Carl Zeiss P-Sonnar 90/2.5

Reviews

1. 

   16:9 – August 25, 2022

   Probably the best slide projector lens Zeiss made – certainly the most expensive. Sadly, as a taking lens, it doesn’t significantly outperform the Super Talon 90/2.5, or match the best offerings from Leica, Rollei or Agfa at this focal length. However, the utility of a lens like this lies as much in its ‘character’ as its technical excellence. It’s bokeh is a distinctive blend of liveliness and smoothness, with multiple outlining of its specular highlights. There’s some swirl (mechnical vignetting) but in most scenes it’s not monstrously pronounced – less, for instance, than the Rollei AV-Apogon 90/2.4. Colour is rich and punchy, but sharpness is not this lens’ forté, and chromatic (and spherical) aberrations are high and intrusive.

   As an artefact, the P-Sonnar feels like it will deliver more than it does, but to my mind more appealing images can be had from much less ‘exotic’ alternatives.