A Soviet Planar
The Zenitar-M 17 50mm F/1.7 is one of my favorite lenses. Its optical formula is a Planar design, which gives it excellent sharpness across the entire image, along with very good performance wide open and a pleasing background blur.
My copy is in M42 mount, making it very easy to adapt to digital cameras.
Some minor mechanical flaws…
As is often the case with Soviet lenses, my copy has a small mechanical issue (a stiff spot in the focusing ring), but it remains perfectly usable as is.
…but excellent value for money
For the price, unless you’re specifically looking for the rare version with a 4-blade diaphragm, you should be able to find a Zenitar 50mm F.17 for around €100 (June 2024), which is quite reasonable considering the lens quality.
Excellent wide open
I find this 50mm soviet lens most interesting when used wide open: sharpness is excellent, and it produces a beautiful, intense “creamy” background blur.
If you like to shoot wide open, the Zenitar-M 17 is clearly a must-have. When I will shoting wide-open, I often end up using this lens instead of my 50mm Nikkor or Leica Summicron R lens.
When you stop it down, sharpness increases slightly, but not dramatically -the lens simply becomes an ordinary soviet lens.
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