Question for Contax G 90mm owners

I have really liked using this lens for portraits and it is plenty sharp.

The manual focus has never bothered me (use a Metabones adapter) and love the weight.

I basically shot at F2.8, F4.0 or F5.6 exclusively with this lens and until recently never used other than portraits or other close up things like flowers, etc... Minimum focus distance is not great but as long as you are a few feet away it does a nice job. Have taken hundreds of portraits with it usually wide open.

Anyway recently tried using it as a landscape lens and came back thoroughly disappointed.

Regardless of aperture I don't seem to get anything distant to be sharp, F11, F16, etc... Is this a known flaw, something others have experienced or do I maybe have a bad lens that somehow does great at close distances but is no good from far away?

Shots in question were firmly planted tripod sunset shots, was overlooking a harbor and a city skyline in the far distance behind that. Took shots at various apertures and shutter times both with an without an ND filter. Changed focus a couple of times as well including infinity and less. I used this lens due to these distances vs. other wider angles I have as I thought it would do a better job as I had no foreground elements and wanted to capture the city in the background.

The photos look Ok but zoomed in anything in the background is very fuzzy even in the center and I would not consider any of them good shots as a result or what I am used to. Clouds and the sky look good, but they don't require the same sharpness.

Would have had better results cropping the output from 55 or 35 even.

Only thing higher than 90 I have is a 200mm prime but 200mm would have cropped out part of the city so was never a thought.

Mainly just curious if my expectations are too high, something common with this type of focal length that makes it less ideal for landscapes or if I might have a bad copy. These lens are old so something could be wrong with it for distance.

I was surprised to find nearly all of my shots being portraits with this lens and probably f/2.8 or f/4 (no way to tell for sure on many). I just took a very mundane shot with my A7 at f/8. I think the sharpness is very good (I used focus peaking and snapped when everything lit up). Here is the original, so you can see for yourself.

It seems that the loop takes it to more than 100%, so keep that in mind when viewing. Not sure why it does that.

Did you focus at Infinity? Could the adapter you have it focusing short of infinity or perhaps even past infinity?

Did you use magnification to achive critical focus?

I know that some adapters (usually cheaper ones) infinity focusing can be a problem... If it can focus past infinity, you can adjust but if it can't reach infinity, then your shots will never be sharp unless you are focusing at short/medium distances

sootyvrs said:

Did you focus at Infinity? Could the adapter you have it focusing short of infinity or perhaps even past infinity?

Did you use magnification to achive critical focus?

I know that some adapters (usually cheaper ones) infinity focusing can be a problem... If it can focus past infinity, you can adjust but if it can't reach infinity, then your shots will never be sharp unless you are focusing at short/medium distances

Click to expand...

First off thank you Sean, will review your photo late tonight on mobile only for next few hours

Regarding infinify focus
It may be possible my adapter is preventing me from reaching infinity
It is a metabones one so not a cheapy

I did have focus peaking enabled and the background looked best with the focus ring all the way turned
I did use focus magnification and it did not look great then so could have been a clue but no turning of the ring made it perfect

My shutter speed was long and sometimes focus magniifcation does not look sharp with long exposures so I did not consider this an issue on location

I took shots all the way turned and also dialed back a bit as I feared being past infinity not that I could not reach infinity

mreynolds767 said:

mreynolds767 said:

Did you focus at Infinity? Could the adapter you have it focusing short of infinity or perhaps even past infinity?

Did you use magnification to achive critical focus?

I know that some adapters (usually cheaper ones) infinity focusing can be a problem... If it can focus past infinity, you can adjust but if it can't reach infinity, then your shots will never be sharp unless you are focusing at short/medium distances

Click to expand...

First off thank you Sean, will review your photo late tonight on mobile only for next few hours

Regarding infinify focus
It may be possible my adapter is preventing me from reaching infinity
It is a metabones one so not a cheapy

I did have focus peaking enabled and the background looked best with the focus ring all the way turned
I did use focus magnification and it did not look great then so could have been a clue but no turning of the ring made it perfect

My shutter speed was long and sometimes focus magniifcation does not look sharp with long exposures so I did not consider this an issue on location

I took shots all the way turned and also dialed back a bit as I feared being past infinity not that I could not reach infinity

Click to expand...

It's a sharp lens, at any distance in my experience.

Focus peaking isn't very precise. I'd recommend trying again with careful manual focusing under full magnification, then verify the image is sharp only on the object you focused on.

I would be very surprised if the adapter doesn't allow for infinity focus. Almost all adapters will go a little beyond infinity. Getting precise focus is critical with this lens; it is so sharp that even tiny focus misses are readily apparent.

seachicken2000 said:

mreynolds767 said:

seachicken2000 said:

Did you focus at Infinity? Could the adapter you have it focusing short of infinity or perhaps even past infinity?

Did you use magnification to achive critical focus?

I know that some adapters (usually cheaper ones) infinity focusing can be a problem... If it can focus past infinity, you can adjust but if it can't reach infinity, then your shots will never be sharp unless you are focusing at short/medium distances

Click to expand...

First off thank you Sean, will review your photo late tonight on mobile only for next few hours

Regarding infinify focus
It may be possible my adapter is preventing me from reaching infinity
It is a metabones one so not a cheapy

I did have focus peaking enabled and the background looked best with the focus ring all the way turned
I did use focus magnification and it did not look great then so could have been a clue but no turning of the ring made it perfect

My shutter speed was long and sometimes focus magniifcation does not look sharp with long exposures so I did not consider this an issue on location

I took shots all the way turned and also dialed back a bit as I feared being past infinity not that I could not reach infinity

Click to expand...

It's a sharp lens, at any distance in my experience.

Focus peaking isn't very precise. I'd recommend trying again with careful manual focusing under full magnification, then verify the image is sharp only on the object you focused on.

I would be very surprised if the adapter doesn't allow for infinity focus. Almost all adapters will go a little beyond infinity. Getting precise focus is critical with this lens; it is so sharp that even tiny focus misses are readily apparent.

Click to expand...

The Metabones is what I have as well, and it does allow a little bit of a twist beyond infinity, fwiw.

I should have used precision focus in my sample above. I don't think I have good enough light to go try another at f/8 or f/11, though. Not without a tripod because my shutter speed would get too slow. For that matter, my sample above is already at 1/200 in okay lighting and that's still ISO 200.

my picture look OK.

A7r + cantax G 90 +adaptor Golden eagle from DEO. It's auto-focus, picture take at f5.6.





Crop 100%

AEY said:

my picture look OK.

A7r + cantax G 90 +adaptor Golden eagle from DEO. It's auto-focus, picture take at f5.6.



Crop 100%

Click to expand...

Exif says it was taken at f/2.8?

Adapter does go beyond infinity so need to ratchet back in magefied view. I do find that i sometimes get a distinct vertical vignette on both sides at times, not the expected corner only vignette but more like the entire vertical left and right edge. Been meaning to post sample to ask if others see same problem

jhinkey said:

AEY said:

my picture look OK.

A7r + cantax G 90 +adaptor Golden eagle from DEO. It's auto-focus, picture take at f5.6.



Crop 100%

Click to expand...

Exif says it was taken at f/2.8?

Click to expand...

Please read the manual

How did you set the infinity focus? If you turned the ring on the Metabones to full stop, you overshoot it by quite a margin. It's not due to the adapter, it is very well made, it's just how the Contax G lenses work. In order to spare the AF motor in G bodies, the lenses allows for a little bit of focus movement past infinity, since the AF sometimes needs that moving space when focusing. Using magnified view on a remote object is the only reliable way to hit infinity on these lenses.

It's probably the adapter in some way or another. Focusing at infinity is very acceptable for many images...but focusing past infinity kills the shot straight off. You have to know where infinity is with adapters, and all lenses. That is one reason good EVFs are important, and apparently IBIS works to steady focus assist...if so, work that way. If not an IBIS model rest on a fence and play around with it.

Even if you shoot a series of focus brackets that will shed light on the issue. Note the position of the focus ring (or whatever you turn) each shot.

This is one of a family of later period CZ Sonnar primes. All are terrific lenses, good from wide open and excellent by f5.6. Under 1% pincushion and some what I call 'trailing astigmatism' stopped down to f5.6-f8. It doesn't harm the image much at all, just a little CA near corners, like in the car-tree image above.

likely a by product if forcusing, the lens was and is perfecyly ok for distant subject, I shoot loads of those then and now. with adapted lens you really need to carefully focus the lens to infinity or whatever subject distance you want it placed. jusy twisting the helical all the way won't work. most AF lens especially long focal and tele allow focus past infinity and thay is for good technical reasons.
--
- Franka -

Thanks everyone.

Sounds like it was user error related to the adapter in some way or another.

I am going to give it another go tonight with this lens as I will be a location I think the 90mm might be good for one planned shot, this will be far but a closer distance in terms of meters, going to photograph the Christmas in July lighting of the Nubble Lighthouse which is about 75 meters I would guess from where I would be shooting from.

Will be very precise with the focus magnification and on a tripod again

part of the issue the other evening I think was also related to unrealistic expectations due to the physical distance my background subject was away

Funny as I couple other posters also mentioned have used and loved the lens for a awhile but never did much of anything other than up close open aperture shots with it.

I use cheap MF updater,

not a pixel peeper for me images look ok















--
Eugene

Eugene232 said:

I use cheap MF updater,

not a pixel peeper for me images look ok

Click to expand...

I don't think the OP is concerned about close focusing but infinity focus...