Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F1.4 - Full sized samples up

[bfitzgerald]

Not my favourite site but still...
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/ ... le_images/

Thoughts?
My observations are that not many shots at f1.4 are apparently that sharp (bar the grill shot) Even putting aside focus errors I expected better here.
The white wall/blocks shot shows a surprising degree of distortion for a 50mm lens
The lens is quite big for a 50mm prime

[bfitzgerald]

Nearly 140 views no comments?
Anyway I read the latest Amateur Photographer issue and they have a 50mm shootout with quite a few lenses from all the makers.
They commented on the CZ 50mm Sony and said the distortion was the highest of all the lenses tested at 2.3%, they also commented that the Sigma 50mm f1.4 wide open put the Carl Zeiss to "shame" They did test some other Zeiss lenses and didn't rate them that highly v others.

They didn't have a 50mm f1.4 normal Sony. The CZ 50mm f1.4 A mount got 4 stars, the 50mm f1.8 also got 4 stars (they said it was on a par with other makers offerings ie budget prime) Sigma, Canon and Nikon f1.4's all got 5 stars, so did the Nikkor f1.8. So far I've not seen anything from the new CZ that seems to justify the high price tag. I'm really surprised they did an f1.4 and not an f1.2, the price is actually out of whack for the lens speed.

[mvanrheenen]

Seems like a nice lens on FF, but don't like the focal length on APS-C, which I shoot. The price tag is pretty high for a 50mm, even if it is a CZ.

About the distortion: how much of that would really bother you in real life images?

[classiccameras]

A 20 or 24 would do me nicely on my A37, but these focul lengths are hard to find from Sony and KM.
Not sure what CZ are up to, and it begs the question do they actually make these lenses. Its not unusual for Japanese high end lenses to out perform some German ones, it was already happening in the 35-mm SLR days.

[mvanrheenen]

A 20 or 24 would do me nicely on my A37, but these focul lengths are hard to find from Sony and KM.
Not sure what CZ are up to, and it begs the question do they actually make these lenses.

CZ does offer a 24 mm for A-mount... or did you mean if they actually build A-mount lenses? They don't, they only design the A-mount lenses but others make them.

Mark

[4paul]

I rented the lens for five days; here is the result:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41148025@N ... 551279190/

Most "reviews" are cranked out quickly to be "first", and the pictures you linked to demonstrate that.
I suspect my pictures are more what most people would get on walkabout.

I convinced myself I could live without the lens, even though I got very good results with it. It didn't "speak to me" ... then again I rented the 16-80 a few years ago, didn't like it, ended up buying one a couple years later, and it is a "go-to" lens, so I may end up with the 50/1.4 and it will be my most used lens - "never say never"!

Incidentally, Dyxum put the picture of yellow flowers in the weekly exhibition, so I got a good result from a lens I didn't like!

About distortion: distortion is very obvious at close focus, but I didn't notice much at infinity; the fire station shot did have some distortion that I removed in PP. The fire station shot is also a 1/4 crop, so the lens has PLENTY of resolution on a 24mp sensor.

I had to fool around with focus adjustment, on a900.

[mvanrheenen]

Some great images there 4paul and thank you for the information about the distortion.