New Carl Zeiss series for Canon

[geotzo]

Hi all,
having an upcoming landscape assignment, that I ll have to do with an Slr, due to mobility issues, I ve been looking at these new Zeiss series for Canons.
What's your experience on these comparing to the L ones? I am currently looking for a better performer than the 24mm L (which is not that good comparing to the 35mm L)
and a 50mm standard. Their prices seem decent, but I need some real life experience. Any thoughts? Oh, I ll be using 1ds MkIII and 5D MkII.
Regards,
George

[DaveCurtis]

If you are really keen I suggest you get the paid reviews at www.diglloyd.com. I did and they are worth the cost. The bottom line is all Zeiss lenses are not automatically better than all L series lenses.

You are limited with the current ZE selection but you can use the ZF lenses with an adapter.

The current pick of the crop would be (ZF):
21mm f/2.8 Distagon
35mm f/2 Distagon  
50mm f/2 Makro-Planar
100mm f/2 Makro-Planar

[geotzo]

If you are really keen I suggest you get the paid reviews at www.diglloyd.com. I did and they are worth the cost. The bottom line is all Zeiss lenses are not automatically better than all L series lenses.

You are limited with the current ZE selection but you can use the ZF lenses with an adapter.

The current pick of the crop would be (ZF):
21mm f/2.8 Distagon
35mm f/2 Distagon  
50mm f/2 Makro-Planar
100mm f/2 Makro-Planar

Thanks for replying. It looks like 35mm Distagon is not any better than 35mm L. I ll get those reviews you recomented anyway.

[DaveCurtis]

yes, they are very similar.

[Roeland]

yes, they are very similar.

This is partly because the 35L is one of the few canon wide angles that is very decent and worth the money. In this field, even as a canon user, I must say that nikon has the edge.
If I had to choose a Zeiss, it would be the 21 definitely. Purely for the spirit of it, I bought a 2nd hand leica 19mm R (II) which is the only lens that can rival the 21 distagon.
Anyway George, your 21 MP will be grateful, way to go!

[Panopeeper]

The current pick of the crop would be (ZF):
21mm f/2.8 Distagon
35mm f/2 Distagon  
50mm f/2 Makro-Planar
100mm f/2 Makro-Planar

Perhaps one should distinguish between the old Zeiss lenses and the newest ones, designed for digital.

For Canon mount, only the 21mm, 50mm and 85mm are planned as of now. According to Zeiss, the 21mm *will* be (i.e. it does not exist yet) available later this year.

Anything else is with special adapter ring. I am not saying that these adapters are detrimental to the quality, but it is not proven either, that they are not detrimental.

[Hägar the horrible]

Perhaps one should distinguish between the old Zeiss lenses and the newest ones, designed for digital.

For Canon mount, only the 21mm, 50mm and 85mm are planned as of now. According to Zeiss, the 21mm *will* be (i.e. it does not exist yet) available later this year.

Anything else is with special adapter ring. I am not saying that these adapters are detrimental to the quality, but it is not proven either, that they are not detrimental.

Sorry to disagree. The new Zeiss lenses are not designed for digital, many of them are actually the very same designs like the old Contax lenses. Zeiss published some of their own resolution tests which were done on film "because only film bla bla" not so long ago.

Zeiss ist not exactly straight forward in their communication and they keep pushing deadlines around, so for what its worth: The ZE 18mm will hit the market in April 2009 :-) according to their PR dep. a couple of months ago. That probably means at a time it will be available. I own the ZF and it is my biggest disappointments from Zeiss ever, probably my expecations were too high on this one

I would take a ZE25 over a 24L but I wouldnt take an adapted Z lens over the 24L anymore

[DaveCurtis]

Sorry to disagree. The new Zeiss lenses are not designed for digital, many of them are actually the very same designs like the old Contax lenses. Zeiss published some of their own resolution tests which were done on film "because only film bla bla" not so long ago.

Zeiss ist not exactly straight forward in their communication and they keep pushing deadlines around, so for what its worth: The ZE 18mm will hit the market in April 2009 :-) according to their PR dep. a couple of months ago. That probably means at a time it will be available. I own the ZF and it is my biggest disappointments from Zeiss ever, probably my expecations were too high on this one

I would take a ZE25 over a 24L but I wouldnt take an adapted Z lens over the 24L anymore

Correct. The new Zeiss lenses are not designed for digital. In some of the wide angle Zeiss lenses the CA is much greater than the new "digital" Nikon and Canon lenses.

The 18mm ZF Zeiss get the worse reviews out of all the "new" Zeiss lenses. It will not  be on my list if the ZE equivalent comes out.

[marcmccalmont]

Why not use a Nikkor 14-24 plus a 16-9 lever adapter?
I'm happy with it
Marc

[achrisproduction]

Why not use a Nikkor 14-24 plus a 16-9 lever adapter?
I'm happy with it
Marc

My 1Ds Mark III has difficulty to meter when using manual lens with adapter ( I have tried ZF 50 f/1.4 T* & AI 85 f/1.4 ).  Does this happen to you?  I wonder what kind of info go through the contact between lens and body.