Admittedly, I was intrigued by the famous names when I found myself quite unexpectedly in the possession of a Planar, a Biogon, a Distagon, and an assortment of Sonnars.

One thing was immediately apparent: the extraordinary finish quality. Heavy, solid metal barrels with a slightly matted chrome finish and a smoothness and precision of the focussing mechanism which must be felt to believe it, even after so many years.

Just look at the picture. This arrangement wouldn't seem out of place in a jeweller's window.

So, let's have a look at a series of pictures I've taken with the different lenses and find out more about them. I'll show a scaled-down version of the full frame just to demonstrate the angle of view of each lens.

Clicking on any of these pics will load a small section of the corresponding negative scanned at the full 2700 dpi resolution of my Nikon LS-30.

Biogon 4.5/21 mm (lower left, with external viewfinder next to standard lens)

This lens was first made for the Zeiss-Ikon Contax rangefinder cameras and it caused a big sensation when it was introduced at the 1954 Photokina. Before the Biogon, conventional wisdom had it that an extreme wide angle lens had a maximum opening of f8 and considerable distortion. Even by today's standards, the linearity of this lens is quite amazing. Due to its symmetrical design with a rear element which almost touches the film, the mirror has to be moved up before mounting it and there is an external viewfinder which is fastened in the accessory shoe. Unlike most Contarex lenses, the Biogon has its own iris setting ring. It can only be used with the original Bullseye and the meterless Special. It would collide with the metering cell, in later Contarex cameras. This has become one of my favourite lenses. It covers exactly my eyes' field of view including peripheral vision. I love the immensely wide view and the absence of the distortion which makes most pictures taken with other extreme wide angle and especially fisheye lenses look so boring, after some time.

Distagon 4/35 mm (right, next to standard lens)

This is a retrofocus design which has been developed especially for the Contarex. Though quite slow by modern standards, its optical performance is very good. This lens can be focussed down to 19 cm from the film plane or a mere 10 cm from the front ring. At this short distance, the aperture is automatically opened up slightly to compensate for the light loss. The low speed isn't much of a problem, though, because this lens can be used wide open without any visible loss of sharpness.

Planar 2/50 mm (standard lens, on camera)

Following over half a century of Planars on medium format cameras, this is the first 50 mm Planar lens made for a 35 mm camera. The minimum focussing distance is 20 cm from the front ring, again with automatic aperture compensation. Planars are generally known for their low distortion and high quality and this one is no exception.

Sonnar 2/85 mm (far right, behind lens hood)

This lens had originally been developed for the Contax rangefinder cameras. Its design of seven elements in only three groups makes it very resistant to flare, even as a single-coated lens. Due to its high speed and shallow DOF at full aperture, this is a wonderful portrait lens. Bokeh fanatics will love this one.

Sonnar 4/135 mm (upper right)

Like the 85 mm Sonnar, this one has also been borrowed from the Contax series. A very solid performer which makes good for its rather meagre opening by being corrected to be used at full aperture. .

Sonnar 4/250 mm (shown below)

With a length of 20 cm and a weight of 1400 g, this is a real monster of a lens. It has its own tripod bushing which can be rotated by 90 degrees for vertical shots. The finish and construction are wonderful and the optical performance is excellent, but the ergonomics of this lens are simply terrible. The focussing ring is the lowermost silver ring, in the illustration below. Now, hand-hold this lens and the camera and try focussing it... Certainly, the Zeiss engineers hadn't intended this lens to be used without a tripod. This is also the only of the original Contarex lenses that needs to be stopped down manually. Later versions of this lens had a newly developed focussing arrangement with a knob on the side of the barrel.

This is the original set of lenses made for the Contarex. In later years, a number of new products were added. Notable additions were a 2.8/25 mm Distagon, a 1.4/55 mm Planar, the famous 500 and 1000 mm Mirotar catadioptric lenses as well as 18, 16, and 15 mm Distagon designs. The famous 2.8/180 mm Olympia Sonnar was also made available. More exotic offerings included a Schneider PC Angulon 35 mm shift lens, the peculiar Zeiss monocular, and two Vario Sonnar zooms where the usual Zeiss perfectionism had led to such bulk and weight that they were practically useless.

So, what's the verdict? The Zeiss glassware beat s everything I've ever used hands down with the exception of the already mentioned ergonomic shortcomings and a few flare problems due to the fact that none of these lenses is multi-coated. After all, they're 40 years old. Other than that, they're great. Beautiful by their extreme sharpness as well as what we have come to know as bokeh in the out-of-focus portions of the pictures.

I'd certainly hate to be without them again. Now, if only the 25 mm Distagon at my local dealer wasn't quite as expensive.....