|
Top
Bottom | Zeiss 25mm f2.0 ZE Distagon Review
Date Posted: 11-26-11
Posted By:  J TORRALBA
Send Message
Views: 892
First of all, a big thanks to Zeiss for loaning me this masterpiece of mechanical jewelry for review. 2nd, another big thanks to www.popflash.com for loaning me the Canon 5D2 used for the review since the sample I received was a ZE version and I am a Nikon shooter.
As stated before in my other reviews, this is an unscientific,unbiased and personal review from a users point of view. Although I tend to comment and provide feedback without dwelling into pixel peeping, this review does offer some pixel peeping. I just felt it was necessary to do so.
First impressions
When I first received the lens from Zeiss, I immediately noticed the similarities to the 35mm f1.4. Although the two lenses are different in sizes, they still look very similar in form and cut. I snapped a few pictures with my Android phone of the two side by side and on top of each other so you can see for yourself.
I am a large person at 6'2" with fairly large hands and when I held this lens for the first time, it felt as is if it was designed to custom fit into my hands. I know this sounds a bit odd since we are concerned about more important aspects of the lens. But, it is worth noting that this lens should be the new reference standard for design and ergo. Outside of the Zeiss line up, there is no worthy contender to match up against this lens for build, look, feel and that feeling of you get what you pay for. Of course, if you are into the new plastic light weight lenses then that is a different story.
Ease of use
Using the lens is straight forward. Manual focus, no switches to play with and smooth as you can imagine. The f2 yields a nice bright image in your viewfinder that makes focusing very easy. As you focus and hit that sweet spot, it just pops. It's almost like an autofocus lens that stops right when it locked in. It's really quite interesting, when you hit the focus, there is no doubt that the you are done. No back and forth to verify. I walked away from each shot feeling confident that my shots where in focus. Furthermore, focusing feels very smooth and snug. Not too tight or loose, It's just right.
It's near macro capabilities due to the close range focusing is superb. Shoot wide open and up close for some wonderful results.
Zeiss 25mm f2.0. ISO 200 at f2
Zeiss 25mm f2.0. ISO 200 at f2
Zeiss 25mm f2.0. ISO 200 at f2
Image Quality
Image quality is superb. You will see from some of the samples I post below what the lens can do. Between 5.6 and f11this lens is leaps and bounds ahead of anything out there. Sorry Nikon and Canon aficionados. This may be a sensitive spot for some of you reading this. Although Nikon and Canon make great cameras and their new primes are really good, they still fall short of the the Zeiss. It's not about sharpness or pixels peeing but the overall picture is just so much nicer from the ZF 25. Of course this is just my opinion and you may feel totally different about this. I do not have a direct comparison I can share with you but can only reference what I have seen on the net done by others. A landscape shot wide open at f2 yielded similar results at the extreme right edge of the frame to that of the competition did stopped down to f2.8 at the center. Thats right let me repeat myself. At f2.0 the the extreme edge of the frame from the Zeiss appear to be equal or better than the center frame shot from a Canon 24mm 1.4 stopped down to f2.8.
This photo is linked from www.16-9.net and is showing the center section of various lenses at f2.8 The one on the left is from a Canon 24mm 1.4
Here is the entire url to their page.
http://www.16-9.net/lens_tests/24mmcup/final/24mm_final4.html
Here is the Zeiss 25 f2 shot wide open featuring the extreme right edge of the frame.
At f2.0 The corners do suffer a little but by 5.6 and f11 the corners are not only intact but they retain amazing amounts of detail as you will see further down in the "Boring Ugly Photos"
Are portraits Sharp?
Hand held at f3.5 the colors and detail is just Jaw dropping sharp!
Full frame
Crop at the center
Vignetting is ok and better controlled than the 21mm when shot wide open. However, you will need to correct this in post processing as it is evident and does not really truly disappear until about f3.5 or higher.
Contrast and color
There is not much I can say here other than your typical Zeiss contrast and strong colors. No complaints what soever from me. It renders what I like and it does it well. Strong demarcation between tight parallel lines and snappy color!
Zeiss 25mm f2.0. ISO 200 at f2.8
What Chromatic Aberration?
CA / Purple Fringing is virtually non existent. The following quote from the Zeiss press release on the 25mm f2, "Selected types of glass and two aspheric surfaces prevent color fringes from appearing on high-contrast edges." holds true and is evident in the following shot.
As you can see the 100% crop from a section of the full frame image below, there is virtually no visible CA. This was shot hand held at f2.8. Don't pay too much attention to detail here. I was searching for an image that showed something dark against a bright background.
Bokeh is dreamy and creamy. When shooting wide open and even at f2 and f2.8, the out of focus areas are just drop dead gorgeous! Transition from in focus to out of focus is just phenomenal. These are shot at f2.
Zeiss 25mm f2.0 Distagon shot at f2 with a Canon 5D2
Zeiss 25mm f2.0 Distagon shot at f2 with a Canon 5D2
The Boring Ugly Photos
I will be adding some additional images that represent more real world scenarios rather than the following ugly photo you see below at different aperture settings.
These shots where done with a Canon 5D2 on loan from www.Popflash.com and the Zeiss 25mm f2. There are various shots of the same subject at different apertures so you can see for your self the difference.
The Full Frame
Right Edge at f2.0
Notice the clear separation of the power lines in the image.
Left Edge at f2.0
Bottom Left Corner at f2.0
This dramatically improves as you will see further below.
Right Edge at f5.6
Left Edge at f5.6
Right Edge at f11
Left Edge at f11
Bottom Left Corner at f11
Look at the detail preserved in this shot. Focus was at infinity, yet the foreground and bottom left are amazingly sharp retaining detail in the leaves.
--
JT |
|
Top
Bottom | Zeiss 25mm f2.0 ZE Distagon Review
Page 1 - Post 1
Reply By:  philber
Send Message
Interesting review, but I beg to differ on one point. This lens has a flaw, which is extreme corner sharpness. Much as I tried, I could not get the extreme corners (and I mean extreme only) to sharpen up, even stopped down. This comes for undercorrected spherical aberration. So, if you want a perfect picture from this lens, it really is more like a 28mm than a 25.
That said, it is absolutely amazing in just about every other respect, esepcailly colours. Anyone familiar with the ZE 35 f:1.4 will see the great likeness of these two lenses, even though the 25 goes a wee bit father in colour quality and transparency IMHO
--
|
Back - New Thread - Top - Smilies and More
Register for free and write reviews to share with your friends.
Reading reviews posted by people you know is the best way to get reliable reviews. |
|
friendcommended.com 
