Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: henrikfoto on July 21, 2013, 02:12:18 pm
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I am waiting for this lens which is supposed to be the best 50-55 ever.
Is there a salesdate yet?
Is any mtf-curves released?
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Date: late this year or early next. Don't be surprised if this slips, and if actually getting your hands on one takes awhile after they officially start shipping.
MTFs: none yet (that I know of). There are pre-production samples out & about, but I'm not sure if the design is truly finalized yet.
Keep your eye on Google...search & sort by date.
-Dave-
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My bet would be that they will try to shoot for a release timing similar to that of the D4x... ;)
Cheers,
Bernard
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Interest video of Dr Nasse of Zeiss talking about the lens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mEj6CqZWMk
Perhaps Lula could interview him one day ??
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Interest video of Dr Nasse of Zeiss talking about the lens
Hi Dave,
Thanks for that link. He obviously compared against one of the worst possible lenses, but I'm confident that it's a very good lens. Will be interesting to see how the final product performs.
Cheers,
Bart
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The Zeiss lens has doubled in lens elements and more than doubled in weight since my last 55mm f/1.4, a 1968 Mamiya-Sekor lens (7 elements, 305 grams), which was an excellent lens in its time.
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An update from Zeiss:
http://blogs.zeiss.com/photo/en/?p=4190
Cheers,
Bernard
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While I am sure this lens will have the quality they promise, I think this is a dead end. They say they make it for high resolution sensors, but half of the images it's users will make will be (slightly) out of focus because of no AF. Sure one can use liveview, but first this slows down the process of shooting and is not suited for anything with moving objects, also Nikon's liveview in the d800 (and more so with the older d700) is still not good and makes it even harder.
I am sure a certain type of (wealthy) shooter will buy it because it will be one of the "best lenses ever made" (those magic words), but they should not forget: Even this 3000 (?) USD lens will not make anyone a better photographer, it will just make your images a little better in a technical way. I assume stopped down to F2,8 or F4 the differences to a good 50mm AF lens (Canon/ Nikon/ Sigma 50/1,4 or f1,2) in print will be hard do see.
I personally also notice that since the advent of high quality mirrorless cameras my tolerance for heavy gear has become much lower. I did not find any infos about the weight of this lens, but I guess it will easily exceed 1kg. Seen that normally even fast 50mm lenses are amongst the lighter ones, I guess I would be less than thrilled to schlepp around 2kg just with the body and this one lens. Plus the rest.
But I am sure on FM the alt section will fill with bokheliscious pictures of leafs, trees, stones, flowers, cars, bicyles made with this 3k lens, as soon as it comes out :)
Bernie
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While I am sure this lens will have the quality they promise, I think this is a dead end. They say they make it for high resolution sensors, but half of the images it's users will make will be (slightly) out of focus because of no AF. Sure one can use liveview, but first this slows down the process of shooting and is not suited for anything with moving objects, also Nikon's liveview in the d800 (and more so with the older d700) is still not good and makes it even harder.
The live view of the D800 is not sexy but it is 100% effective as far as reaching critical focus is concerned.
Personally, the zeiss 50mm f2.0 is my most used stitching lens and I am interested in the 55mm f1.4 as a possible successor.
I am sure it will have more value for me in the long term than a possible investment in a 4/3 system that would cost a similar amount. The cost is trivial when compared with MF prices.
But my needs are probably pretty unique, I am sure few people use 50mm lenses that much for critical landscape work.
Cheers,
Bernard
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Personally, the zeiss 50mm f2.0 is my most used stitching lens and I am interested in the 55mm f1.4 as a possible successor.
(...) The cost is trivial when compared with MF prices.
But my needs are probably pretty unique, I am sure few people use 50mm lenses that much for critical landscape work.
So what apertures will you typically use when you stitch?
regards
Bernie
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... I am sure a certain type of (wealthy) shooter will buy it because it will be one of the "best lenses ever made"... I am sure on FM the alt section will fill with bokheliscious pictures of leafs, trees, stones, flowers, cars, bicyles made with this 3k lens, as soon as it comes out :)
Aren't stereotypes fun?
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So what apertures will you typically use when you stitch?
Bernie,
I use whatever the targeted image requires, just like for non stitched images. I am not sure why the use of stitching has to impact the choice of working aperture?
Overall my baseline is f5.6, but I use the whole range that provides good image quality, again depending on the image I want to achieve. Currently, I tend to avoid shooting more open than f2.8 because the images quality degrades a bit too much for my taste at f2.0 on the Zeiss 50mm f2.0.
We do not know yet how much better the 55mm f1.4 will be at f5.6 but that will only be one factor affecting my decision. Having a near perfect f2.0 would be very valuable for me to shorten exposure times in distant panos at dawn/dusk. Alternatively, it would enable me to drop the ISO 1 or 2 stops without impact on image quality. Light fall off will also have to be confirmed.
Other key factors will be the level of chromatic aberations on edges and in oof areas, the quality of bokeh, the overall rendering style,...
The lens is obviously the key element in terms of look, what else matters?
I respect your choice to select your equipment based on the convenience factor, but my criteria remains the best possible image quality. That's why I used to use 4x5, that's why I owned a MFDB and that's why I stitch with a D800 now with some of the best lenses available today. The day when I feel that convenience is more important will probably be the day when I will know that I need to change hobby. But that is just my approach to photography and I respect others.
It does of course not mean that I will carry my D800 with a Zeiss 55mm f1.4 all the time. There are of course times when a smaller/lighter camera is the preferred option. I also use the Sony RX100, Sigma DP2m and Nikon V2 + 32mm f1.2 depending on needs. As a side comment, the Nikkor 32mm f1.2 is way too expensive, but is a pretty amazing lens.
Cheers,
Bernard
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because of no AF.
there is a "catch in focus" (aka "focus trap") option w/ PDAF for non AF lenses... I had that w/ Pentax dSLRs, I am sure Nikons have that too.
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Bernard, I also use the 50 Makro for stitching. This new lens certainly warrants a test!