Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 ZE Distagon

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A few photos from Iceland using the Zeiss Distagon 21mm f/2.8

A couple of months ago I was asking for advice on which wide-angle lens to go for, as I was planning a trip to Iceland. After the advice I received I rented the Zeiss 21mm and although I didn't actually use it all that much (I didn't have any filters for it and using a step-down ring meant vignetting in each corner) it was successful for when the northern lights finally came out to play. Here's a couple of images from my trip:


Northern Lights over Jokulsarlon
by sophieatkinson, on Flickr


Northern Light Burst
by sophieatkinson, on Flickr


Sitting on the Beach
by sophieatkinson, on Flickr


Wrecked Boat, Berufjörður
by sophieatkinson, on Flickr


Sunset near Lagarfljot, Eastern Iceland
by sophieatkinson, on Flickr


Grasses at Stokksnes, Höfn
by sophieatkinson, on Flickr (quality on saving this one down isn't great at the edges).

Anyway, thanks for all the help! It was a great fun lens to use, but fortunately I didn't fall in love with it enough to rush out and spend the huge amounts needed to buy it! Will stick with my 24-70mm f/2.8 mark I for the moment.
 
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I´ve been looking at this lens for quite some time and finally pulled the plug. This is actually the first image I ever shot with it, during a visit to The Breakers in Newport, RI. Would have preferred a TS-E lens, but in general I am very impressed with the optical performance of this lens. Mechanically it is just superb.

This was shot handheld with a 5DIII, with a polarizing filter.
 

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Well distant.star, I would not have too high hopes for my wide angle images. This is actually something I find very difficult. But I can´t complain about the equipment. This lens is clearly amongst the best primes you can hook on the a DSLR.

This is from the coastline off Stonehaven in Scotland. The ruins of Dunnottar castle can be seen in the top right corner. We didn´t get the best light, but the green is about as green green gets ...

1DX, 1/160s, f9.0, ISO100.
 

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I have posted quite a few images from this trip on other threads (Zeiss 15mm, Zeiss Otus 55, 5DIII and Waterscapes), but I did use the 21mm also. Some people argue that a polarizing filter on these UWA lenses does not work, due to uneven coloring of the sky. I find them very useful on both this lens and the 15mm.

This is another from Gullfoss (Gold Fall), the largest water fall in Europe.

5DIII, 1/250s, f5.6, ISO100, Cirucular polarizing filter.
 

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This one is from Þingvellir National Park on Iceland, where the Althing, an open-air assembly representing the whole of Iceland, was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws - seen as a covenant between free men - and settled disputes.

The most remarkable thing about this area is that it clearly shows the escarpment between the European and American continental shelves. And it has these phenomenal lava sculptures.

5DIII, 1/250s, f10, ISO100, CPL filter
 

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Hi Guys,

Lovely Pics!!!

Just bought this lens a few months ago coming from a canon 17-40, and let me say WOW, what a lens. This beauty delivers every single time, i was never fully happy with the canon, sometimes with very good results but sometimes not so good.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/giamppiero/
 

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Dec 17, 2013
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Jamie, YOU got yourself into the BBC calendar. The lens helped. That is wonderful light and composition. Eldar, that is a lovely shot of the historical Althing site, which has no buildings but is nevertheless a World Legal Heritage site.

I am a lucky owner of a used version of this lens, in pristine shape. I find that it takes some compositional work to come up with good photos, and that 28-35mm is a much easier FL to shoot. My landscape bag includes this lens, Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art, 6D, CPL, Lee holder and GNDs, shutter release. Tripod comes in its own bag. ~5 kg of kit total. It still feels like a lot, when hiking up steep grades.
 
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Click said:
Lovely shot Eldar. Beautiful light.
Thanks Click.

That last light is very beautiful and it is the best mental hygiene I can think of, to sit and watch it.

But a note on the colors; With the CPL on, the colors are so vivid that, instead of boosting saturation etc. I have had to reduce luminance on red, orange and yellow. I have reduced highlight and shadow a bit also, to show some more detail, but it still look almost overdone.
 
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I know this thread is old, but the board won't let me make a new thread to ask about all the 20/21mm options at once, so I'm kind of stuck using these old, dead threads!

Just wondering if anybody can give any input as to whether this Zeiss is still worthwhile today now that lenses like the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 and Samyang 20mm f/1.8 are out, where the Sigma has AF and the Samyang is a bit lighter (and cheaper!). It's easy to find example photos but that doesn't tell you much about how the lens is to really live with. And most examples I find are of landscape or astro, while I'm looking at these lenses for indoor use when 24mm is proving a little cramped.
 
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