Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF
My usage
I use short tele lens as my main lens when I'm taking nature photographs. I use it to all kind of purposes
from close-ups to lanscapes. Typically in everything else than landscape photography the foreground and
background can not be sharp, therefore it's very important that bokeh is good quality.
For actual macro shots I prefer to use Canon EF180mm f/3.5 L USM
since it offers more working distance and more magnification.
Image quality
2008-03-01: In order to give final verdict more photographs are needed to be taken. This section is
under construction.
Sharpness and Contrast
Based on photos I have taken I have no reason to doubt that the measured MTF charts would not be as
Zeiss has them measured.
According to Zeiss (underline parts different than in Canon's MTFs): "The Modulation Transfer (MTF) as a
function of image height (u) and slit orientation (sagittal, tangential) has been measured with white
light at spatial frequencies of R = 10, 20 and 40 cycles/mm."
Bokeh
Wide open - subjective
Closed down - subjective
highlight shapes - in corners "cateye" or not
highlight shapes - is the highlight circle having strong edges or soft edges
Lens flare
Backlight
Nightphotos on city => strong lights
Vignetting and distortion
Microcontrast
Textures etc.
Close ups/macro image quality
2008-03-01: not yet tested, have to wait until spring...
According to Zeiss (underline parts different than in Canon's MTFs): "The Modulation Transfer (MTF) as a
function of image height (u) and slit orientation (sagittal, tangential) has been measured with white
light at spatial frequencies of R = 10, 20 and 40 cycles/mm."
Handling and usage
Focusing from infinity to 0.44 meter is about 360 degrees rotation. Manual focus feeling is very tight and in
some situations I would prefer to have less resistance when turning the manual focus ring. Manual focusing
is very accurate and it's very easy to achieve accurate focus with live view. For Canon users the focus ring
also turns into wrong direction; e.g. all the way to clockwise is infinity and not minimum focus distance
Aperture is can be selected 1/2 stop intervals. When using viewfinder and manually stopping down it's easy
to calculate "clicks" from wide open to determinen the aperture into which lens is stopped down. Only problem
with setting aperture is that the lens barrel is quite wide (wider than aperture ring) and aperture ring is between
lens barrel and camera and in some situations it wasn't easy to adjust aperture, specially with gloves.
Lens hood protects front lens element very well physically and quite well from sun and other light sources
which could cause flares or decreased contrast if allowed to shine to front lens element. Lens cap is easy to
attach to lens or de-attach, since Zeiss lens caps are "center-punch" design.
Polarizer is quite difficult to operate when hood is attached to lens. Hood protects filter quite well from sun and
other light sources. However when filter is used 1/3 of it's exposed to lights source if light is coming from
angle that it barely reaches outer 1mm from the front lens element.
Build quality and basics
Build quality is as good as I could imagine, from different planet than Canon lenses. Lens hood has bajonet
and lens hood is made of metal, not plastic. Lens hood fits very well to lens and can be reversed.
Lens dimensions with Nikon to EOS adapter and lens caps are: diameter 76mm, length 116mm, weight 720g.
Dimensions when including hood: diameter 82mm, length 162mm and weight 780g. Length from EOS lens
mount with hood is between 145mm and 199mm. This lens isn't internal focusing and therefore extends when
focused closer. Lens extends about 44mm when focused to minimum focus distance 0.44m. Lens uses
weird filter size of 67mm, I don't use any other filter than Circular Polarizers and I didn't even have this size
yet.
Minimum aperture is f/22. Aperture has 9 blades and aperture remains very round even at f/22. Lens has 9
elements which are in 8 groups. Actual focal length is 97.5mm. Minimum focus distance is 0.44m, which
results 1:2 magnification and full frame (36mm x 24mm) coverage of 72mm x 48mm.
On 1.3x crop camera coverage is 55mm x 37mm and in 1.6x crop 45mm x 30mm.
Summary
Pros
+ Sharpness, microcontrast, contrast and colors are excellent
+ Stopping down is needed only to increase depth of field, contrast increases a little bit after f/2.8
+ Build quality and all metal construction
+ Lens performs very well in backlight situations
Cons
- Aperture ring is not easiest to use since it's between camera body and wide lens barrel
- Lens extends when focused
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See photos in my picturebank taken with this lens.
16-9.net - Test of 28mm lenses including CZ 28/2.8
digLloyd Zeiss ZF lenses
Pebble Place - Carl Zeiss Macro-Sonnar T* 2.8/100 N
Pebble Place - Carl Zeiss Planar T* 2/100
Zeiss.com - Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0
Zeiss.com - Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2.0
Pictures of Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF
Lens extends when focused
Distance from EOS lens mount (including adapter) to end of the hood is 145mm at infinity and 199mm at 1:2.
Front/side projection
Made in Japan, unfortunately...
Aperture ring in tight place
As you can see from photo aperture ring is not easiest to access, at least with gloves on freezing temperatures.
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