Tag: CZJ 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar

Nightingale, Part II

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Nightingale Camp, shot with Sony A7iii and Carl Zeiss DDR 135mm f/3.5 at f/8, SOOC.

I see that I never finished my story. Saturday morning I rose about sunup, or a little after. There was a large hill to the east that made it seem like daylight was later than it was. I made a coffee and sat down at my table. I turned on the little C.C. Crane radio and listened to the NOAA Weather Radio station that is on Virginia Peak. The Saturday weather looked OK, but the winds were to pick up Sunday with more early winter incoming.

I noticed my buddy sitting in the morning sun, so I took The Girl and my coffee over to sit and visit.

I spent a good part of my day Saturday and Sunday morning visiting with my friends. The Girl and I got out for a walk and I made a few images. I worked a DX station in CW Mode with 15w from the little KX3. I chased a few POTA and SOTA activators doing their thing.

And I read. I finished A Cold Dish Sunday evening and returned to Abaddon’s Gate (part of The Expanse cycle). I listened to weather radio. I saw my friends off to their home Sunday afternoon.

The Sunday afternoon winds buffeted the camper a bit. But it was not bad with the stabilizers down. It showered off and on all of Sunday night into Monday morning. There was enough wind to blow a bit of rain into the camper, but not much. It was also enough to the wet the silt at the ground surface just enough to make me drag mud into my camper when I broke camp Monday morning.

Nonetheless, it was a good weekend and a good chance to camp a little. I did not miss the Internet and enjoyed reading my book, hiking with The Girl, and making a few images.

The drive home Monday was relatively uneventful until I discovered that my trailer brakelights were not working. The brakes worked fine; just the lights did not. Nothing I did rectified the problem.

So, I have some work to do on the camper before I take it out again.

Nonetheless, it was a good weekend. I am grateful. Life is good.

Later edit: I took the camper to my buddy’s place and we tracked down a bad ground. It was an easy repair (if you know what you are doing).

Nightingale Nevada

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The south end of a north-bound dog… a view that I see often. Sony A7iii and Carl Zeiss DDR 135mm f/3.5 wide open, SOOC.

It has been a busy week. I went camping last weekend with Greg/Subrina north from the Interstate and near Nightingale Mine. There was no particular radio event happening, I simply wanted to go camp with my friends, get away from the house after the previous busy weeks, and be outside.

I made a quick provision of the camper, bought a little food (too much, of course), and headed east on US 50 with The Girl. It is not much more than an hour to the site and I readily found their rig. I pulled up nearby, got out, and surveyed the site. I did not care for the stickery weeds growing on the site, but figured there was probably not much better available nearby. They were already setup, so I checked my camper for level (good enough), and deployed the stabilizers.

The Ryobi impact driver I bought makes deploying and recovering the stabilizers trivial. It sure beats hand cranking the bastiges. The driver will also serve should I need to remove a wheel from the rig for repair. That was a lesson learned from last winter when I struggled with a lug wrench on the shoulder of I-40 in the cold and wet.

I put up the Chameleon MPAS 2.0 so I could play some radio. I also got the Elecraft KX3 to chase some Zombies in the annual Zombie Shuffle. But I could not hear many Zombies and decided to go visit with my friends.

After supper, Sera and I returned to our mobile house where I fed her and then chased a few more Zombies. I managed to work a DX expedition station, CM21MM, although I did not know it was an expedition at the time. Sera settled on the bed while I enjoyed some radio time.

When I tired of that, I got out my Kindle and worked on a book I was reading, “A Cold Dish” by Craig Johnson. I loved the Longmire series on Netflix and a buddy suggested I read the books. They are better (and different).

There is more, but I have things to do this morning. So, I will table the story for now.

The image is of the south end of a north-bound dog… a sight I often see given the personality of My Girl. I shot it with a new-to-me Sony A7iii and a lovely Carl Zeiss DDR 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar vintage lens wide open. I like the way the lens renders the image.

Life is good. I am grateful.

Remainders: 13 July 2024

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Shot with Sony A7Sii using a CZJ 135mm f/3.5, f-stop unrecorded.

It is impossible to predict where the Interwebs will take me each week. Let’s see where I go this week!

  • ExifTool is an application for editing the EXIF1 data in the header of an image file.
  • jExifToolGUI is a graphical interface for EXITtool.
  • Johnny Mullenax is a fine musician, even if unknown. His band rocks it. See also his YouTube channel for music.
  • A member of a local radio club shared a link to Smiley Antennas. I have no idea whether or not they are any good, but I did visit the site.

The header image was shot on walkies. We pass this old stump almost every day. There is no one home.

1EXIF data provide information about the hardware used to create the image. It will contain the camera make and model, lens make and model, exposure data, file format, and so forth.

Daily Doggo: On the Hunt

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I see this look a lot when we’re on walkies. She really loves to hunt the chipmunks that infest the national forest. Shot with the Sony A7Sii and the CZJ 135mm f/3.5 and exported straight out of camera.

The last few outings I carried the Sony A7Sii with a triplet of Carl Zeiss Jena (CZJ) lenses in m bag — the 35mm f/2.4 Flektogon, the 50mm f/1.8 Pancolar, and the 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar. These are all Zeiss designs copied by the East Germans after WWII.

The build quality of my samples is good, perhaps not up to West German Zeiss builds, but they all cost a fraction of the western glass. I find them very good optically and they produce lovely images with a quality much different than modern glass.

The Girl loves our walks in the national forest. If we do not get out early, I have to watch her carefully because she can overheat even at 7,000ft. The insolation heats her up even if the air temperature is about 80ºF. I always carry water and we take a break mid-hike so she can rest a couple of minutes and drink.

I see this look a lot. This particular fallen tree often harbors chipmunks and I think they tease her.

She is a happy dog. That makes me a happy man. I am grateful and life is good!

Daily Image: Penstemon with CZJ 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar

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I have a thing for vintage glass, especially that glass that exhibits character. This sprig of Penstemon I found on walkies in the National Forest finally gave me a decent capture with the Sony A7Sii and a Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar wide open, SOOC.

Monday morning, The Girl and I were out fairly early for us. I made coffee and had some water, but I had a blood draw scheduled (late for me), so there was no food. Without the distraction of food and knowing that I had a hard stop of a return by 1030h, we headed out an hour earlier than normal. A new-to-me CZJ 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar had arrived a few days earlier and I had it out several times before. But Monday morning the Penstemon finally gave me a decent image with a darker background.

The CZJ Sonnar produces a nice background, particularly in the 135mm focal length and shot wide open. I find the Sony A7Sii very forgiving to a wide range of light with an electronic shutter that goes all the way down to 1/8000th of a second.

We kept moving because of my appointment, but paused now and again for me to make an image and to sip a bit of water. At the turn-around point in our loop, I get out the liter bottle and her bowl and gave her a good drink. After that short break, we were off again to return to the rig and get on with the day.

I have a number of vintage lenses that produce nice images. None of them produce perfect images; but all exhibit a quality that I find interesting. If I want a near perfect image, I have lots of Fujinon glass that con do it. But I find myself enjoying the less than perfect rendering of many of these vintage lenses more pleasing than the more clinical look of modern glass.

We made it home before 1030h. I had plenty of time for a shower, to make sure The Girl had enough water and that she cooled down, and a buffer to head off for my blood draw. Then I was able to go get some lunch and was plenty hungry.

I need to work more with this Sonnar, the 35mm f/2.8 Flektogon, and a couple of Tessar formula normal lenses in my collection.

It was a good day. We camped out in the house tolerating the heat, but the swampy kept the living room cool enough. I am grateful. Life is good.

Daily Image: South End

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I cannot count the number of times I have seen the south end of a northbound dog. Shot with the Sony A7Sii and the CZJ 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar at about f/4.

While hiking in the Sierra yesterday, The Girl was on the lookout for chipmunks. I do not know if Alvin called, but she gave a merry chase.

And what did I get? Well, once again I got the south end of a northbound dog. So, I made the capture.

This frame is basically straight out of camera. The only post processing done was to resize the image and export to JPEG.

It was a good hike. I had a good laugh at The Girl. Life is good.

Daily Image: CZJ 135mm f/3.5 Test

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Test shot with CZJ 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar and the Sony A7Sii. SOOC shot wide open.

A new-to-me Carl Zeiss Jena (CZJ) 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar medium telephoto lens arrived a couple of days ago. It was listed as excellent condition and CLA’d1. It sat on the table for a couple of days, but I decided to mount it on the Sony A7Sii and shoot it this morning. I might take it along on walkies as well.

The focus is a bit stiff and grabby, although not grinding as if the helicoid grease was hardened. It might just be the sample. It might be the age. Or it might need a little better cleaning.

The lens looks good, no obvious flaws. There is the usual minor internal dust and a few cleaning marks on the front element. Neither of these are of concern, although if I open it up to clean and relubricate the helicoid I will clean up the dust (of course).

I have a fondness for the Sonnar design. Lenses based on this old Zeiss optical formula generally produce very nice images, with out of focus areas smooth and a slight softening of the image toward the edge.

This is one of the things I prefer from legacy glass — the images do not have that clinical sharpness common to modern glass (and the computer designs), but have a certain character. There is nothing wrong with the former for the proper application. But for my images, which I shoot for art and fun, I like the character and quirky quality that some legacy lenses provide.

I think this is a keeper.

1CLA = Clean, Lubricate, Adjust.