After acquiring and building the Contax Zeiss primes set, I was in search of a long range parfocal zoom that I could match with the primes lenses. Rick at Visual Products was fortunate to acquire a single owner/operator Zeiss Super16 zoom lens in great condition. 

At first I wasn't sure about the Super16 image circle and its resolving power, however the lens came with a 2x extender that expands the image circle close to Super35 coverage. With the Sony Clear Image Zoom function, I was able cover the image completely in S35 2K mode, or in full frame 4K mode with a 20% crop in post - arriving close to 3.2K resolution. See the first test video with the later specifications filmed on the FX6.

 

This lens is incredibly lightweight at 1.8kg with the extender and has a field of view of 3.3° - 30.5° or approximately   70-700mm T4 (full frame equivalent). As with most long zoom lenses that were made in the 20th century, there are trade-off characteristics such as heavy breathing when focus pulling and purple chromatic aberrations when the aperture is wide open. The later issue can be easily fixed in post production, changing the purple colouration to a white or opaque colour, or stopping the aperture down to T4 - T5.6. 

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This lens, like the Contax Zeiss primes has the renowned T* coating so colour matching is not an issue. It also shows a lot character, pleasing bokeh, wonderful colours and micro contrast. For artistic and creative work, the vignetting and light fall off may also be a desired effect to use. 

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If I need to achieve an exaggerated parfocal zoom shot for commercial work or when I go backcountry hiking to document nature, this lens matched with a few primes is a lightweight and versatile easy choice.

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