users today. Keep in mind during practical use, this lens benefits the most when using on Film Leicas or shooting monochrome on Digital Leica Cameras.