Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25 Gets Official

[Canon Rumors]

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From Zeiss Through the special optical design and the targeted selection of optical glass, chromatic aberrations are virtually eliminated on the Distagon T* 2/25. The effective correction of distortion and field curvature is attributable to the inclusion of two aspheric lens surfaces. The floating elements design ensures high quality across the entire image field. The Distagon T* 2/25 is practically distortion-free.

With outstanding image quality even at maximum aperture, the Distagon T* 2/25 proves particularly advantageous in indoor photography without the use of a tripod – even in difficult lighting conditions. With this lens, you can take wide-angle shots which look natural and dynamic at the same time, thanks to the large angle of view. Whatever the application, this lens goes beyond the bounds of creativity.

Technical Specifications

• Focal length: 25 mm
• Aperture range: f/2.0 – f/22
• Focusing range: 0.25 m – infinity
• Number of elements/groups: 11/10
• Angular field, diag./horiz./vert: 81°/71°/51°
• Coverage at close range: 219 x 144 mm
• Filter thread M 67 x 0,75
• Dimensions (with caps): ø 71 – 73 mm, length 95 – 98 mm
• Weight: 570-600 g
• Camera mounts: EF Mount & F Mount

Official Zeiss Product Page

thanks Bruce

cr

[ferdi]

The previously available Distagon T* 2,8/25 ZF.2 will continue to be on stock and supplements the new Distagon T* 2/25.
[...]
The Distagon T* 2/25 will be available end of 2011 at a recommended retail price of €1217 (excluding VAT)*.

Source: http://www.zeiss.de/C12567A100537AB9/Contents-Frame/1C0E32851722D09241256A79002A2CA7
Slightly more expensive than the 2/28, which is no surprise.

A few noisy pics can be found at the Zeiss blog: http://blogs.zeiss.com/photo/en/?p=999

[telephonic]

Knew this announcement from dpreview and stopped for God-knows-how-long at the price. At 1217 EUR, it's quite cheaper than EF 24 1.4L II. At least I know now that AF motor, and an additional stop might cost around 500 GBP.

[AprilForever]

Alas, am not interested... is this more for full-frame users?

[noisejammer]

I'd not classify any EF lens as being exclusively intended for a particular sensor size, although being manual focus it's a fair bet that this will be something of a niche product. I use a number of ZE lenses and they're really suited to slow, considered, deliberate photography.... Others with a sharper eye might use them routinely on moving subjects.

In any case, the apparent field of view would match either a 32 or 40 mm lens mounted on a full frame camera (1.3 or 1.6 crop respectively.) In my experience, these are very useful fields. I've looked at the distortion and mtf plots - the centre of the field is almost distortion free and it's sharp....

All looks promising. If it equals the performance and 3D feel of the ZE 2/35, it will be a stunner... at the quoted MSRP it had better be.

[recon photography]

looking good  , still i do like my auto focus

[dr croubie]

Alas, am not interested... is this more for full-frame users?

I'm very interested, and i'm an APS-C user (7D).
as NJ said, on a 1.6x crop APS-C, its FOV is the same as 40mm on FF, which is a bit in "no-man's land" traditionally. Still, affordable fast primes with decent IQ are thin on the ground in this area (canon's 24/35 1.4 Ls are too expensive, sigma's 20/24/28 1.8s and 30/1.4 aren't so good IQ, even canon's 28/1.8 and 35/2 aren't the best and they're really old). Samyang's 35/1.4 is the only standout for the price, but no AF or even EXIF data.
Too bad this one's a zeiss, so price-tag will probably match. But if it gives IQ in the range of the TS-E 24v2 at half the price, it could pick up a lot of customers...

[Edwin Herdman]

Given how much dancing around the topic of chromatic aberrations the press release does, I'm hard pressed to believe it's an apochromatic lens.

Seems like overkill on APS-C to end up with a slow ~40mm lens.

Can't get over how little those sample photos do for the lens - ugly, noisy, and as most of the frame is black it's impossible to judge some of the salient features people will care about, like vignetting, edge sharpness, and even the chromatic aberrations, I think.

Which is not to say that it doesn't look like a quality lens - my only quibble here is really with the poor marketing job.  Least convincing curtain-pulling in some time (especially since it seems like the curtain is still there, in regard to the sample photos).

[AprilForever]

Seems like overkill on APS-C to end up with a slow ~40mm lens.

My thoughts exactly. Sigma 30 1.4 - 1 stop faster, close in focal length. And has autofocus! is it as sharp? Assuredly not, but also whale loads cheaper (and more useable).

Maybe this is more appealing to the video crowd (I'm sure its focus should be pretty well-damped, and easier than most autofocus lenses)...

EDIT: Spelling and computation errors!

[Fandongo]

Zeiss lenses feel awesome for video.
Canon L's are fairly close, and i like how it doesn't have a super hard stop at the end.
Zeiss = amazing bokeh
Canon = crazy sharp
AF drive for follow focus... The USB ones blow (seem to stutter a bit)
Canon has refused to acknowledge the potential...continuous AF in new 1d/5diii?
Continuous AF was an experimental feature in an old 550d ML update in March, it wasn't perfect and would pass the focus point/not know exactly where to focus, but still worked incredibly well on a glidecam.
Incredible potential made me buy canon.
If that potential is never pursued, i may regret not going zeiss.
But if it's going to be heavy and expensive anyway, why not make it 1.4?