Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2 - The King of Character!

 My first stint with Zeiss lenses was way back in 2015 when I bought Zeiss Distagon 28mm f/2. That is one of my favorite lenses in my bag (rather the dry cabinet!). I have written a few blogs where the images were made from that lens. You can find those blogs HERE.  

Post the Distagon 28, although I wanted to buy a few more Zeiss lenses but couldn't. In 2019, when I started to study various vintage lenses there was one lens that many photographers and vintage/manual focus lens forums prominently talked about. It was Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2. 

This lens was in production between 1936 till 1960, although the design dates back all the way to the 1920s.

The lens that I am using was produced somewhere in 1950 or 1951! (Uff!! Even my parents were not born then!). How do I know when the lens was produced? The serial number! The age of most of the vintage lenses can be found using their serial numbers. For example, THIS LINK has all the data of the serial numbers of Carl Zeiss lenses and when they were produced. 

Now coming to the performance of the lens - absolutely brilliant! For the lens of its age, it still performs marvelously! Below is the list of my observations in an easy-to-read form!

- Distinct character in the out of focus area! Very 'Biotar like' :-)

- Unique Swirl in the outer edges of the frame. You would either love it or hate it. I am the former kind!

- Sharp rendering of the object in focus. 

- Produces images with rich, vivid, and warm colors 

- The 17 blades aperture makes sure that the out of focus is creamy and highlights are very circular even at low apertures

- Not a great performer when you shoot against strong light, a common trait in most of the vintage lenses, due to the poor quality (as compared to today) coating on the lens. But one can use this quality to get low-contrast images that produce some wonderful black-and-white results.

    (Notice the Swirl in the outer edge of the frame. As said, you will either love it or hate it!:-))

(Notice the shapes of the highlights in the out-of-focus region. This was due to the high aperture blades retaining circular shape at all apertures) 

This lens inspired a new breed of lenses in some other part of the world - Russia! The Helios-44 series, which is fairly known in the photography community now is said to be the direct copy of the Biotar design but because that lens was in production a few decades more than the original Biotar, the later versions of the Helios-44, say Helios-44-4 and Helios-44-7 perform much better in optical characteristics like flare and sharpness, due to the advancement of technology. But they all attribute their existence to the original legend - Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2.   

There is plenty of literature online about this lens and its history. I don't want to reinvent the wheel in this matter. Out of all those THIS ARTICLE gives the best idea about its history, its various versions, and different characteristics of those versions.  

All the images in this blog (except the image of the lens itself) are shot with Biotar-58. I just love its rendition! What is a rendition? That is something worth writing a whole different blog for itself! Perhaps sometime soon?!   

Cheers,

Ash

Some Gold from the Old!

Since mid-2019 I have been spending time understanding some of the legendary lenses of the past era! By past, I mean from around 1950s. It is a fascinating journey in the world of the evolution of optics and from where we stand today if we take a look back, not many would know and appreciate this evolution to the fullest. 

I don't seem to remember how it all started for me. But what I certainly remember are those moments when I was just awestruck by some of the images I saw that were made from some of the legendary lenses of the past! 

It is widely talked about and almost a cliche that the old lenses have a 'character' that the modern, razor-sharp lenses lack! But I always wondered what is this 'character' that everyone talks or writes about! As I went deeper into the realm of the post-world-war German and Soviet lenses I could see what the other people are talking about! It was certainly something that I had not seen or experienced before! 

Since then I have started to collect some of those lenses from various parts of the world! How I collected them is a fascinating story in itself, which perhaps maybe for another day. I have collected is the right expression, at this moment since I have hardly used all of them extensively on the field. Beyond some test shots and some window/walking photography, I hardly went to any serious shoot in a while. So I think the time has come to put them to good use. I am planning to start a series of blogs where I try to write my experience with each of these lenses with some meaningful images to go along with. This way, I will be having self-inflicted pressure to use a particular lens for a few days or weeks to make some serious photography. 

Thanks to my wife Sahana for making some beautiful images of the lenses :-)!

Cheers,
Ash