Contax Sonnar T* 180mm f2.8

Review Date
December 31, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
Daniel Geiger , Expert

Price Paid
$700.00 at B&H Demo model

Photography Experience
21+ years , Outdoor

Summary
A nice mid level tele photo lens. Hood is useless, color is good, sharpness is good, no lateral color when used with extension tubes, bright image in view finder, missing tripod collar.
Good value for money on a solid optical performer.

Strengths
Relatively light weight, quite wide open, and bright image in viewfinder for easy focussing. Close focus is a bit better than the 200 f/4, so you can get greater mag at close focus.
I have added the three extension tubes to get to approximately 1:4 and works very well. With other primes I have used (OM Zuiko 300 f4.5), there is strong lateral color in the corners, but none with the CZ glass.

Weaknesses
The built in hood is a joke, it is way too short, if you add a UV protection filter (B&W), the hood protrudes a mere inch on a 72 mm diameter thread.
There is no separate tripod collar for this lens. It is not a fatal flaw, but it would be a nice feature, particularly when using it with extension rings on portrait format.

Similar Products Used
OM 200 f/4.5, OM 300 mm f/4.5

Customer Service
n/a

Review Date
October 16, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Reviewed by
SingLO , Intermediate , from London, England

Price Paid
$570.00

Photography Experience
2-5 years , People

Summary
I have this lens for 3 years but I don't use it as often as I would like to. It is great for low light street photograhy or candid portrait. Its large aperture makes bautiful out of focus boken. Its performance is very similar to the Zeiss 300 f4. Although it doesn't use dispersion glass, it has uniform field flatness and very low astigmatism at f2.8.
It gives good results with Mutar I and Mutar II teleconvertors.

Strengths
high speed and compact,
great for outdoor portrait,

Weaknesses
built-in lens hood is very loose
older design without LD glass

Review Date
April 10, 2000

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
ND Janiszeski , Expert , from Santa Fe, NM USA

Photography Experience
21+ years , Other

Summary
A high performance, close focusing 180mm with fast f:2.8 aperture. If you want go to the outer edges limits of optical performance, try the Zeiss 2.0/200mm APO. Or try the new APO 180's from Leica. This was one of my favorite Contax lenses.

Strengths
A very nice 180mm. Don't be fooled by the MTFs for this lens. It is quite sharp and contrasty. It has excellent resolution. Beautiful fit and finish. Close focus to 1.4m with floating elements. Sharpness excellent in close up range. I have photos of Manhattan on Kodachrome 25 with superb details. Same for some nature studies where spiderweb threads were visible on the slide but did not see them in real life. Absolute resolution similar to Nikkor 180mm 2.8ED AIS, but image appears much sharper, cleaner. Fine image structures better rendered. Performance in close range much better than Nikkor 180mmED. I like the color much better. Average size and weight.

Weaknesses
Focus is very smooth but action is well dampened leading to slightly higher focus effort compared to Nikon AIS. Zeiss has not kept pace with Leica in this focal length. It will not keep up with the Leica R 2.8/180mm APO with internal focusing. No comparison.

Similar Products Used
Nikon, Leica R