1pt4 | Matt Alofs

Intro

In July of 06 I went to Tokyo on a much needed vacation from teaching English to Korean preschoolers. After mentioning to Guy that I wanted to look for a copy of the elusive Konica Hexanon 35, Guy was kind enough to show me around to a bunch of camera shops. Down in the basement of Map Camera, I found the sought after Hexanon, but also a slightly used and much cheaper ZM Biogon 35 F2. Economy won the day, and I walked out the door with Biogon and no regrets. I’ve used my Biogon 35 almost every day since. Here’s my 20 roll report.

Overview

• Build quality & Handling: The lens feels very sturdy. It mounts securely. I’ve not noticed any wear on the finish, and mines been bouncing around in coat pockets etc for 5 months.Focussing is smooth. Aperture detents provide good feedback. It’s a little larger than many 35 f2 RF lenses, both in depth and width, but it’s still small enough that I sometime have problems with my fingers getting in front of it.
• Sharpness: Altough there are at least two reviews online that state this lens is too soft wide open, I’ve not found this to be true. For handheld work, there’s no practical difference in sharpness between F2 and F4. On a tripod, with a totally motionless subject, I’m sure that it’s softer at f2 than at f8, but when I use f2, its usually because I’m handholding at 1/15 or 1/30. There’s plenty of resolution at f2 for that kind of work. And yes, the field is nearly entirely flat and it is sharp all the way out to the corners.
• Contrast: At F2 the lens is slightly less contrasty than at F4, although it’s nothing you can’t change in printing or in Photosop. In really contrasty light, shoot it at F2 and you don’t have to worry so much about over juiced highlights.
• Highlight Rendition: For my uses, if I don’t have to adjust my developing, I figure the highlight rendition is pretty neutral. I’ve not made any adjustments for this lens.
• Flare: Flare is extremely well handled. I don’t have a hood for mine, but I’ve seen some mild veiling flare only twice. Also, on one occasion, with the setting sun pouring in through a nearby window, I did manage to get some gnarly flare, but it was kind of an interesting effect.
• Bokeh: I like it. This lens is smooth and sharp at the same time in an uncommon way. I’ve never seen anything that is exactly like it. I think part of it has to do with just how sharp it really is wide open.
• Gut Reaction: This is an amazingly competent lens, and one that is hard not to like after you shoot with it for a while. It’s got a quiet personality, but there’s very little it can’t do. That corner to corner sharpness and the soft transition between in and out of focus give it a very realistic rendition even wide open without seeming overly harsh. It’s not a lens that’s going to overwhelm the other choices you make as a photographer, but it is one that will give you a lot of raw material to work with.

The Pictures

Zeiss VS Leica

Konica and Voigtlander have both shown that the hardest part of building a better M mount lens or camera than Leica is getting anyone to believe you. The Hexar was dogged from day one with reports of questionable reliability and incompatibility with Leica lenses. By extension, the lenses are often still viewed as suspect. The Voigtlander gear has had it’s reliability impugned from day one as well, although it’s apparently OK to buy one of their fun lenses – like the super wides or snapshot lenses – as long as you have your Cron V4 on hand for the serious stuff. Of course, since Cosina also makes the Zeiss Ikon gear, the reliablity and quality of construction of the ZM stuff must therefore be suspect as well. Or so the forumers would have you believe. The Biogon is the only piece of ZM gear that I’ve used for any amount of time, but if it is any indication, the rest of the Zeiss Ikon line must be superb. But, alas, it isn’t made by Leica. Oh well.

So is the Biogon as good as a Leica lens? I don’t know. Define good. Good like the overly contrasty snaggle tooth bokeh of the Asph Cron 35? Good like the also overly contrasty, highlights pushed to heavens, show me every zit sharpness of the 35 Lux Asph? Or good like the no sharpness except in the center oops my my aperture ring no longer has detents Cron V4? No, it’s not good like any of those.

Conclusion

Zeiss promotional literature calls the Biogon “The Powerful All-Rounder.” Unlike a lot of marketing copy, that appellation lies very close to the truth. It would be hard to choose a better lens for travel or the desolation of desert island.

Other Views

• Erwin Puts’ Criticism
• Erwin Puts’ Praise (The Zeiss lenses obviously confuse the man with their combination of excellence and non-Leicaness)
• Sean Reid’s Review of Fast Lenses for the RD-1 including some test shots showing the flat field and corner sharpness of the Biogon