Anybody else rocking the Zeiss ZF?

marlinspike

I got a Zeiss ZF 50 1.4 in the mail yesterday. It's pretty rockin'. Considering the $200 price gap, the canon 50 1.4 holds it own, in center sharpness terms anyways (Zeiss is very slightly better in center sharpness, though no CA so it's better by a lot in some situations), but the ZF 50 1.4 does beat my Nikkor 50 1.2 quite handily in both the center and the edges (both of which beat the canon 50 1.4 in the edges).
Since I use a 1.6x crop digital, I'm not too concerned about the edges for EF mount meaning I'm sticking with the canon 50 1.4 on my 20D, but the Zeiss 50 1.4 is going on (actually it's already on) my Nikon FM2n (35mm film mechanical camera).
Richard

marlinspike

BTW, here is a comparison set. This is not the best test picture, so the differences are only subtle here, but they are there.
http://davidson.smugmug.com/gallery/1532016
They are all at 1.4 and taken in the order of the name of the gallery (ZF, Nikkor, Canon). I've left originals and saving enabled on that gallery.
Focus is on the leather patch with the word Billingham.
Richard

gtc

green envy
I am envious-how much did you pay and where from.

How about some bokeh examples?

Greg

marlinspike

$520 shipped from Stephen Gandy at cameraquest.com

Bokeh examples will have to wait for the weekend, I use film during the weekdays.

BTW, my lens was from his second shipment, so I think when he says he is taking deposits on backorders for the 2nd shipment, that's just out of date. IIRC he has some in stock.

Zoom Raider

I'd like to someday get a Zeiss or two for my D50, but this Search thing in the IE never seems to find much of anything.
I know Zeiss makes lenses for Nikon, but I just don't see how to order any.
I went to Zeiss' site and I didn't see where to order from there either.
I've heard Schneider-Kreuznach makes some for certain cameras, but am not sure if they make any for Nikon.

DoctorIt

I would say you down right rock. Now if only I could figure out which photo in that gallery is from which lens.

marlinspike

I told you in the second post Doc, they're in the order of the title (so the first one is the ZF).

www.zeiss.com, then camera/cine lenses, photo and video, and then nikon (ZF). You can order direct from zeiss, but it's 500 euro (which is a lot more than the $500 +$20 shipping that Stephen Gandy charges). So if you want to order, go to cameraquest.com then click on his pricing list. I think he still has some in stock. (they are japanese models though, US distribution hasn't started yet, but he has an english manual pdf). I can't wait for the weekend so that I can get some day time tests to show you all (I have some black and white film coming back to me on friday, but if you are used to looking at digital images those will be meaningless to you).

marlinspike

Ok, well I decided to take my 20D with my nikon to eos adapter with me and use it on my lunch hour. Not great photos, but they are samples, and some of them do show bokeh, though focus isn't always dead on since manual focus with a 20D is a crapshoot. They are all with the ZF 50 1.4, the f-stop is in the caption. I have left originals and saving enabled. Still have another 18mb to go, but I figured I'd let anybody just checking in know they should hang out for a few minutes.
Richard

marlinspike

Ok here they are
http://Davidson.smugmug.com/gallery/1542036

marlinspike

marlinspike wrote:

Ok here they are
http://Davidson.smugmug.com/gallery/1542036

Check out the detail in the 3rd picture (White House, f/5.6, focused at infinity. Pretty awesome when you consider how far away I am). Also, keep in mind that these have no USM or contrast or saturation or anything done to these. These are the RAWs, all that I did to them was adjust WB and convert with RSP set to all of the default settings.