Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF

My usage

Since I decided to move from Canon EOS 5D to Canon EOS 1D Mark III I needed a new normal lens since I could no longer use my Leica Summicron-R 50mm f/2.0 as my normal lens since it's field of view on 1.3x crop is same as 65mm lens on full frame, a little long for my taste. 35mm field of view in 1.3x crop is same as 46mm lens would be on fullframe, therefore this lens is my normal lens on 1.3x crop format.

Most important aspect of normal lens (to me) is that it produces neutral perspective. With this lens I use perspective as main element to create the 3d feeling to images I take with, and typically it also needs help from well controlled bokeh, not too blurry and not too sharp and not distractive.

Naturally this lens is also used to all kind of landscape photography. Then I need all the sharpness and microcontrast I can get out from the lens, and this lens delivers!

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."

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 determine 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 quite well physically, but not from sun and other light sources. This lens would definitely benefit from scalloped hood. Zeiss lens caps are not very good to operate and I have replaced them with Nikon lens caps with have better design.

Circular polarizer is easy to operate even when the hood is attached to the lens. However the hood does not protect the filter much from the sun and other light sources.

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 65mm, length 115mm, weight 565g. Dimensions when including hood: diameter 82mm, length 162mm and weight 590g. This lens isn't internal focusing and therefore extends when focused closer. Lens extends about 5mm when focused to minimum focus distance 0.3m. Lens uses filter size of 58mm.

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 7 groups. Actual focal length is 35mm. Minimum focus distance is 0.3m, which results 1:5.4 (0.18x) magnification and full frame (36mm x 24mm) coverage of 196mm x 129mm.

Summary

Pros

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Cons

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See photos in my picturebank taken with this lens.

Photography links (Link to parent category)

Manufacturers

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eStores

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Cambridge in colour - Hyperfocal distance
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Bojidar Dimitrov's K-Mount Equipment Page
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Lenses

Van Walree Photography - Optics (many good articles)
Canon TS-E lenses

Tilt and shift lenses (regarding all TS-E lenses)
TS-E 45/2.8 on the-digital-picrure.com
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TS-E 90/2.8 on the-digital-picrure.com
Sports with TS-E lenses by Vincent Laforet for the NY Times
Fred Miranda - how to correct CA when shift used
Cambridge in colour - Shift
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Carl Zeiss lenses

digLloyd Zeiss ZF lenses
Zeiss.com - Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0
Zeiss.com - Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2.0
16-9.net - Test of 28mm lenses including CZ 28/2.8
Pebble Place - Carl Zeiss Planar T* 2/100
Pebble Place - Carl Zeiss Macro-Sonnar T* 2.8/100 N
SLR Lens Review - Contax Sonnar T* 2.8/135mm C/Y
SLR Lens Review - Contax Sonnar T* 2.8/85mm C/Y
SLR Lens Review - Contax Planar T* 1.7/50mm C/Y
Pebble Place - Contax Sonnar T* 2.8/135mm C/Y
Some example pictures of Zeiss lenses
pinciuc.com - samples from various lenses

Nikon PC-Nikkor lenses

16-9.net - Test of 35mm shift lenses
mir.com.my - PC-Nikkor 28mm f/3.5
mir.com.my - PC-Nikkor 35mm f/2.8

Adapters

Pebble Place - C/Y adapters

Cambridge in colour - Understanding camera lenses
Photo.net - Lens tutorial

Canon EOS 20D

Dpreview 20D review
Luminous Landscape part 1
Luminous Landscape part 2
Luminous Landscape field test
Photo.net review

Canon EOS 1D Mark III

The-Digital-Picture.com
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Theory

Digital Outback photo - "Image Sensor Size and Field of View" (good chart of common sensor sizes)
Digital Outback photo - "Pixel size"
Photo.net Effects of the physical size of digican sensors on performance by Bob Atkins
Focal length compression explained

Nature

Finland

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Coppice forest near Tampere / Lehdot Tampereen lähellä

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Tampere, Myllypuro 1
Tampere, Myllypuro 2
Pirkanmaan lehdot (miljo.fi)
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Cliffs near Tampere / Kalliota Tampereen lähellä

Orivesi, Eräpyhä
Orivesi, Vuorijärvi
Tampere, polku Kintulammilta Pulesjärven suojelualueelle
Nokia, Huuhkajanvuori ja Kaakkurijärvet
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Pirkanmaa

Luonnonsuojelu Valkeakosken alueella
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Luontokohteita - Nokia
Pälkäneen suojeluohjelma- ja Natura-alueet
Luonnonsuojelualueet - Orivesi
Luonnonsuojelu Lempäälässä
Pirkanmaan Virkistysalueyhdistys

Panoramic photography

Panotools Wiki (also lot of information which is not Panotools specific)
Panoramic heads

Nodal Ninja
Really Right Stuff
Virtual Reality Photography
360rage - Panorama hardware and heads

Cambridge in colour - Digital panoramas: part 1
Cambridge in colour - Digital panoramas: part 2
Cambridge in colour - Digital panoramas: Projections
Panoguide: the guide to panoramas and panoramic photography
Software

CubicConverter (QTVR)
PTgui
AutoPano Pro
Panoramafactory
PTmac
Hugin

Panomundo QVTR howto

Infrared

Ever wondered about IR photography (Infra Red)

Pictures of Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF

Lens extends when focused

Distance from EOS lens mount (including adapter) to end of the hood is 91mm at infinity and 96mm at minimum focus distance.

Front/side projection

Made in Japan, unfortunately...

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF with Canon EOS 1D Mark III

2/35 balances well with 1D Mark III