New Zeiss Batis 40 f2 lens

[Telecaster]

Related to my comments above re reported eye AF issues on the Fred Miranda Sony Forum  ... I'm surprised that no one who actually owns the lens has tested eye AF and reported it here. I'm still awaiting my copy and that is the one thing that might make or break my purchase. My logic is that if there's an issue, I'll either await a fix or buy a different lens. It seems pretty simple, all one needs is a human subject, we all have eyes. An adult just needs to sit there and be photographed. I guess I am asking others to be my beta testers in the absence of any definitive tests from an authoritative reviewer such as Lloyd Chambers, who says he's awaiting another copy, Fred Miranda, who's also awaiting a copy, or Roger Cicala at Lens Rentals. If any of these folks review this aspect of the lens, at least as important as bokeh, and "nonagons." I'd be greatly appreciative.

Sorry, but Eye-AF behavior is just not enough of a thing to me that it warrants going out of my way to investigate. If the opportunity presents itself, and I think of it, I'll take some pics.

-Dave-

[Telecaster]

Dave, the pictures are a godd*mn insult to that lens' sumptuously beautiful contrastdrawing. Please, go out and take a decent image, will ya! No treebark, no brick walls, but something worthwhile. Pronto!

  If you can arrange for Michigan to give me something other than blank gray skies, drizzle and/or sleet and more than 2–3 brief glimpses of the sun per week, I'll be happy to oblige. The weather since I returned from my lovely holiday has been utter shit!

-Dave-

[Kirk_C]

The weather since I returned from my lovely holiday has been utter shit!

I've spent a lot of time in Michigan and it can absolutely beautiful. Picturesque Charleviox, Harbor Springs, Petosky, Holland and the wonderful sand dunes. I'm sure you'll have some sunshine in 5-6 months 

[Telecaster]

So I was talking on the phone with my friend Patty last night, and jokingly suggested she fly up to Michigan so I could test "my new lens" (the 40mm) on her. Patty: "Dude, I can't make it but what if I FedEx you one of your photos of me?!"    Which got me to thinking: Eye-AF should work on decent reproductions of eyes just as well as the real thing.

And so it does. I tried it out on an old Jimi Hendrix poster, various portraits displayed on my TV and an 8x12" print of a closeup pic of Patty. In each case I had to get close enough for the camera to detect an eye, but once it did it locked on consistently and focus was accurate. How well Eye-AF works with a moving subject is another matter, of course.

FWIW…

-Dave-

[hogloff]

And so it does. I tried it out on an old Jimi Hendrix poster, various portraits displayed on my TV and an 8x12" print of a closeup pic of Patty. In each case I had to get close enough for the camera to detect an eye, but once it did it locked on consistently and focus was accurate. How well Eye-AF works with a moving subject is another matter, of course.

FWIW…

-Dave-

What aperture were you using? Slight out of focus gets buried with small apertures.

[Telecaster]

What aperture were you using? Slight out of focus gets buried with small apertures.

Yep, I used f/2 throughout (and focus distances >1m as the lens auto stops down at close range if set wide open).

-Dave-

[faberryman]

Yep, I used f/2 throughout (and focus distances >1m as the lens auto stops down at close range if set wide open).

Who thought that was a good idea?

[Telecaster]

Who thought that was a good idea?

My guess is Zeiss considers the lens' closeup (below 1m) performance sub-standard when wide open, and so have disallowed that config. It's likely a tradeoff: allow focusing down to 24cm with aperture restriction; or increase the minimum focus distance and preserve f/2 throughout. The company tends to be particular about such stuff.

-Dave-

[Telecaster]

When I got up this morning the sun was actually shining, a rarity during the past 2 1/2 weeks. But by the time I did all my usual morning stuff the gloom had returned. Nevertheless I felt like taking some pics, and here are four of 'em. I've been shooting some HP5+ lately on my old M3, trying to exercise my monochrome sight and seeing if I can translate that to the electronic medium. Taken with the 40mm Batis at *f/2 (pics 1 & 3) and f/5.6 (2 & 4).

-Dave-

*Probably auto stopped down a little due to the lens behavior noted here in previous posts.