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Zeiss Distagon 35 1.4 ZM Review


Elderin

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Thanks, Elderin. The photos seem slightly out of focus. Definitely softer than the 35 Lux FLE IMO. Sean Reid's review also contained images that appeared to me a tad out of focus.

My experience with Zeiss glass has been razor sharp focus pretty much across the board.

Rich

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The lens it not soft at all. Mind you, the images are raw files, converted into small jpegs (down to 4mb) with either none, or only minor adjustments. You can get extreme detail if you looking for that. Of course postprocessing would have made them look better, but not so comparable in my opinion. maybe that is why you are missing out on something.

 

Sadfully i am not able to test the lens on the Sony as it has gone back to Zeiss. I have made some shots though, but nothing fancy to show just in or around my house.

 

At least i can tell that i did not see any problems like color shift or smearing. Even my 50 Lux was softer in the corners on the A7r when i looked closely and the wider the lens, the easier you run into problems. No problems visible with the Zeiss though.

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....

At least i can tell that i did not see any problems like color shift or smearing. Even my 50 Lux was softer in the corners on the A7r when i looked closely and the wider the lens, the easier you run into problems....

 

Well it sure isn't the 50 Lux's fault that it doesn't play well with the A7r. The A7r was not designed to use M mount lenses.

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Thanks Elderin - it's reassuring to see your images because it looks to be a great landscape lens.

 

I was able to try the lens at PhotoPlus Expo in NYC late October and did a quick and dirty bunch of test shots with my M240 at the Zeiss stand of whatever was nearby. Naturally the environment didn't lend itself to low ISO tests, or good far distance scenes.

 

In any case, I posted my early impressions on my blog here. There's also a link there for accessing some of the images as full-rez Jpegs.

 

Bottom line is I will get one, but would still like to compare it against the 35 Lux FLE. I started my M9 journey with a few ZM lenses but eventually added a number of Leicas and really like the more subtle Leica rendering and more nuanced/gentle tonality...

 

My understanding is the lens should be available sometime in January. Has anyone heard the same, or different?

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Thanks, Elderin. The photos seem slightly out of focus. Definitely softer than the 35 Lux FLE IMO. Sean Reid's review also contained images that appeared to me a tad out of focus.

My experience with Zeiss glass has been razor sharp focus pretty much across the board.

Rich

 

I don't know... I thought the lens was plenty sharp from my brief trial of it. Shot wide open you will see some slight SA in fine details, but not necessarily as noticeable as it can be in a lens like the 50 Lux ASPH at nearer focusing distances.

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