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I recently chose to sell all my Canon “landscape” lenses (zooms and primes to 105mm) and invest in Zeiss manual focus primes. This review considers the Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZE which is an exceptional lens, in particular with increased detail at larger apertures. I chose to make a comparison between this lens (mounted on a Canon 1D Mk IV) and a Canon 50mm f1.8 (mounted on a Canon 5D Mk II). Both cameras were tripod mounted and placed virtually side-by-side. I chose a focus point approximately 12 feet from the camera position. When considering the sensor sizes, the two produced very similar fields of view. Though far from scientific, my observations of the resulting images are as follows. At f8, lens performance was similar, though the zone of acceptable focus was deeper with the Zeiss, most likely due to the wider aspect (35mm vs. 50mm). This continued through all other apertures, the Zeiss providing greater zone of acceptable focus than the Canon. In particular this is noticeable toward infinity, as details were much clearer going away from the focus point in each image. This test was performed outdoors, and breezy conditions undoubtedly effected the test with regard to sharpness with subject matter that was not stationary. However, objects like the satellite dish on a nearby house, or the mountain in the far background, or the identification label on a nearby telephone pole, all provided sharper results with the Zeiss at all apertures. I continue to use Canon telephoto lenses for wildlife imagery, and find the Canon 600mm f4L IS to be a remarkable tool. However, for landscape images, I believe the Zeiss lenses are clearly the better choice. Examples can be viewed at www.greatwestimages.com.Read full review
This is my latest Zeiss purchase and it nicely rounds out my Zeiss lineup (25, 50 and 85mm). Of these, it most closely resembles the 25mm f/2. Like the 25mm, this lens is sharp and crisp wide open, making manual focus easier than the 1.4 lenses. The in-focus details have plenty of bite, and the out-of-focus areas have nicely diffused bokeh. You can certainly use it wide open and get a nice image. However, it does have some optical issues that users should be aware of. Most notable is its purple fringing. While the fringing is small, it is intense. Luckily, it is correctable in Lightroom. The other issue is lateral chromatic aberration. This is also correctable in Lightroom, but a bit disappointing for a lens worth over a thousand dollars with such modest parameters. Having said that, I do prefer these images over Canon's old 35mm f2 and the 24-105 zoom at 35mm. The size is good, but being made entirely of metal, a bit heavy at 530g. The focus ring has about 120 degrees of rotation. I thought it would be slightly longer, but it works fine. Nice and smooth. Overall, I do like the package and I intend to keep it. If you like the Zeiss look - particularly found in their f/2-2.8 lenses - then this will be exactly what you expect (less the minor flaws I detailed previously). But when the Sigma 35mm sports both autofocus, f/1.4 and only marginally more weight, the Zeiss is a hard sell. I bought the lens for it's character, not it's practicality.Read full review
Carl Zeiss lenses are made to last around 25 years. Far superior to everyone in the optical and metal used, its sharpness is excellent and the opening for the bokeh is impressive. If you want a first level lens, Zeiss is your choice with Leica. Then you can opt for Rokinon.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
as exepcted from a zeiss lens, the build quality is amazing and the zeiss signature "Pop" bokeh is there. once you get used to theses, you wont use anything else but the distagon series
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I managed to take only few photos but I can say that it's very good straight from f2.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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