Zeiss 135mm f2 Apo Sonnar Preview

[bchernicoff]

wow, wow, wow!

http://zeissimages.com/showreplies.php?qid=950

It does make me even more anxious to see what Sigma and this 135mm 1.8 OS might offer.

 

[drjlo]

Looks to be a great lens, but it still has no AF, weighs a lot (2.02 lb), and costs double the current 135L price :'(

 

[ksuweh]

I want one! Droll!!

Problem is, I want too many new lenses!! LOL!! 8)

 

[Dylan777]

I'm too lazy for MF

 

[infared]

Looks to be a great lens, but it still has no AF, weighs a lot (2.02 lb), and costs double the current 135L price :'(

Plus...there is now the new (promising) Auto-Focusing Sigma 135mm f/1.8 with image stabilization....Could be a winner and will definitely be less expensive than the Zeiss. We will not have to wait too long to find out, apparently.
The Zeiss does look like an impressively sharp lens with great contrast and beautiful bokeh! WOW!

 

[Drizzt321]

Looks to be a great lens, but it still has no AF, weighs a lot (2.02 lb), and costs double the current 135L price :'(

So it'll cost as much as the next Canon 135L then? Joking, I kid. I kid. No really.

Joking aside, I'd love to get some Zeiss glass, but just too expensive for me and for what I normally do. So, perhaps some day...

 

[Mr Bean]

After using a Zeiss for the past few months (on a 5D3), the MF is less of a hassle than I realised. For the price of the IQ, it's worth it

 

[risc32]

well, depending on what you shoot, it might not matter.

 

[Mr Bean]

well, depending on what you shoot, it might not matter.

True. Most of my work with Zeiss lenses has been landscape or portrait. I'd go nuts trying to do BIF with them

 

[rpiotr01]

After using a Zeiss for the past few months (on a 5D3), the MF is less of a hassle than I realised. For the price of the IQ, it's worth it

If you don't mind me asking, are you doing straight viewfinder focus? Using red light focus confirm? Live view?

I ask because I rented a Zeiss 35 f2 last summer and I LOVED it but I found I was missing shots a bit using the focus confirm. I go back and forth on buying one because I'm sure I'll get better at it but... you never know. Thanks

 

[Hobby Shooter]

It would be great to own one one day, but I don't see well enough to manually focus and being a hobbyist it would probably not be reasonable for me to put that money into a lens.

 

[infared]

Mr. bean...I see that the only Zeiss Lens that you have in your quiver is the new 15mm. Nice choice...that would also be one of the easiest to manually focus..(I am saving for that lens...it looks wonderful)...but hand-holding and focusing this 135mm would be a whole different challenge!

 

[sanj]

The focus ring will work great for video. Just like their 35 does. Hard stops. Smooth focus...

 

[sanj]

Pictures look good. Is it the camera or the lens? JUST KIDDING..........

 

[Mr Bean]

Mr. bean...I see that the only Zeiss Lens that you have in your quiver is the new 15mm. Nice choice...that would also be one of the easiest to manually focus..(I am saving for that lens...it looks wonderful)...but hand-holding and focusing this 135mm would be a whole different challenge!

True, it has some latitude, but I've hired a few Zeiss lenses over the past 6 months. "Try before I leap off that fiscal cliff" was my thinking

If you don't mind me asking, are you doing straight viewfinder focus? Using red light focus confirm? Live view?

I ask because I rented a Zeiss 35 f2 last summer and I LOVED it but I found I was missing shots a bit using the focus confirm. I go back and forth on buying one because I'm sure I'll get better at it but... you never know. Thanks

If its the Nikon mount (with adapter), either a bit of a guess or Live View. If its the Canon mount, the focus confirm in the view finder. The focus confirm does have a bit of latitude in it, I must admit.

MF lenses have got their quirks, but, I tend to use them for fairly specific purposes (usually static subjects). It's not that long ago that I was still using the FD range of lenses (4 years or so), so MF isn't too much of a hindrance.

 

[ksuweh]

If its the Canon mount, the focus confirm in the view finder. The focus confirm does have a bit of latitude in it, I must admit.
[/quote]

Wouldn't a micro adjustment fix this? Maybe I'm wrong about that.

 

[Mr Bean]

"If its the Canon mount, the focus confirm in the view finder. The focus confirm does have a bit of latitude in it, I must admit."

Wouldn't a micro adjustment fix this? Maybe I'm wrong about that.

I'm open to suggestions. Not sure myself. I might hire one for a weekend, to see what it's like, once they become available.

 

[P_R]

Hello,

How does one evaluate this lens and others like it - eg Canon 135, Sigma 135? I guess hands on would be ideal, but my problem is that there are many variables to any particular shot, you might nail a shot with a lens and determine it is great, or the reverse and conclude it is not ideal. And I don't just mean f/stop, shutter speed, ISO. Focus ability (in the case of a MF lens), camera body, PP, shooting technique and so on. And for me reading technical evaluations only goes so far. I also tend to discount reviews to a degree - at least in this case the reviewer indicated he's a Zeiss Fan boy, so that helps frame the review.

A friend of mine had a philosophy which he used when learning to play golf. He purchased the most expensive Ping clubs before he started his lessons (Ping beingt he best in his eyes). I asked why? Answer was that in golf there are plenty of variable in play, buying the most expensive clubs ruled one variable out. Can't be the clubs, must be something else.... I don't agree with that of course. But when you can't decide, maybe there's some logic there.

Ped.

 

[yogi]

Looks like a delicious lens. I have already spent my lens budget for this year though. Maybe in the future. Would also like the 15mm zeiss. Manual focus is not always easy for me, and i get a good many rejects, but it is worthwhile for the results i get when i nail it. Not very good for action photography in my experience, but others with more experience with mf might disagree. I wonder, as some others have mentioned, if trying to mf focus @ 135mm will be more difficult than shorter lenses. I use live view & have the egs, though have not installed it yet on my 5dmkll.

 

[RLPhoto]

No IS + F/1.8 = No replacement for 135L.