Super sharp, rich color compact
It's a Zeiss!
Very inexpensive now

No DOF on th elens

What I have to say here repeats what I said about the 28/2.8 Bigon. I have used many different 50mm lenses from Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Nikon and Leica. The 50 is usually the base lens and sets the benchmark for all lenses in a camera line, so tend to be very good. For me, nothing beats this 45 and the 50/2 Summicron I had on my M. But, for sheer value, as both the Zeiss and the Leitz are so similar, the Zeiss wins for quality and value. Such sharp, distortion free images ACOSS ALL F STOPS are to my eyes, a notch above all the SLR brands. I like this even more than my 50/1.4 Planar for my Contax RX, which beats all other SLRs. A great, grat all around lens

Customer Service

Never needed-moot

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50's from Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Minolta and Leitz

a 10 in image quality, probably the best lense I have seen up to date.

Its aperture, it's a f:2... why didn't they do it a f:1,4? it is just a question of puting larger elements and making a bit higher price... I don't think that it wold have worstend the overall quality of the lens and we wold have had more possibilities in working under poor light conditions.

No focusing ring, I wold like to be able to use manual focus on the ring of the lens.

Wow!!! That is what I have to say about this lens. I just recieved my second hand Contax camera with a 90mm and a 45 and I did a street photography test with it, and the truth is that, after scanning the pictures I did with slide film I was quite impressed.

This lens has a great res. and quite good balanced colour and contrast, better then any other of my reflex lenses I have. Perhaps it isn't the lense with the widest aperture in the market, but even so it is great.

Customer Service

Not needed yet... and I hope it takes its time

Similar Products Used:

Carl Zeiss Sonnar 90mm f:2,8
Carl Zeiss Biogon 28mm f:2,8
Nikkor Micro 55mm f:2,8

Very sharp wide open, stopped down a single stop it gives a feeling of presence like no other lens I own (and I own some impressive lenses, and have used many more). Excellent contrast, flarity suppression, evenness of illumination at ever aperture, and no detectable distortion.

That you can only get this sort of performance in a rangefinder lens. Wish an SLR lens of any format (35mm, 645, etc) offered this sort of presence. I've got a few that come close, but this is it.

For practical, general use (not photographing test charts on a wall under controlled conditions) is the single sharpest lens I own. Period. And my camera bags and cases include a Zeiss 120 f/4 Makro-Planar for Hasselblad, Zeiss 50 and 85 f/1.4 Planars and 100mm f/4 Makro-Planar for MM mount, and several L series Canon EF lenses including the 50 f/1.0, 85 f/1.2 and a couple of L zooms. Not one of these lenses can beat the 45mm Planar G mount for overall sharpness or presence. As much as I love the Zeiss 50 1.4 for MM mount this rangefinder lens is significantly higher-performing, there is no question. Film grain of 35mm will distinguish 35mm results from medium format. No lens can change that. It CAN distinguish and resolve details that a 6x7 with a soft lens would not, but there is a distinctly different feel. So comparisons with medium format in my opinion are unfounded. However, what many here refer to as the "3D" feel, while I don't think is such a great way to put it, I'll agree. I refer to it as a feeling of "presence" that lesser lenses do not have. Mind you, I think people often put too much stock in the sharpness of a lens and think that is the hallmark of great photography. Great photography is often made with horrible lenses, and is none the less for it. However, greater sharpness and contrast and that feeling of "presence" comes at an equipment premium, and if your work could benefit from that, or you want to see that in your work, this is a great lens. I have never used any of the modern Summicrons, but I've messed with some older versions on an M3 (not sure exactly how old these lenses were I must confess, they seemed a similar vintage to the body) but this lens seems to outperform them. I'd love to use myself a modern Summicron and see how it stacks up against this lens. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Leica and its outrageous price beat it, but by how much? Wide open at f/2 it's very sharp, from f/2.8 the magic really begins. Excellent local contrast and highly suppressed flarity unless you point it straight at the sun (and I sometimes do), zero distortion that I've ever been able to detect with use, and very even illumination across the field with no visible vignetting at any aperture. And all this in a small compact package. Wonderful.

Customer Service

none yet

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Lots but most particularly Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Planar MM mount, Canon EF 50mm f/1.0L, Zeiss 80mm f/2.8 for Hasselblad, 120mm f/4 for Hasselblad.

Very sharp and great color contrast.

Slow auto focus..

This is a great lens I used KODAK High defination film 400. I got results as good as Fuji 6x7. format camera. Guys with this new film you can compare results from this lens to MEDUIM FORMAT camera results. Tack sharp very high resolution excellent colors. I have done meduim format photography for many years. Contax G1 with 45mm lens and HD kodak film can compete with Meduim format......

Similar Products Used:

Contax 35mm, Fuji 6x7, Mamiya 6x7, Mamiya 645, Kive 66.

No defects found.

No zoom. F2.0 is slow considering the price. Canon or Nikon F1.4 50mm a better buy.

This has to be one of the most overrated lenses known to man. Sure, there's nothing wrong with it, it's a fine lens. But based on other reviews, one might think that this lens has some supernatural other worldly quality that gives photos a "3D" look, or gives you medium format quality from 35mm. No, there isn't anything wrong with the photos. No distortions, no glare, no chromatic aberration. But nevertheless, I don't confuse the photos with medium format. And I don't see this "3D" thing happening. I've been able to evaluate the photos using a 4000 dpi scanner, which is like looking at the film through a high powered microscope. If there was any otherworldy sharpness in there, I think I would see it. This lens is still the best prime lens I own. My other prime lenses for an SLR camera have noticeable defects compared to this lens. But you can buy other other normal prime lenses for a song. Is this lens really worth the price of admission? If you seek Carl Zeiss quality, you could get a Contax Aria and the 50mm lens, and the total package would cost you significantly less than a G2 with this 45mm lens. I think my Sony F707 digital camera takes almost as sharp a photo as the scanned slides and negatives from the 45mm F2 Planar. Of course, the Sony also uses a Carl Zeiss lens :)

Fast, durable, contrasty and sharp all-around, from edges to center. I have a number of potential enlargements of shots taken with this lens, and will accumulate even more!

None that I've noticed. In other words, this lens can do nothing wrong!

I got this lens with a used body so I can't put a price to it. And, in a certain way, it's priceless... Really!!

Customer Service

Superb!!! I contacted them to get a manual for my camera and was very pleased. These people reply to your e-mails, send things quickly and help you out even if you didn't buy a new product.

Similar Products Used:

Contax Zeiss Planar G 35mm

excellent contrast without polarizer lightweight excellent sharpness at f5.6 and f8 very good flare suppression affordable at Ebay

loud autofocus (common for all G lenses) inner barrel is shaking a little bit

After taking some rolls with this lens compared to the highly reputed Canon EF 50/1.4 I can only confirm most opinions of the previous postings. Although I expected a higher sharpness in the range of f2-f4, I am very impressed about (i) an incredible contrast and (ii) exceptional sharpness when stopped down to f5.6 or f8. At any aperture, the Contax lens is a bit sharper than the Canon EF 50/1.4 and even the Leica Summicron 50/2.0 (the newer E55 version). Taking a larger image series of architecture at night, this lens showen an enormous contrast again and very nice fine detail and also an excellent flare suppression. Seeing this contrast, I think that I may now take more photos even at dim light or at cloudy days...

Customer Service

not needed so far

Similar Products Used:

Summicron 50/2.0 EF 50/1.4 FD 50/1.8 Biogon 28/2.8 Sonnar 90/2.8

Stunning detail and sharpness Unparalled versatility in terms of performance across a range of apertures

None I'm aware of, unless you don't like this focal length, or are looking for a different kind of blurred background for wide open shots.

I've been fortunate enough to use a number of heavily hyped lenses, particularly from the Nikon and Contax line, and there are a few I'm very happy with, such as the 85mm 1.4 and the 180mm 2.8 Nikkors, as well as a number of Zeiss SLR lenses. But even those lenses falter in certain conditions. The 45mm for the G2 lives up to the hype in just about every situation. Like others, I never thought I could get excited about the 45mm focal length, but the detail this lens produces almost makes you look for things to photograph...the detail and contrast it produces really is that good, at just about every aperture. No looking for the sweet spot of this lens or tip-toeing around any weaknesses...it performs from f2 to f16. One shot I took with this lens, a black and white shot of fenceposts in fog, produced fenceposts with so much definition and contrast that the image led my darkroom professor (a large format bigot) along with his assistants to look in amazement at the detail a 35mm camera lens could produce. It doesn't turn bad photographs into good ones, or turn snapshots into works of art, but I've even seen snapshots of pets and children with this lens gain extra snap, make me look twice with the detail captured. Like all the lenses for the Contax G line, the bokeh is, in my opinion, not a strong point, at least not if one favors a very creamy blurred look. But the 45mm is probably my favorite of all the lenses in the G series in terms of producing atmospheric backgrounds shot wide open, particularly in low light. There's a strong character given to blurred background objects, such as buildings, street lights and moving vehicles, that can be used well in composing an image.

Similar Products Used:

Contax 50mm 1.7 Nikon 45mm 2.8P Nikon 50mm 1.8

Super sharp, small, fast enough (for me), outstanding shadow detail and no noticeable distortion.

None.

I was never very impressed with most "normal" lenses, and have hardly used them for many years. I tend to gravitate towards the wide end of the focal length, and mostly use a 35mm lens for the "standard". I also enjoy using short telephoto lenses for portraits and some landscape work, and I find 85mm and 90mm to be about right. However, I'd seen enough amazing photographs taken with the 45mm Zeiss "G" lens that I realized it was an important element missing in the collection. After purchasing it I've used it quite a bit and have to say that it is probably the sharpest lens I own (although the Zeiss 21mm G is amazing as well). Great color, excellent shadow detail and the oft-mentioned "3D" effect are all evident in photos taken with this lens. A must have in my opinion.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 50mm f/1.4, Olympus 50mm f/1.4

VERY, VERY SHARP! Beautiful colors. Zeiss optics. Cheap!

Can't think of any.

I bought my first Contax G2 a month ago, and after having used a lot of manual cameras, the G2 felt a little gimmicky to me. Then I got my film developed, and I was astounded at the sharpness and color saturation. I have slipped from working as a photographer to working as a business reporter, although photography is in my job description so I take a camera with me to many business events. A week ago, I was at the annual shareholders meeting of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Cindy Crawford made a surprise appearance on stage. A dozen photographers rushed to the edge of the stage with their digital Nikons and Cannons and 50 pounds of zoom lenses. I rushed up there with my G2 and 45mm lens, since it was all I had with me, and shot a few photos of the supermodel with the company's former CEO. When I got the photos back, I was astounded at the vivid blue color in the illuminated banner behind then and at the overall clarity of the images. I've never had a lens that performed so well. Frankly, I thought the pics from my 45mm Planar looked better than anything that showed up in the papers the next day. I did an unscientific lens test against a late model (but not the latest) Leica 50mm Summicron f2, and the G2 was sharper and more saturated, even wide open at f2!

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

Leica 50mm Summicron f2