From: Thor Legvold <tlegvold@xxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:24:28 +0200
... I asked Henry
Scherer the same thing when I was looking for a 2/85 Sonnar.
Here's what he had to say:
Quote:
There are two 85mm f2.0 lenses. The first was made after the war in
Jenafor the postwar Contax IIa. It was made in very small numbers
and is
a Tcoated lens. It is a very great lens being very sharp. The
second
was madein West Germany after the partition of Germany. It was
advertised by
Zeissto be a portrait lens, meaning it's soft, and it certainly
is. If you
want asoft 85 this will be easy because many were made. It will
also be
relatively easy to find one in almost mint condition because they
were
notused being so soft. If you want a sharp 85 that looks good this
is
going tobe difficult and you will have to be very patient. There
are not a
lot ofthe earlier Jena T lenses, they got used a lot and marked up
because
they areso sharp and so good looking ones are extremely rare. It
has taken me
aslong as a year to find a suitable postwar Jena T 85 2.0 Sonnar.
The sharpest lens ever made for the Contax rangefinder mount is the
postwar Jena T 85mm f2.0 Sonnar. It is also an APO design and so
does
very well with modern color film. They are hard to find because
not a
lotof them were made. They are hard to find in beautiful condition
because
they took such great pictures and got used a lot. But they are
definitelyworth the work and patience required to find.
/Quote
