Rewind to Early May and Playing with the Carl Zeiss ZM 50 F1.5 Sonnar Lens.

 Lets roll the clock back for a blog post to a cool grey and grim very early May, I bought a new lens for my Leica kit, a classic actually, no, it's not a 50 F1.4 Summilux, it's a Carl Zeiss ZM Sonnar 50 F1.5 T lens, a recreation of the classic pre war lens formula that was available in Leica M39 and Contax mounts.  The current 50 F1.5 is made in Japan by Cosina for Carl Zeiss and retails for $1361 USD on BH Photo. 

Being a classic recreation of a 1930s lens but with modern construction, materials and lens coatings, the 50 F1.5 Sonnar is a character lens, as in, if you are chasing contemporary perfection, the 50 F2 Planar will be more your cup of tea. With six elements within four groups along with ten aperture blades and alluminum construction, the 50 F1.5 has a solid feel for a modern lens, I bought mine in the matte silver finish. The big difference between Leica and Zeiss glass is Wetzler glass has half stop increments and the ZM lenses have third stop increments for more precise control. 

I didn't encounter the focus shift or back focus reported with the Sonnar early on in production but I was shooting around F8 for the roll and  I didn't encounter it. Again I'll stress it again the Sonnar 50 F1.5 is a character lens, an almost 90 year old design made with 21st century manufacturing techniques and lens coatings. I enjoyed  shooting with the ZM Sonnar 50 F1.5 and can't wait until I can mount this on my M3 once it's back from its service. 

Camera: Leica M5, Carl Zeiss 50 F1.5 T Sonnar Lens. 

Film: Kodak Tri-X 400, 510 Pyro 1+100.