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I love being able to use this superb Carl Zeiss short telephoto lens on my Canon EOS digital bodies. When used on the cropped sensor of Canon's 10D, it works great as a portrait lens. With the maximum aperture of f/1.4, I can handhold in low light situations and the "bokeh" is beautiful. I use the type of lens mount adapter with a "focus assist" chip installed on it (which I purchased on eBay) to help with the manual focus lens. As I turn the lens focus ring, the lights inside the viewfinder light up when in focus. There is also the focus assist beep function on the Canon DSLR cameras as well. I've owned several Carl Zeiss lenses over the years and this one is as good as they get.
I love being able to use this superb Carl Zeiss short telephoto lens on my Canon EOS digital bodies. When used on the cropped sensor of Canon's 10D, it works great as a portrait lens. With the maximum aperture of f/1.4, I can handhold in low light situations and the "bokeh" is beautiful. I use the type of lens mount adapter with a "focus assist" chip installed on it (which I purchased on eBay) to help with the manual focus lens. As I turn the lens focus ring, the lights inside the viewfinder light up when in focus. There is also the focus assist beep function on the Canon DSLR cameras as well. I've owned several Carl Zeiss lenses over the years and this one is as good as they get.
The 85mm market is crowded with Canon. Canon has their 85mm f/1.8 (excellent quality and value!), their uber-expensive f/1.2, as well as Sigma f/1.4 models from Sigma, Samyang and Zeiss. Between the Canon's is the Sigma with a fair price and the Samyang appeals to the budget market due to its manual aperture and focus ring (no electronics). The Zeiss sits between the Canon 1.2 and the Sigma in terms of price, which is weird because it is manual focus only. It also has the oldest and most simple design of the lot. But for the money, it is a beautiful looking lens and very solid. There is no plastic or rubber, it's all metal and glass. This is a lens for two purposes. At long distances, it is quite sharp, very contrasty and when stopped down, very sharp - perfect for a compressed landscape. Up close, it maintains the contrast, but the finer details soften, allowing a soft, flattering portrait. I like both looks. But there is a catch. The very same design that allows these two looks to exist is the same reason why this lens is so difficult. The portrait's softness comes from spherical aberration, where the outer portion of the lens focuses at a different point than the centre, retaining detail but softening any harshness. However, as you close up the aperture, the focus point shifts quite significantly. So shooting a portrait at f/2.8 or f/4 will often give sharp ears, rather than sharp eyes. This is why you need to master the lens by knowing its quirks... To get around this, i often shoot portraits at f/1.4 utilising my camera's AF assist (focusing from infinity and then rotating to MFD gives me better focus accuracy than MFD toward infinity). For shots further than 5-7 meters away, I tend to use live view. If I want to stop down, I just use live view with DOF preview for best results. I have a focus screen on order with a split prism that will hopefully allow easier viewfinder focusing but I haven't received it yet. So what's my summary of this lens? Wonderful at both portraits and landscapes... However the reason it's so good at both is the reason why it's so hard to use. At f/1.4, the depth of field is tiny, so correct focus is a must. At f/2.8, you have slightly more depth of field, but the focus shift is even greater. You really need to learn the behaviour of this lens to appreciate it. As such, I would never recommend it to my friends, even those who are photographers unless they were fully aware of it's behaviour. For certain, you'll miss shots and it'll let you down... But the shots you get will flatter you and make your subject gasp.Read full review
Every aperture of this lens has its own character. This is a two-edged sword. It is a lot more fun to explore this lens and try out its different capabilities, but the downside is you have to spend time with it to use it effectively. I am still not quite there yet. The lens is large (with 82mm filter) and heavy (almost 1kg). It is an improvement over the manual focus version in close-focusing performance. In my comments below on optical quality, I will focus on close-focusing performance. Autofocus is swift and noise level is moderate. Focusing ring is wide and smooth. At f/1.4, there is some CA (chromatic abberation). This should not be a concern because you won't be able to find a lens which is perfect at f/1.4. Accurate focusing will mitigate CA as the CA is in the areas just so slightly out of focus. Of course, depth-of-field is razor thin. It is very difficult to focus on the right plane, but when you get it, the contrast between the single sharp point and blurredness in the rest of the frame immediately points the viewer's attention to the point of focus. The transition from in-focus to out-of-focus is gorgeous. By f/2.0, the CA is almost gone. The sharpest aperture seems to be f/4.0, after which diffraction kicks in. If you test this lens with the "f/8 and be there" rule, you will find nothing special. This lens is rightfully tuned for a lower contrast than the Makro Sonnar 100/2.8. For an apples-to-orange comparison, I preferred the Makro which I believe has a slight edge in optical performance, but I prefer the N Planar 85/1.4 for the much better AF and the ethereal effect at f/1.4. If I am allowed to have only one, it is a tough call, but I guess I will take the Makro.Read full review
Every aperture of this lens has its own character. This is a two-edged sword. It is a lot more fun to explore this lens and try out its different capabilities, but the downside is you have to spend time with it to use it effectively. I am still not quite there yet. The lens is large (with 82mm filter) and heavy (almost 1kg). It is an improvement over the manual focus version in close-focusing performance. In my comments below on optical quality, I will focus on close-focusing performance. Autofocus is swift and noise level is moderate. Focusing ring is wide and smooth. At f/1.4, there is some CA (chromatic abberation). This should not be a concern because you won't be able to find a lens which is perfect at f/1.4. Accurate focusing will mitigate CA as the CA is in the areas just so slightly out of focus. Of course, depth-of-field is razor thin. It is very difficult to focus on the right plane, but when you get it, the contrast between the single sharp point and blurredness in the rest of the frame immediately points the viewer's attention to the point of focus. The transition from in-focus to out-of-focus is gorgeous. By f/2.0, the CA is almost gone. The sharpest aperture seems to be f/4.0, after which diffraction kicks in. If you test this lens with the "f/8 and be there" rule, you will find nothing special. This lens is rightfully tuned for a lower contrast than the Makro Sonnar 100/2.8. For an apples-to-orange comparison, I preferred the Makro which I believe has a slight edge in optical performance, but I prefer the N Planar 85/1.4 for the much better AF and the ethereal effect at f/1.4. If I am allowed to have only one, it is a tough call, but I guess I will take the Makro.Read full review
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