Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Aboud on April 29, 2008, 10:03:08 pm

Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: Aboud on April 29, 2008, 10:03:08 pm
I have been hearing a lot of interesting buzz on the ZF lenses. Unfortunately, there are no Canon mount versions to date. I was thinking of buying the 100 F2 macro and using an adapter to fit it to my Mk III. Has anyone tried this lens and possibly this conversion? I had the Canon 180 3.5 L Macro and made the mistake of selling it. I was thinking of buying one again until I heard about the ZF. The focal length is not really an issue for me, and the loss of AF on the ZF is probably OK for macro. So the last issue is, is the ZF (@ F2.0) worth the $1600.00 cost compared to the 180 @ about $1300.00?
Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: sojournerphoto on April 30, 2008, 04:06:44 am
Quote
I have been hearing a lot of interesting buzz on the ZF lenses. Unfortunately, there are no Canon mount versions to date. I was thinking of buying the 100 F2 macro and using an adapter to fit it to my Mk III. Has anyone tried this lens and possibly this conversion? I had the Canon 180 3.5 L Macro and made the mistake of selling it. I was thinking of buying one again until I heard about the ZF. The focal length is not really an issue for me, and the loss of AF on the ZF is probably OK for macro. So the last issue is, is the ZF (@ F2.0) worth the $1600.00 cost compared to the 180 @ about $1300.00?
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Digilloyd has a pay for review. The pictures I've seen taken with it have lovely bokeh and I've thought about it myself. I also have a zf35 and that mounts via an adaptor perfectly well, but is manual everything.

Mike
Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: Jost von Allmen on April 30, 2008, 07:02:44 am
Hi
I use the ZF 100mm on a Nikon D3 since three months and find it to be stellar!
Unfortunately, I cannot compare it to any Canon lenses, but have compared it to the newest Nikon AF-S 60mm Micro, which is a fine lens, too:
The Zeiss is sharp wide open to the corners (fullframe) already with only little vignetting (which is easy to remove in post), sharpness and contrast increase slightly stopping down to 2,8. But certainly from F4 to f11 (diffraction limit on D3) the results are fabulous.
If you don't mind setting the aperture and distance manually, you'll enjoy using this lens in practice a lot: it's an exceptionally fine piece of engineering!

On the Zeiss homepage www.zeiss.com you can find detailed information, including charts for MTF, distortion (which is minimal!) and vignetting on all the ZF lenses.

I also just purchased the Zeiss ZF 2,0/28mm with comparably great results. With the 28mm, curvature of field wide open can be an issue, as described in the excellent review by http://www.diglloyd.com/ (http://www.diglloyd.com/).
There, he actually also compares the ZF 100mm to the Canon EF 100mm macro, with the simple conclusion "it couldn’t hold a candle to the 100mm Makro-Planar".
I'm absolutely sure it's resolution power will be sufficent for the upcoming Nikon 24MP D3x whatever.
Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: Aboud on May 01, 2008, 08:03:31 pm
Quote
Hi
I use the ZF 100mm on a Nikon D3 since three months and find it to be stellar!
Unfortunately, I cannot compare it to any Canon lenses, but have compared it to the newest Nikon AF-S 60mm Micro, which is a fine lens, too:
The Zeiss is sharp wide open to the corners (fullframe) already with only little vignetting (which is easy to remove in post), sharpness and contrast increase slightly stopping down to 2,8. But certainly from F4 to f11 (diffraction limit on D3) the results are fabulous.
If you don't mind setting the aperture and distance manually, you'll enjoy using this lens in practice a lot: it's an exceptionally fine piece of engineering!

On the Zeiss homepage www.zeiss.com you can find detailed information, including charts for MTF, distortion (which is minimal!) and vignetting on all the ZF lenses.

I also just purchased the Zeiss ZF 2,0/28mm with comparably great results. With the 28mm, curvature of field wide open can be an issue, as described in the excellent review by http://www.diglloyd.com/ (http://www.diglloyd.com/).
There, he actually also compares the ZF 100mm to the Canon EF 100mm macro, with the simple conclusion "it couldn’t hold a candle to the 100mm Makro-Planar".
I'm absolutely sure it's resolution power will be sufficent for the upcoming Nikon 24MP D3x whatever.
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Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: Aboud on May 01, 2008, 08:05:54 pm
Quote
Hi
I use the ZF 100mm on a Nikon D3 since three months and find it to be stellar!
Unfortunately, I cannot compare it to any Canon lenses, but have compared it to the newest Nikon AF-S 60mm Micro, which is a fine lens, too:
The Zeiss is sharp wide open to the corners (fullframe) already with only little vignetting (which is easy to remove in post), sharpness and contrast increase slightly stopping down to 2,8. But certainly from F4 to f11 (diffraction limit on D3) the results are fabulous.
If you don't mind setting the aperture and distance manually, you'll enjoy using this lens in practice a lot: it's an exceptionally fine piece of engineering!

On the Zeiss homepage www.zeiss.com you can find detailed information, including charts for MTF, distortion (which is minimal!) and vignetting on all the ZF lenses.

I also just purchased the Zeiss ZF 2,0/28mm with comparably great results. With the 28mm, curvature of field wide open can be an issue, as described in the excellent review by http://www.diglloyd.com/ (http://www.diglloyd.com/).
There, he actually also compares the ZF 100mm to the Canon EF 100mm macro, with the simple conclusion "it couldn’t hold a candle to the 100mm Makro-Planar".
I'm absolutely sure it's resolution power will be sufficent for the upcoming Nikon 24MP D3x whatever.
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Thanks for the feedback. I think I am going to take the plunge.
Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: Conner999 on May 03, 2008, 07:37:28 am
Quote
Thanks for the feedback. I think I am going to take the plunge.
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VERY sharp, well built. Very good flare resistance. Somewhat CA prone. Nice bokeh. My sample and some others have had VERY (as in unusable) stiff focus rings and had to be returned. Others have been fine.
Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: Let Biogons be Biogons on May 04, 2008, 10:53:13 pm
Quote
VERY sharp, well built. Very good flare resistance. Somewhat CA prone. Nice bokeh.
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Pretty much agree, except for the CA "prone" part.  It is actually very good with respect to CA compared with other Macro lenses.  "CA prone" makes it sound like it particularly bad with CA which it is not.
Title: Zeiss ZF 100 F2 Macro info needed
Post by: John_Black on May 08, 2008, 09:15:14 pm
The 100/2 ZF is still relatively new and somewhat niche oriented due to manual focus and its price.  Personally, I love the Contax 100 F2 Planar which is a predecessor to the new ZF.  A Contax C/Y 100mm Planar F2 is about ~$800 used plus an adapter, so its another viable option.  

http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_100mm_Planar.html (http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_100mm_Planar.html)