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Please explain difference between AE and MM lenses

I keep hearing that there is a slight difference between the pictures of MM and AE. Some people said that AE produces stronger collor with slightly yellowish flavor because MM is multicoated.

Is MM really multicoated? Did anyone compare the pictures of AE and MM?
 
Yan,

as far as I know there is no difference optically between MM and AE lenses, as long as you compare the same lens-type. The only difference between the two is described above.

I do not know the exact year, but Zeiss is using multicoating on all lenses at least since 1960, so long before the MM or AE lenses have been produced.

It is not always written on the lens. I think the "T*" is a relative new sign on the lenses, but the coating did not change. Even my Rolleiflex TLR 2.8/80 from around 1965 has multicoated Zeiss lenses without the sign on the lens.

But there are definitely improvements with the new N-lenses regarding colour reproduction and flare reduction. But I do not know how they did this (with a new coating or other possibilities).

Dirk
 
Yan,> as far as I know there is no difference optically between MM and AE> lenses, as long as you compare the same lens-type. The only difference> between the two is described above. > I do not know teh excat year, but Zeiss is using multicoating on all> lenses at least since 1960, so long before the MM or AE lenses have> been produced.

To a large extent this is true , but some of the newer MM lenses did also have their designs "updated" when they were introduced........ Steve
 
Stephen,

could you please be more specific on this? I do not know any new lens design when changed from AE to MM as long as it is the same focal length and aperture.

Dirk
 
could you please be more specific on this? I do not know any new lens> design when changed from AE to MM as long as it is the same focal> length and aperture.

I knew you were going to ask that! I actually cant remember , but it was discussed several times on the "other" list - I seem to recall it was Blake Ziegler and/or Bob Shell who mentioned it..... Steve
 
> Zeiss T* Multicoating. Hasselblad has been using Zeiss lenses for years. Around 1974, the Zeiss lenses were gradually marked T* (multicoating), as opposed to T (single-layer coating). Hasselblad had some specific literature about the differences. I have and use a 1974 vintage 80 2.8 Planar T*. Zeiss literature states that in 1972, T* multicoating was developed, reducing the reflection to .3 percent of the visible rays. Zeiss-Ikon stopped producing cameras on their own in 1972. The Contax name was revived with the RTS in 1975, and it was marketed with T* designated lenses. The Zeiss website had a lengthy article explaining T* vs HFT (Rollei produced). The summary was that there was no appreciable difference.
 
THANKS ALL! I've rather hated my RX because it simply didn't take pictures that were worth the Contax name - I was about to sell it to get a Cannon, or something....

It turns out that I've been shooting in P - when the 50mm 1.7 lens I've had; does not work in that program.

I didn't know that, nor how to select the right one, 'till I read this thread. I'm now on the hunt for a 1.4 that is a proper MM. (if you have one for sale - I'm at 800 825 1245 NY time, weekdays)

Thanks again.

Jim Cancil
wetstuff.com
 
Jim,
You really can get great images out of that lens you already have! Don't give it up so quickly. The first zeiss lens I ever had was that very model, an AE 50 1.7....matter of fact I still have it. Got it in '86 when I first took up shooting and was away at school. If you have an RX, great .... just try again, really, you'll be surprised. Shooting on P mode should be forgotten anyway, no great images are ever made in P full auto mode except by rare accident.

To aquaint yourself with the camera and lens combo, start shooting in Aperature Priority (AV). Now, do not depend upon simply turning the dial to AV and setting your aperature and just shooting anything that crosses your path, you still have a little thinking and work to do to produce the stellar images that the glass in that lens can regularly produce.

Take a small notebook, pen, roll of slide film and your camera and lens out for a couple hours. For every scene you want to shoot with this roll of film, you will make several exposures and adjust each shot moderately according to what the meter tells you. For ex&le, if you are shooting a blackish animal against a well lit background, spot meter the blackish animal, and take your first shot. Now, based on that first reading, using your exposure compensation dial, take a series of other shots at -1/3 stop, -2/3 stop and -1 stop, then go the other direction and add 1/3 stop. Record in your notebook which image corresponds to which bracketed shot, and later when you get the slide film back, you will understand how to compensate for what your meter is telling you. (I suspect either the -1/3 or -2/3 will be appropriate for a black animal).

Note that if your subject is white, or lighter than a grey card when you are spot metering the white segment, you'll want to add 1/3, 2/3 and a full stop (or more!), but rarely will you need to subtract anything with the compensation dial.

Make sure you use slide film, because you can see your exposures perfectly, whereas with negative film you won't know what the processing person has compromised for you.

If you want to know more about this, there was a great newsletter a friend gave me years ago that a friend gave me on this subject, I can't remember the name of it, or the photographer who wrote it just now, but it was gold for me in understanding how a metering system interprets the world.

So, please don't throw out your existing lens, it is just a matter of using it to your best advantage
happy.gif


Good luck!
-Lynn
 
Lynn: Thanks for the direction. Sadly, my life is such that I have perhaps only the time to skim the top 15% of anything. It's too bad it takes the community to tell me that the lens that appears compatible with the body..and fits without problem...in fact doesn't fully function?! The manual only makes a single phrase reference to MM.

I'll go shoot some AV today. I'm quite familar because I still have an old Rolli TLR. I was just hoping I could get a camera that would run some of the calculations for me...like my Macintosh.

Cheers.

Jim
 
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