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Payment was very, very speedy. Remarkably pleased. Excellent buyer. Recommended
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effortless sale
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Reviews (11)
03 December 2013
Superb imaging tool if you are prepared to take your time to get used to it
2 of 2 found this helpful This is a tough camera to rate. If your criteria is the final result, then this is superb. The 6*6 image with the Zeiss Planar lens will give fantastic results.
If you want ease of use, well, if you are not used to using an old twin lens reflex camera then you may be in for a bit of a shock. The image that you view is reversed left to right, which takes some getting used to. So relax, slow things down and practice with an empty camera. After a while you get used to it, then relish the challenge and the massive viewing image.
This camera is near to silent to use. Just a soft click when you push the shutter. No vibrations, and that combined with the dense, solid body means that it is possible to shoot very slow shutter speeds hand held.
Tips for picking one up? Always always always try to get one with the best cosmetic shape that you can. It may be likely that it will still need a tune up, but getting one that has not been abused will also mean that there is less likelihood that there is some major work required.
Check to make sure there are no 'cleaning marks' aka scratches, fungus, haze or separation of the lenses. Especially the taking lens (the lower one). Also try to make sure that the focus screen is also clean and clear.
Slow down, relax and enjoy. An embrace this piece of history that will still produce better results than the majority of the modern day disposable cameras out there. You think a pro DLSR is still going to be working 60 years later? I think not.
19 October 2013
Great for all round use, f 2.8 max aperture restricts it to daylight.
1 of 1 found this helpful Once you get hold of a good one, these are great. It took me several attempts before I got one that focussed in an acceptabluy smooth manner, the first made a grinding noise, the second was sloppy. The third was just right. All looked like they has been taken care of, so it seems that Nikon mechanics do not hold up as well to the years as Leica glass (the other system I use, and my lenses from the 1950s feel flawless in comparison).
Now to actual usage. What a great lens! Super sharp and the ability to be able to focus really close just comes in handy sometimes. As the front element is deeply recessed in the body, this lens does not need a lens hood (already provided by the recession), and it should not be used with a filter as that will degrade quality as it sits so far away from the front element. And using a filter will necessitate in using separate lens hood.
19 April 2013
Try to check a few before you buy.
0 of 1 found this helpful Old review for the black version of this lens:
A nice lens, not as sharp as the equivalent Leica wide open, may have problems focussing at infinity unless stopped down.
Build quality not remotely close to Leica, but neither is the price.
Unfortunate that it uses the off beat 43mm filter size.
Sum up - you get what you pay for. Much cheaper than Leica as it is made in Japan by Cosina for Zeiss, not made in Germany by the Zeiss.
New review for the chrome version:
This is my second attempt at using this lens. This time I picked up a silver/chrome version, instead of the black version I had previously.
The silver version seems much nicer finished, even though the body is unchanged. The blue font on the silver is much more visible, and pleasant to look at, than the dull red on the black version.
Mechanically - here is where it gets interesting. The focus weighting on this lens is much heavier than my black one, and more precise. The black one had play in it, this one has none and just feels like a higher end piece. The aperture ring is also tighter.
The focus effort is now tighter than my Summilux 50 1.4 Asph (or V1 Summicron 50mm f2 from 1952), but still not as smooth. I would compare it to the ever so gritty feel of the Summarit line. Either way, this silver Planar is a much nicer sample than my black one.
Optics? Great, no complaint.
The bottom line here is that if in the market for this lens, I would try to sample a few as it seems that the quality control is a touch variable.
I did not recommend my black version, but I do recommend my silver one.