Zeiss ZF.2 25mm 2.8

<p>A couple of months ago I posted a question on this forum about using a Zeiss ZF.2 25mm lens on a D7000. In the end, I did buy the lens. I just wanted to share a few thoughts.<br>

--The lens cost a bit more than the D7000 body! This is fine, just a heads-up<br>

--The build quality of the lens is wonderful: really solid, metal, physical aperture ring, good drag on the focusing ring. It is heavy (not sure how much it weighs, but as the D7000 body is light, I find it balances best with the battery grip attached to the camera)<br>

--The lens is chipped, so it does talk to the camera's CPU. You can control the aperture either manually or with the camera's control dials via one of the custom functions. All the exposure modes work. <br>

--An added bonus of the aperture ring is that when shooting video with this camera, you can change the aperture on the fly. To do this, you need to enable Manual Movie Settings and set the exposure mode to M (and obviously toggle off the CF which allows the aperture to be set with the camera controls)<br>

--Most importantly: the images are beautiful, once you get back in the MF habit. Crisp, contrasty, nice bokeh. I sold my M6 last year, and was missing that Leica-ish feel. I don't shoot sports or anything I really need AF for, and the single-sensor confirmation light works well. The little arrows on each side tell you which way to turn the focus ring. This won't suit folks who want to take advantage of Nikon's superb AF system and lenses, and I'm not criticizing that system in any way. But if you are happy to shoot in a slightly slower manner, then you might want to look at a lens like this.</p><div></div>

<p>If you're going to post this kind of free advert for Zeiss, more detail would be nice. Like, what aperture was your sample shot at Terry? What are the edges and corners like? What's the lens like on full-frame?<br>

The sharpness of your sample looks good, but not outstanding, and fairly similar to my 24mm f/2.8 Ai-S Nikkor, which could be chipped for around US$25 and has as good build quality and feel as you could wish for. Unfortunately, the corner sharpness of that Zeiss on <a href="http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/585-zeisszf2528ff?start=2">Photozone's samples</a> looks a lot worse than my MF Nikkor, and the CA seems marginally more visible as well. So personally, I'd take a lot more convincing that the Cosina/Zeiss is worth the money, when a mint 24mm f/2.8 MF Nikkor can be had for less than half the price.</p>

<p>This wasn't meant as a review or as an advert. I was just commenting on a few things I like about the lens. The picture of the little girl was shot at 4.5. I have no full frame or film bodies right now, so I can't tell you about that. I haven't done any kind of systematic tests...obviously vignetting isn't going to be an issue with a crop sensor anyway. I like the close focusing ability of the lens, but that's not really a deal maker or breaker. I live in a country where getting a lens chipped just isn't an option, regardless of cost, and in my case that fact alone could be a problem.</p><div></div>

<p>Joe, Terry did not strip any of his EXIF data from the photo. I see all of the exposure details and settings in my EXIF viewer, so no need to be so rude. If you care to know, you are free to look that information up yourself. Why are you asking him to describe the performance of his lens on a full frame camera when he clearly states that he has a D7000? He simply enjoyed his new lens, which few were able to give him any information on previously, so he decided to post because he's happy with it. For one, I'm glad that he posted. Also, it's funny that you post photozone's examples, because if you care to read their conclusion on the DX test:<br>

"The Zeiss Distagon T* 25mm f/2.8 ZF is a very good fix-focal lens but it doesn´t reach the quality levels of its sister, the Planar T* 50mm f/1.4. <strong>Nonetheless it easily outperforms the corresponding Nikkor AF 24mm f/2.8</strong>."<br>

http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/257-zeiss-distagon-zf-t-25mm-f28-review--test-report?start=2<br>

Also, on full frame while it may have a weaker performance, it does have a much closer focus distance, which may be useful to some. Did Mr. Zeiss and Terry beat up your grandma or something?</p>

<p>Terry, Thanks for sharing your experience of using your Zeiss 25mm lens with us. It was informative. I am hoping to buy one too, someday. Enjoy.</p>

<p>Ariel, I was comparing the results from the Zeiss to my MANUAL FOCUS Ai-S Nikkor, not to the AF version. That seems a fairer comparison to me, and although the optics of the AF and MF Nikkors are supposed to be the same, their build quality certainly isn't.</p>

<p>I don't think it's too much to ask of someone to post the tech details of any lens examples, especially when they want to share their enthusiasm for it. To get the EXIF data I would have to download the picture and open it in Irfanview or similar; and some people won't have any means of reading the Exif data at all. It's also useful in judging the quality of a lens if the picture shows in-focus detail out to the edges of the frame.</p>

<p>Terry, fitting a chip to an MF Nikkor is a fairly straightforward DIY job. The price I was quoting was for the chip only, available for delivery to most parts of the world from internet sources.</p>

<p>The Zeiss has a close focusing capability that the nikons don't. 5-7 inches tho can't quite remember...</p>

<p>It's always fun to read about lenses (especially ones that I'm not going to afford), even if it's not a full review. Cute picture. For Firefox there is the 'Exif Viewer' extension (http://araskin.webs.com/exif/exif.html ), so you don't even need to (explicitly) download the file to see the EXIF data.</p>

<p>The interesting thing about this lens is that it can be focused down to 17cm for wide-angle makro shots. Too bad that it is not really optimized for these kind of shots because it does not have close-range correction. I once tried this lens out for a few days and was completely underwhelmed by the results. They were good enough for snapshots but not for professional quality.<br>

The corners suffer from heavy field curvature. I have found my Ais 28mm/2,8 delivered much better quality.</p>

<p>"I have found my Ais 28mm/2,8 delivered much better quality."<br>

I have compared the two lenses in question on my Nikon D3 cameras.<br>

The above mentioned Nikkor is designed to have excellent sharpness in the close up range, and it does just that. It is probably the highest performing wide angle lens for the close up range for 24x36 ever made.<br>

The Zeiss 25/2.8 was designed with an extended focus stroke for the odd, impressionistic, degenerated quality that over-extending a non-CRC retrofocus lens gives. <br>

Personally, I'll take the ZF for long focus distances everytime.</p>

<p>Much more than any other ZF lens the 25mm f2.8 has an extremely strong character that you are likely to love or hate. Principally it has extremely strong field curvature which means that at close to medium distances and at wide apertures planar subjects - like a flat wall - will come out badly. The centre of the image will be in focus whereas the corners will not be as the plane of focus is bent away from you.<br /> If you are photographing a wall this is unarguably a problem, however if you are shooting real world subjects this character is actually rather appealing as the slightly curved plane of focus gives the subject rather more depth. For landscape use it is first rate.<br /> When I first bought the 25mm I performed the classic wall test and was inevitably disappointed at what I found but when used on realistic subjects it is bitingly sharp as well as distinctive in the way it depicts subjects. But you do have to learn how to use this lens - an effort often rewarded with striking results. I have come to think it is brilliant.</p>

<p>The only example of a shot using this lens on this computer is this one:</p><div></div>

Thank you for the information. Responding to that and the Lake Pukake image. Excellent image.

 

I'm purchasing a Df and am looking for a good all purpose wide angle prime. I have a D800E and NEX-7, along with an RX-100 III. All

have their uses.

 

This may be the lens for me. Largely will be used for night landscapes. Also my first CZ lens, not counting the 24 for the NEX-7.

 

Thank you.

 

Tom - Boise, Idaho, USA