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

The Gujri

It has been more than 10 years since I had visited that place and that was the first time. Vaguely I was remembering the gullies and the arrangements of the items that were placed then. Some weeks back suddenly decided to pay my second visit. This time with my camera!

***

I was making an image of a teenage boy from the window of his shop. His back was facing the window and he was oblivious to my presence. As I clicked few images a person passes by in front of the shop and tells to the boy -

" Abe, peeche mudke pose to de... tera photu aane wala hai!"

Boy:  "Abe! Kaun hai tu? Photu kyon kheech raha hai?"
me:   " Mein koi reporter nahin hun. Showk ke liye photo kheechta hun. Dont worry!"
Boy: " Deekha sare photo"

I showed.

Boy: " Delete kar usey"
me:   "Saare? Kuch to rakhun?"
Boy: "Han. Saare."

and he went off, not even bothering to see if I have deleted all or only few!

***

"Bhai sahab. Aapka ek photo le sakta hun? Ussi pose mein"
"han han. Le lo"
"!!"

I made some images.

"Reporter ho?"
"Nahin. Sirf photographer hun. Showk ka. Yaane ki Hobby photographer."
"Achcha achcha. Mera naam hain Hazi Jamsheed aur mein pehelwaan hun"
"Wah! kya bath hai!"
"Han. Pehelwaan jamsheed kehke bhi bulate hain. Aur mein National level ha kushti player raha tha. Mere videos YouTube mein hai. Dekh lena."
"Zaroor. Aap kitne saal se yahan pe hein?"
"Hum to 1958 mein paida hue the aur tab se yahin pe hai!"
"Tab se yahi karte aa rahe hai?"
"Han. Yahan pe ye business to 1940 se bhi pehle se hai! Bahut purana dhanda hai. Aap ka naam kya hai?"
"Ashwini Kumar"
"Achcha Ashwani aap kahin pe ye photo bhej rahe ho?"
"Mera ek blog hai. Wahan pe mein kuch likh ke photos daalta hun. Jo bhi cheez interesting lagey, woh blog karta hun"

"Achcha. Dekho Ashwani bahar ke log aur kuch media ke log iss jagah ko chor bazar wagaira wagaira kehke paper, TV mein daaley the. Lekin hakikat waisey nahin hai. Hum yeh cheezon ko neelami se leke aate hain. Auction karke. Yey insurance companies jo hoti hein aur ye banks aur police ye sabhi jo unke paas purane gaadi ya phir poori useless tareeke se tooti hui gaadi ko auction karte hain. Hum log uss auction mein jaake, bidding ke zariye unhe khareedke, un gaadiyon mein jo bhi usable parts hote hein unhe yahan pe bechte hain. Yahan ka koi bhi maal chori karke nahin aya hai. Mein sirf apne dukaan ki baat nahin kar raha. Iss poori area mein kahin bhi chori kia hua maal bechte nahin hai. Agar koi chori ka maal ata hai to hum turant police ko inform karte hain and jo banda ussey bech raha hai uski dukaan 3 mahine tak bandh kar diya jaata hai aur 5000 fine barvaya jaata hai, yahan ke association ke paas. Humara association bahut strong hai iss mamle mein."

"Achcha! Yeh jaanke khushi hui"
"Han Ashwani. Phir bhi log kabhi kabaar bahar jaake iss area ko badnaam kar dete hein. Hume bahut dard hota hai sunke."
"I can understand"
"Tum chai peeyoge? Oi munna do chai de. Mehmaan hai humaare!"
"Arrey arrey. iski kya jaroorat hai?"
"Arrey yar. Chai hi to pila raha hun. Ek din mere ghar ayitega, shaandaar khana khilaunga"
"hahaha. zaroor kisi din"

I drank tea. Made some more images.

"Achcha pehelwaanji. Mein thoda aage bhi jaata hun. Logon se milta hun. Aapse milke khushi hui."
"Achcha Ashwani. Chalo phir. Mera YouTube mein video dekhna mat bhoolna. Chalo. Phir se milte hain. Mere liye uss Eshwar se dua karna."
"Zaroor. Phir milenge."


***

I was making some wide angle images by standing along the main road.

Sound from some where. Not sure from where.
"Ooi...Kya photu nikaal raha hai?"
"Kuch nahin bhaai saab. Sirf eisey hi kheech raha tha"

I walked for few steps.
A man was sitting on his bullet, which was not having its rear wheel.
"What are you doing?"
"Just making some images of the place"
"Why?"
"Simply. I am a hobby photographer. I kind of liked the place. Become curious and hence made few images."
"Show them to me."

I showed.

"What would you do with these pictures?"
"I have a blog. I post them there."
"Are people here OK with you taking pictures?"
"That is the problem which I am facing now!"

Someone ushered from the background -
"Bhaai saab. Ye photographers humaari photu leke bahar foreign mein lakhon rupiyon ke liye beechte hein. Aur humein yahan kuch bhi nahin milta."

I smiled.

The man was standing for his rear tyre to arrive. It arrived and I was sure that he was a client at that place. His tone was very dominating and intimidating in the beginning. Later he was better.

"Why do you think these guys dont allow you to take the pictures?"
"I am trying to figure that out. Not very sure."
"Because all these are chori ka maal"
"Hmm!. I heard some other story few minutes back."
"Everyone has a story to tell!"
 I smiled.
"Need to see whom to believe."
"Carry on."

***

At a shop of shock absorbers. There was a young man selling.

"Bhai sahab. Aapka ek photo ley sakta hun?"
"Photo? Kitna rupay dega?"
"Hahaha. Chaliye ek dosa khilake ek chai pila doonga. Mujhe bhi bhook lag raha hai."
Smiles and says -
"Aajkal chai kaun peeta hai. Beer peete hein beer."
I smiled.

Two men from the shop in front -
"Kiske liye photu le rahe ho bhai saab?"
"Showk ka photographer hun ji. Hobby hai mera."

"Poor Indians kehke to nahin dalo ge na?"

I smiled.

*** 

A dawn in the outskirts of Bangalore

"SRS Betta" (!!) a new place for me, was selected by Dinesh for the next day morning shoot. The name first sounded weird and a the possibility of any distant linkage of this name with the popular SRS Travels (a transportation company) flashed through my mind! It was only the next day morning I got to know the name of the place when Dinesh told me - Shri Revanna Siddeshwara Betta.

It was about 5:40 am when we arrived at the place and the sky was still deep blue with some bright stars shining. The East was giving an indication of changing the sky colour soon by bringing in the Sun. Horizon was slowly turning pink.

The place offers very good opportunity for landscape photographers. The two rocky hills stand prominently in the otherwise plane landscape. The nearby lake provides a nice opportunity to get some reflections of those hills, on a ripple-less morning.

As we were making images around the lake the Sun broke out of the horizon. The light was soft and of the kind of typical winter Sunrise.

~ M A H A B A L I P U R A M ~ Under the silent storm!

Tamil Nadu is getting completely soaked by the recent series of deep depressions in the Bay of Bengal. The satellite images showing the swirl of cloud are painting a really horrifying picture of very heavy rains in the east coast of India. As I am writing this blog there is another warning standing in the parts of southern coast of Tamil Nadu for tomorrow and day after!

Me and my family has seen the beginning of these pouring times in Chennai and we missed the fury of the cyclone by a whisker! All hell started to break loose the day after we left Chennai. On the last day of our stay (Nov 8th, 2015) it had given us a hint about the days to come! Oct - Nov being a regular rainy season in Tamil Nadu (due to reverse monsoon) we thought that it would be a regular rain with a bit more duration and slightly heavy clouds! But the story was different! A dangerous storm was silently brewing in the sky above us and we were happily enjoying our city sight-seeing and visits to popular tourist destinations thinking that they are regular cloud movements!

Mahabalipuram was one of the places where we spent our Saturday (Nov 7th, 2015) morning. The sky was cloudy and it was drizzling intermittently at times. The low moving, rain bearing clouds are always a treat for the photographer, which fills the sky nicely with shades while shooting the temple architecture! I was happy because the clouds were hiding the harsh sun behind them and the light was pretty even. It drizzled a bit while we were watching the main shore temple complex and then again a bit of drizzle while we were at the place of "Pancha Ratha" (complex of five chariots). Though the intensity was a bit high we thought that it is just a momentarily shower and did not take it seriously. But when we head back to the car to proceed to Arjuna's Penance then the fury started! It went on to about 20 odd minutes and at the end we had to abandon the idea of going inside the complex of Arjuna's Penance and started to head back to Chennai. What we saw there was a pre-cursor for the days to come!

Here are some of the images which I made that morning at Mahabalipuram.
(Click on the images to see them bigger - recommended!)

While I pray for the safety of all in Tamil Nadu during these tough times you enjoy these images.

Cheers,

Ash

Enter the Distagon!

There is a new companion for me in the field along with my wife and my new D810 and I am happy about it - Carl Zeiss 2/28 ZF.2!

Immaculately built all metal body feels like a piece of heavy rock in the hands. The unique Field Curvature that it exhibits when shot wide open and from close distance from the subject gives a different character to the image, which I have not seen in any other lenses. All this is of course with lovely rich color rendition and a fine micro contrast. The aspect that I personally like the most about this lens is the natural vignetting that this lens produces when shot at f/2. I have used the lens extensively in my recent Gujrat trip and I will be sharing the images soon in this space. Till then I have shared few other images made using this lens. 

Excited to hit the field again!

Cheers,

Ash