Pentacon 6TL with 180mm Sonnar f/2.8

I had used my Sonnar on my Canon EOS with an adapter and was astonished at its

crispness and quality. After a trip for a auto-aperture repair (alas a common

problem with this otherwise astounding lens), I was finally able to finish up a

roll of Fuji Reala film in my Pentacon 6TL camera with this lens. I was

astounded at the results. These were just test shots, not fine art, but I

present them as an indication of what can be done with these old dinosaurs.<div></div>

Here's another shot of the boat house at our campus lake.<div></div>

Nice, I particularly like the first shot as this looks to be an excellent lens at full aperture.... the OOF areas are really nice. I would imagine that this would make a beautiful portrait lens when used wide open.

Cheers, Tony

Beautiful; color depth and resolution seem excellent. Love the way this lens and

film [and yourself!] have picked up the texture of grass; very subtle! Thank you

JDM for posting. It reminds me of some of the warm tones that the old GAF films

used to have in the 1960s.

Good shots JDM. Do you mind carrying that enormous beast around(180 sonnar)? On a bad day, it might be mistaken for a shoulder fired RPG and it might make one miss an important flight ;-). I have the 60's version which is single coated and has the zebra ring and I find it to be a great optic when I am not too lazy schlepping it around.

Well, you might as well know that the first shot was in my backyard from my office door, and the second was about 30m from the parking lot.

 

I was so pleased with the pictures that it produced, however, that I will make an effort to get out and about with the rig. Carrying the camera (with a pentaprism) and the whole 45mm, 80mm, 120mm, and 180mm lenses kit would be a sure path to hernia, on the other hand.

45mm? Which one is that? I have the 50mm flektogon for my P6? The only 45mm lens I know for the system is my Russian made MIR-26B. Is the last one the lens you are talking about?

Yes, the 45 is a Mir. The others are two Biotars (80 and 120) and the Sonnar.

 

When used with an adapter on my Canon 20D the Sonnar is the best, but the two Biotars are not far behind. While the Mir is fine for a 6cm format, it really is very soft on the APS-C sensor.

Carl Zeiss Jena also made a 300mm f4 and there is a Meyer 500mm f5.6. And as the Kiev 60 used the same lensmount, there are other options like the 55mm f4 shift and a range of mirror lenses. And if your Pentacon 6 is at the repair shop, you could try getting a lensmount converter and using the lenses on a Mamiya 645 or Pentax 645.

Nice photo's. I love my 180 just as much, but it isn't in my bag for the holiday. Did you digitised from negative or from print?

 

 

You're missing the 30, 50, 55 and 65 in that setup.

 

And a membership at the gym :)

I once had a Pentacon 6 with this lens, as far as I recall it was based on the Zeiss Olympia 180mm 2.8 Sonnar they brought out for the Contax for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, I also recall it took 86mm filters.

These were digitized from the negatives on my Canon 9950F (which I purchased to do these larger negatives).

 

I'm still thinking about getting a Flektagon and maybe even the Arsat 30mm, heaven help me!

Thanks. So it is becoming time to start looking for a scanner that can do MF negatives.

Shot number 2 works great, stopped down just enough to get some nice detail in the sky and clouds, but not enough to loose everything else. I've never personally shot one of these monsters, but I have a friend who had one for a few years, I think he just had the 80mm but it was impressive just looking at the viewfinder. There is really something magic about a 6x6 viewfinder that is unlike any other experience in the photographic world!

You cannot hand-hold a 180mm lens and get sharp photos. The first picture exhibits the classic signs of camera

shake. The second shot is much better.