Since the last Zeiss thread kind of slipped off-topic (and since the Zeiss 135mm f/2 Apo Sonnar ZF2 isn't technically an "Otus"), I decided to create a thread topic specifically dedicated to this lens.
I just received this lens Friday, and have barely had an opportunity to use it, but one thing I noticed right away is
its amazing sharpness. The image below was taken hand-held, at f/4.0, in a moderate breeze ... and yet is still razor-sharp:
(Click on the image, then click-again, for full-size view)
I realize this rather ugly image is unworthy of the fine lens that the Zeiss 135mm is, but the fact that it can be cropped
so much and yet retain such detail, is astounding (esp. @ f/4 in a breeze). I am 100% positive that, on a tripod, with a remote switch,this lens will produce spectacular results.
Yet, ironically, I am not really sure how to use this lens for my purposes as a wildlife photographer. My 300mm VR II is as sharp as this one, with the benefit of blistering AF, and it can achieve similar results ... from even farther back. Meanwhile, my macro lens goes even closer-in, all the way up to 1:1, to where I wouldn't have to crop the final result at all, and as such I could have achieved better detail of this tiny juvenile mantid subject.
As such, I am struggling trying to find a use for this lens, given the above. Yet I immediately recognize the excellence of this lens in its own right. As a hiker, the 135mm Apo Sonnar is too heavy, too fragile, and
too good, to sit in a pouch amongst other lenses unworthy of its company.
It seems to be the type of lens that a photographer must dedicate himself to for the whole day, taking it out alone, getting to know it as an individual, experimenting with it, and coaxing it to sing as it clearly seems capable of doing.
I would be curious to hear other people's thoughts about this lens, and even more curious to see their best efforts with it.
(I promise to post better photos than the above next time ...)
Thanks,