nickdemarcofoto Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 <p>My Zeiss 25mm f2.8 (Nikon fit) finally arrived yesterday. I already bought a good adapter. Took a few shots on the way to and from work just to see how it was. Here is a link to the first shots. http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/gallery/zeiss_25<br /> <br /> First impresssions:<br /> As the reviews said, incredibly sharp. Nice cool Zeiss look. Good bokeh wide open. Macro ability is crazy, you can focus within 2 inches of the subject.</p> <p>It's a quite heavy lens (nearly .5 kg) and much bigger than my Contax 18mm f4, but still smaller than the Canon 16-35mm f2.8L Mk II. Being only in Nikon fit it took a while to get used to everything be the wrong way around, especially as 90% of the focus ring is for 6 foot or under.</p> <p>The lens and hood are certainly very solid and well made as you would expect. I'm pleased to discover it has a 58mm filter thread as I had just bought a 58 infra red filter and I think that would be a beauty on the 25.</p> <p>I had a trip to Paris last weekend and had expected the 25 to come with me, but it had not arrived. Instead I used the Contax 18mm f4 a lot for wide stuff. The 8 excelled itself in the bright sun of Paris, especially for architecture. I am pretty sure already the 25 is sharper, much sharper. Generally, the 25 is a more useful range for me. But I ill be hanging on to the nice quite smll 18 for those extra wides.</p> <p>I have gone through a few wides, but think the Contax 18 and the Zeiss 25 will now be all I really use, so will probably be selling a Leica 21, Olympus 21, Leica and Olympus 28 soon (I shall keep my 16-35L for times I need AF).</p> <p>I hope to take the 25 out for more of a proper go this Saturday, and update this gallery then. Also maybe do a comparison wit the Canon 16-35L, and 24-105L at 25mm</p> <p>Nick</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbkissel Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 <p>I like the staircase shots, Nick! Well done!</p> <p>I'm confused though (easily done these days)...the lens is a 25mm prime, but the EXIF data shows 50mm. Is that due to the adapter?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_merriman1 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 <p>Very nice photos. I would be interested in the f stops used for the photo above and for 6540 and 6547. Thanks</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdemarcofoto Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 <p>No, it's due to no efix being recorded. Whenever I use a manual lens the efix has no data at all so automatically attaches a default '50mm', and often a 'f2' as well, which is annoying when you have an 18mm f4 lens at f16!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdemarcofoto Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 <p>Thanks John. I am afraid I did not keep a record (but I will for the tests I do on Saturday). However, the first two are, to my best recollection, either f11 or f16, or the half stop in between, and I am pretty sure the river one was f8 as it was getting too dark to do f11 with no tripod</p> <p>Nick</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_merriman1 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 <p>I figured that was probably the range of f stops used. The corner sharpness of the building photos looks to be excellent. Thanks</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deans Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 <p>Nick, Thanks for info and the nice pics on the Zeiss 25mm. Have you had a chance to see how it performs with direct light? Does it have a lot of flare or ca's? I have heard that Zeiss lenses are pretty good in that area. Would you say the Zeiss lenses perform better than the 21mm Oly? Looking forward to see how it performs against the Canon L lenses. Thanks, Dean</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deans Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 <p>Nick, Thanks for info and the nice pics on the Zeiss 25mm. Have you had a chance to see how it performs with direct light? Does it have a lot of flare or ca's? I have heard that Zeiss lenses are pretty good in that area. Would you say the Zeiss lenses perform better than the 21mm Oly? Looking forward to see how it performs against the Canon L lenses. Thanks, Dean</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdemarcofoto Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 <p>I have now done the lens test with the Zeiss v the Canon 16-35mm f2.8L II and the Canon 24-105mm f4L. You can see all the results here: <a href="http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/25mm_lens_test">http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/25mm_lens_test</a></p> <p>Maybe not a fair test (a prime v non-primes) and really just testing for image quality. But the Zeiss wiped the floor with the Canons. My final scores were Zeiss 25/2.8, 13/14 (93%), Canon 16-35 f2.8L II, 8/14 (57%) and Canon 24-104 f4L, 1/12 ( 8%).<br> I have alse put up some more photos taken with the Zeiss in different conditions, and using an IR filter. You can see them here:<br> <a href="http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/zeiss_25">http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/zeiss_25</a><br> I think this 25 will become my favourite lens for general wide, wide angle photography</p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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