matt_bennett3 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Just wondering (if $ were not an issue), has anyone done a head-to-head comparison of the relative performances of these two lenses? I have read almost nothing but exceptional praise for the Canon lens, barring the wide open peripheral CA, and given that it has full electronic compatibility with the EOS bodies, it would obviously result in more 'keepers'. But manual focus etc aside, is the performance of one any better than the other in anyone's opinion who has experience with these lenses? Just intrigued..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crowe Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 I guess not too many people have 5K or so to blow on both of these. The Zeiss 85/1.4 is phenomenal. Same resolution at f1.4 to f2 as any other 85/1.8 lens but close it to f2.8 and it destroys even my Nikon 200/2 which is the sharpest lens I have ever had at f2. My concern with an f1.2 lens is it's ability to render out-of-focus areas softly wide open. Often over corrected lenses can run into problems here. I have a funny feeling that is why the Zeiss 85/1.4 that I had was designed to be so soft wide open when compared to closing it two stops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_bennett3 Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 Cheers for that John. Yes, I'm one of those that doesn't have 5 grand to blow so I think the Canon will probably do just fine. The Contax was more about lust :-) Will do a bit of further reading on the Z1.4 though, following what you have told me. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreas_carl Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 According to the MTFs published by Zeiss, the 85/1.2 is as sharp as the 85/1.4 wide open. Both lenses however get significantly sharper when stopped down to f5.6 - so the question is, do you really need that "super bokeh" and are willing to sacrifice some sharpness for it? I myself eventually bought the Zeiss 85/2.8 - this one is much sharper wide open, compared to either 85/1.4 or 85/1.2 and when stopped down to f5.6 still beats the 85/1.4 and equals the 85/1.2 lens! In addition it is very small and quite inexpensive. A true gem in my "collection" of Zeiss lenses! When I need more bokeh (foreground-background seperation), I usually reach for the Zeiss 100/2.0 which has some of the most beautiful bokeh ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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