Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2 (C/Y)

Tack sharp at f/2 with no glow, and bokeh that does not behave like a Zeiss is supposed to. That is the short version of the Contax Makro-Planar 100mm f/2, and it is most of why people who own one stop shopping. A fast hundred is the awkward portrait length, longer than the comfortable 85 and shorter than the working 135, but on a Contax body it buys you a stop of speed and a rendering that pulls a face off the background with very little aperture spent. Shoot a half-length at f/2.8 on slide film and the subject sits forward of the frame in a way that reads almost dimensional.

This is a Makro-Planar, Zeiss building on the Planar line it has refined for generations, here in a more elaborate 9-element, 8-group form rather than the bare symmetrical six. Wide open the center is already sharp with hard Zeiss micro-contrast, edges a touch behind, and by f/4 it is even across the frame in a way that survives a drum scan and a loupe both. Color comes back saturated and clean. T* multicoating keeps flare in check with a window in the corner, and contrast runs high. No glow, no veil, no romance. The lens just resolves.

The bokeh is the surprise. Most fast Zeiss glass renders out-of-focus areas with a faint nervous edge, and this one mostly does not. The wash behind the plane of focus is smooth, the transition from sharp to soft quick enough to give that pop, soft enough not to fight the subject. It is closer to the creamy end than the slower f/2.8 Makro-Planar ever gets, which is part of why portrait shooters who tried both keep the f/2. People cross-shop it against the Canon 85L and the Contax N 85mm f/1.4, and those who like its character tend to like it for the way it holds a subject rather than for any one number.

The honest catch is what a fast hundred always is. It is a lot of glass to hang off a manual-focus SLR, and nailing focus at f/2 on a film body is on you and the focusing screen. It does focus close, down to about half life-size, so it doubles as a real close-up lens even if it stops short of the 1:1 of a dedicated macro. Get the eye sharp at full aperture and there is no margin. People who shoot it for work tend to stop to f/2.8 when they can, partly for depth, partly for insurance. None of that touches the rendering, which is the whole reason it still trades for what it does on the C/Y used market.

One metering note. At f/2 in low light a hundred millimeters of glass is exactly what you want, but a phone meter pointed at the scene does not know your lens, your film speed, or how the highlights fall. Zone Light Meter does. Enter the stock and read off the zones so the f/2 exposure lands where you placed it instead of where an averaging meter guessed. The 67mm front takes an ND when you want to hold the aperture open in bright daylight and keep that background dissolved.