Contax G Hologon 16mm f/8 Reviews

This compact,beautifully made German lens is able to give superb resolution from center to corners for a lens of it's class( but not miracles).There is no notiseable C.A.and practically no distortions!There is a light falloff of 2 f-stops,so it needs the supplied filter (made in Japan) all the time (-2 stops)so the fixed aperture(f:8) actually becomes f:16.This filter however is not of the same high quality and gives photos a "greenish" cast.You also have to compensate the exposure by +2 stops every time you use it as the camera doesn't meter TTL with this lens.It is manually focused (extremely smoothly) by a small lever but needs some attention not to accidentally change focus while using the camera.An external viewfinder comes with the lens.So if you need TOP 35mm image quality and you are ready to sacrifice some ease of use (and a lot of your money) this unique lens is for you.This lens was the main reason I bought the Contax G camera.

It is very good and very expensive lens (that's why I cannot give the best pricing value rating for it) with outstanding optical quality as for such superwide angle (better than any Nikon or Canon superwide lens). Because of its true rangefinder symmetrical design, it's destortion free and with only F/8 aperture but still requires centerweighted filter to eliminate vignetting. It's just impossible to design such destortion free symmetrical lens with wider aperture because of vignetting issue. I agree with another reviewr, that its centerweighted filter (though very expensive and complicated) brings "greenish" cast to the excellent color reproduction of this lens. That's why, shooting under forest canopy, I use it often without this graduation filter, saving two stops and obtaining better colors (vingetting becomes an issue only with a clear sky, but in the forest it is not so visible). It is a real "rangefinder" symmetrical design German made Carl Zeiss, what's make it so expensive and collectible. The new Carl Zeiss 15mm/2.8 Distagon lens for Zeiss Ikon and Leica is rear focusing formular design, same as for SLR cameras with a lot of compromises. Its very high price is the only my complain, and for those, who cannot afford it, I recommend to stay with the magnificent Zeiss 21mm/2.8 Biogon, which is cheaper, sharper and more versatile to use.