Introduction Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm f/2.8 is a

Introduction
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm f/2.8 is a Pentacon six lens (or Kiev 60). That is a medium format mount build for
sensors, app. 50 x 39 mm (or more) compared to Full Frame which is 36 x 24 mm. The medium format
sensor covers 1,977 mm2 while the FF sensor covers 864mm2. The lens is, in other words build to cope with
much larger images going to the sensor than FF need – and even much much larger images than my
Olympus camera with the small four thirds sensor need (225 mm2).
This mean that you need an adaptor ring to get the
lens on the camera. You can get adaptor rings at
eBay and mostly for a small amount of money.
You can even get adaptor rings that allow your
camera to make the Focus “beeeep” when you hit
focus. But the lens is, however, still fully manuel.
This is good help. Because when you stop down the
aperture, your viewfinder does get more and more
dark.
Due to the size of the sensor; this 80 mm lens was build to be a “normal lens”; which is about 50 mm on a
Full Frame camera. The size of the sensor gives a negative crop factor.
But the lens isn’t as big as you might think. Biometar 80 mm f/2.8 weighs about 400 gr., it uses 58 mm
filters and it does come out with between 35 mm and 45 mm from the adaptor ring. Wide open is f/2.8. It is
a fast lens.
Working with the lens is very pleasant. The build quality is very high and you have this feeling of “I might
use this lens as a hammer, if needed”. The balance is good – but mounted on a small camera (e.g. Olympus
E-520), it might get a little heavy in the front even so. The adaptor ring for Olympus does send the lens
extra 39 mm in front of the camera.
The lens is very pleasant to operate. The size is very good for the grip.
The focus ring is operated smoothly and the grip is very good due to the small diamonds. The aperture ring
has the same feeling: smoothly, but here with clean steps too. When operated the front element does not
turn; that is good when using pol-filtre.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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The focus ring has 270 degrees turn. That is a lot. The first 180 degrees handles focusing between 1 meter
(near limit) and 2.2 meters. Thus giving the focus plenty of turn to be precise. The advantage is that you
have this long turn for the short distances (where focusing is the most critical). The downpoint is that you
have to turn a lot when shifting between close focus and focusing at a longer distance.
The aperture is from f/2.8 to f/22. The ring is thin, but operates very easily. The lens has 8 blades.
Data
Remember that the angel of view (Bildwinkel) is changed when the lens is mounted on a
crop camera and on a Full Frame too.
The lens has five elements in four groups.
Price
It is not a new lens. It has all manual. But it doesn’t come free.
The buy-now prices on eBay for this lens is about £ 110. But you might be lucky and find the lens for less.
As allways prices on eBay are depending on a lot of things – and sometimes it might even come down to
luck (or misspelled/-typed ads.).
The images
I have a theory about using medium format lenes on a crop camera; but I don’t know if it is true or not. I
think that the images from the lens to the sensor must be much larger than the sensors need. Therefor
concentrating the image to the center area of the lens. If that is good thinking, the image will not suffer
from the same distortion in the corners or the image than normal lenses for your camera will tend to
deliver.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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I have tested it with another medium format lens. I used a Pentax A 645 75 mm f/2.8 and have compared
image to an images from a Zuiko 14-42 mm lens (Olympus kit lens).
The key is that the increased distortion is larger when looking at the Zuiko lens than the Carl Zeiss. Compare
crop 2 to crop 4. I know this is not a scientific test; but is does illustrate my theory.
But tests might be very interesting for a short time. The real test is images from real life photography.
All images show are taken using Olympus E-30 with an adaptor ring that allow the camera to give the focus
“beep”.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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Four images using f/5.6. In my
eyes this is: Good colours, good
sharpness and a fine smooth
bokeh.
The distance from camera and
focuspoint is between 1.5 meters
and 3 meters.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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This page: Again f/5.6. The
same nice touch to the
images.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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This page: F/4 is used.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80
mm f/2.8 does not
turn the quality down
when aperture is
turned up.
Below: The branch to
the left is about 30-40
meters closer to the
cemara than the
couple holding hands.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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This page: 50-60 meters between camera
and focusing point. Aperture is f/5.6.
The red square illustrates how much a
1000 x 750 pixel crop is out of the total
image.
Below: The crop. Note the sharpness and
the very nice handling of the small details
and texture of the clock and the plaster.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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This page: 100 meters between camera
and focussing point. Aperture is f/5.6.
The red square illustrates how much a
1000 x 750 pixel crop is out of the total
image.
Below: The crop. Note the sharpness and
the very nice handling of the small details
and texture of the bricks. In my point of
view: A very fine result.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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Above: f/5.6.
Right: The young swan is about 10
meters away. Aperture is f/4.
Right: The snowman is about 8 meters
away and aperture is f/4.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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Above: Flash is used. Aperture is f/8.
Below: No disortion here.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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Sharpness
Pictures do not have to be razor sharp at all times. I know that. But I like that lenses are very sharp at all
times. I can always privide some blur later.
I have two test of sharpness is this:
The first is this little truck. The red square illustrates how much a 1000 x 200 pixels is.
Next page: The test show that the lens is sharp from f/4 and holds the sharpness down to f/16. The lens is
not sharp wide open and at f/22 it is very blurry.
The follwing page: The motive is here a testpage (but the page wasn’t high quality sharp – it was printed
from my own printer). The result is the same, however: Razor sharp from f/4 to f/16.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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©John Nyberg
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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This page: Aperture is f/4.
I like that sharpness, the
colours and the bokeh.
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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Conclusion
Admitted: I like to use old lenses. They often give me a special feeling. They have some soul to offer and I
like that.
The lens is like the very better or best of the old lenses.
Sharpness is very good from f/4 to f/16
Bokeh is soft, smooth and very pleasant
The colours are nice; a bit on the warm side, but nice
I have not had any problems with CA yet
The lens has a good feeling, the build quality is very high.
That is all positive.
The price is often around £ 100 and for a lens with these qualities that is not expensive. If you can live
without autofocus, you will most likely find this lens very interesting.
On a scale from 0 to 5, I give it: 4
Carl Zeiss Biometar 80mm, f/2.8 (Pentacon six)
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©John Nyberg