2009/12/4 Aaron Reece <oboeaaron@xxxxxxx>: > Of the small stable-full of lenses I own and use, my all-around > favorite is the 85mm Sonnar for Rollei SL-35. There is an airyness to the > images that I find very attractive, but it is not the least bit soft - far > from it. Perhaps "atmosphere" is a better term than "airyness," which of > course I just made up. Objectively speaking, it may result from a > combination of slightly reduced contrast compared with lenses such as the > Planar and outstanding resolution. I don't know whether this is actually the > same formula as the famous 50mm and 85mm versions for Contax rangefinders, > but if it is I can understand the enthusiasm. Since your doubt was not clarified, I have a bit of time to try to do it today. The Sonnar 2.8/85 lens Rollei QBM I,II,III and IV mount for reflex cameras is a four elements lens with a thick third element and one rear element; the lens diagram looks similar regarding the Sonnar 2.8/85 with Contax-Yashica mount but this one has two thin cemented rear elements and then five elements. The Rollei 35 five elements Sonnar 2.8/40 lens diagram is a bit similar too but it has two cemented rear elements forming a very thick group. The classic pre-war design Sonnar 2/85 lens for Contax RF cameras had 5 elements, two of them were rear elements, the new Sonnar 2/85 ZM mount for RF cameras with M mount has six elements, all these lenses are not identical of course, but they share an unmistakable Sonnar type design. The Sonnar 2.8/85 for the different Rollei Sl 35 models had HFT multicoating from 1974. This is a page about the Zeiss lenses with Rollei QBM mount, the Sonnar 2.8/85 description has an URL, if you click it, a Zeiss page will appear with a lenses list, you can open the similar lens Contax-Yashica mount PDF document: http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Rollei_QBM_Zeiss_dt.html This is a page where you can see cuts about the classic Sonnar 1.5/50 and 2/85 lenses mounted on the lens barrel: http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Zeiss_Fakes.html And this is CZ technical data sheet on the new Sonnar 2/85 ZM: http://www.zeiss.com/C12567A8003B8B6F/EmbedTitelIntern/Sonnar2_85mm_ZM_e/$File/Sonnar2_85mm_ZM_e.pdf or: http://tinyurl.com/yb36z38 Carlos --- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list