Contax 50/1.7 Planar T*

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Created: Sunday, 04 January 2009 03:49

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Value for Money Zeiss Standard Lens

50/1.7 Planar T*  1.7/50  50 f1.7

Contax 50/1.7 Planar T* (left) with Heliopan metal straight hood. 

Apparently this lens is not as common as the 50/1.4 Planar T*. Anyway to me the 50/1.4 is already affordable and with the extra half a stop it is quite attractive to be used as a general purpose lens and also a lens for low light photography. Some people prefer the image rendering characteristics of the 50/1.4 to the 50/1.7 but I am OK with both. In fact I like the sharpness of the 50/1.7. The build quality of the 50/1.7 is not as good as the 50/1.4. But for the price I feel that the 50/1.7 Planar is an economical way of enjoying Zeiss photography.

Below is a comparison of the Rollei QBM 50/1.8 Planar and the Contax C/Y 50/1.7 Planar.  

The Rollei version close focus to 0.45m, whereas the Contax version close focus to 0.6m. I have discovered that the Contax 50/1.7 when used with macro tube the corner image quality deteriorates, so need to stop down to improve the image quality. 

The Rollei version has a bigger front element and a smaller rear element as compared to the Contax version. 

   RTS III, f4/5.6 1/125-1/250, UC400                       

RTS III - f1.7 1/60 - UC400 - 14 Feb 2009

RTS III - f1.7 1/60 - UC400 - 14 Feb 2009