Zeiss Lenses of the future...

crycocyon

Senior Member
Winners: Five prizes for ZEISS lenses at iF awards 2013 | Camera Lens Blog

In particular, their new 50 mm 1.4 lens. Interesting design.

Zeiss50mmDistagon.jpg

I certainly hope that these lenses will perform much better than the present ZF.2 line which I've stayed away from on account of less than impressive performance.
 

Eye-level

Banned
Maybe those original Zeiss lenses were designed around the Ikon RF and not necessarily for the other mounts. They offered the other mounts to get volume? I know the two that are made in Germany (much more expensive too) had very good reviews.

I'm rather partial to Zeiss Ikon especially the old stuff. I've always wanted an old 85 Sonnar from the Contarex line that was F mount. And if I go Fuji X series (which I now doubt that I will do) I can assure you I will get a prewar uncoated 50 Sonnar maybe two of them. :)
 

STM

Senior Member
There is no disputing that CZ has made superlative lenses for many decades, my Hasselblad C's and CF's are simply amazing glass, but honestly given the price differential between CZ and Nikkor, which can be substantial, is it reallly cost effective to go with CZ over Nikkor for FX/35mm? Even with the introduction of the D800 and its phenomenal resolving power, I am sure the enlargements would have to be substantial to see any significant differences. If you want to get a D800 because it will let you crop to one small part off the image to make up for your lack of optical horsepower or compositional skills, then I think you should probably need to re-visit your competency level as a photographer first before plunking down a lot of money on a new camera. One of my biggest questions when it comes to people jumping on the 36 MP bandwagon is will they ever really enlarge stuff to the extent that you would actually be able to take advantage of that big jump? Megapixels for megapixels sake is way overrated in my opinion. And it leads into the discussion that so many people seem to get completely wrapped around the axel on all the rest of that el-nerdo techie crap; megapixels, noise, high ISO, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum, that they forget that the camera, regardless of is simplicity or complexity, is in its most basic form, still nothing but a mere recording device. Always has been and always will be. It is what the person holding that recording device does with it that makes the difference between some rank amateur level snapshot that looks like it was taken by your half blind Aunt Bertha with a disposable Kodak she got at Walgreens, or a truly memorable image. Someone with superior photographic skills could take one of those plastic HOLGAS and simply blow the doors off someone with their fancy D4 if they don't have a good understanding of the basic principles of photography. My D700, at a "paltry" 12 MP enlarges quite nicely to 16x20 and even beyond to 24x30 with my best glass, like the 105mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.4 AIS's.
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
There is no disputing that CZ has made superlative lenses for many decades, my Hasselblad C's and CF's are simply tremendous, but honestly given the price differential, is it reallly cost effective to go with CZ over Nikkor for FX/35mm? Even with the introduction of the D800 and its phenomenal resolving power, I am sure the enlargements would have to be substantial to see any significant differences. One of my biggest questions when it comes to people jumping on the 36 MP bandwagon is will they ever really enlarge stuff to the extent that you would actually be able to take advantage of the jump? Megapixels for megapixels sake is often way overrated. My D700, at a "paltry: 12 MP enlarges tremendously well to 16x20 and even beyond to 24x30 with my best glass, like the 105mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.4 AIS's.

I think many jumped on the D800 for the newest pro body/features and not the 36 mp. The 24 mp D600 sensor in the D800 body would be ideal. As far as zeiss lenses, I agree, price/performance may not be there. If they came out with a great 16 or 18mm prime, a point where Nikon is weak, I would consider it. The current ziess 18mm isn't that great to jump on (as far as specs I've seen).
 

Eye-level

Banned
You and I are definitely on the same plane here Scott. Who needs 36 MP? Who really needs 24 MP? If you are going to shoot in those woods get you a MF. Of course digital MF backs cost about the same as a new car but I'm just saying... :)

Kevin Camera has some old Contarex to F mount conversions...one fixed f stop only...if I were made of money I'd have a whole set of black ones!

The new Zeiss lenses are pretty bossy looking though you have to admit.
 

crycocyon

Senior Member
Certainly for the sake of enlargement, the extra resolution is useful, but even if you don't see that resolution in smaller image sizes, there's something about the images from the D800 that are, at least to me, the closest thing to what we really see. For the past few years I've always been able to tell a digital photo from a film photo because of the unsightly patterns of noise or NR. Now for the first time, with these amazing images from the D800, I can't tell. That makes photography exciting again for me, because it is no longer a digital image that is an approximation of reality....it really shows reality. And for an amateur like me to be able to gain access to MF-level resolution (check out that Leica S vs D800e comparison), it is an amazing time to be in photography. Of course now the lenses have to catch up to the sensors because the images are no longer "sensor-limited" but diffraction limited.
 

crycocyon

Senior Member
This is really interesting to compare the Nikon 85mm 1.4g with the Zeiss 55 1.4 Otus lens:

ZeissOtusvsNikon8514g.jpg

Same distortion, same vignetting, same light transmission, the Zeiss has only 1 µm less chromatic aberration, but where the Zeiss really shines is in its resolution of 29P-Mpix versus 22P-Mpix on the D800. Still we are looking at a 7P-Mpix difference. When you consider the price difference, it makes the 85 1.4G even more amazing, at least to me. Yes, I'm comparing different focal lengths, but my interest is just to consider optical performance irrespective of focal length. Would the Zeiss give me sharper images? Yes. But considering the MP of the D800, how much could one notice unless one enlarges the image significantly? I wonder and it would be interesting to compare these side by side. At least my disappointment in the Nikon 58 1.4G has been tempered by the way the 85 mm has performed against the Zeiss.
 
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