zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

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wayne seltzer
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p.1 #1 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Just found these first shots taken with the new 135/2 which just shipped from factory and which Diglloyd is reviewing now.
Here is the link:
www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmdo/

The lens looks to have more contrast wide open than my za 135/1.8 but not as smooth bokeh.
I will rent this lens and compare it to my mod'd ZA 135/1.8 which has been a favorite of mine since 2009.
I would like to see more bokeh examples.
Wondering what others think about these images and the len's rendering?

Feb 28, 2013 at 01:22 AM

Lee Saxon
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p.1 #2 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

I too was less than thrilled by the bokeh, but for many applications that's an acceptable trade-off for such impressive wide-open correction, contrast, and resolution.

(comments based on what Lloyd Chambers has posted so far, I don't got no $2200)

Feb 28, 2013 at 01:37 AM

wayne seltzer
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p.1 #3 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

The image with the metal stake with rope has the tree in the background rendered with double ghosting. Saw that double ghosting on the hand in the foreground of the portrait of the sleeping girl.

Feb 28, 2013 at 02:25 AM

hiepphotog
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p.1 #4 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Wayne, you beat me to it. I plan to do a comparison as well, but probably not anytime soon until I can free up some money.

I'm asking Lloyd to do a comparison between this lens and the Elmarit 180 APO he has, but he said he is having difficulty getting critical focus on the Leica even with live view. This lens is definitely interesting with 1 stop faster and closer focus.

Good catch on the double ghosting, but until I see a side-by-side comparison with the ZA, I'm not quite convinced that it's exclusive to the lens.

Feb 28, 2013 at 03:13 AM

Taylor Sherman
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p.1 #5 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Looks really good to me. Interesting that the retail price is right about the same as what the CV 125/2.5 APO-Lanthar goes for these days.

Feb 28, 2013 at 03:14 AM

philip_pj
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p.1 #6 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

I think it looks gorgeous. Beautiful shaping and depth, great off focus fade, very nice portraits also in the high contrast style. An arty look with clean strong colours, a good allrounder probably. He has shot some tough and plain scenes also, it went as well as you can reasonably expect given the lighting. Some of the reaction will be purely personal taste of course.

Wayne, the hand image extra blur looks like her chin, and the bark patterns in the tree have intermingled with the tree trunk's edge, I think. You might come around on it when using it yourself. It's a few hundred more than the 100MP, so the choice is there for people.

Many of these are pretty much isolated foreground/ distant backgrounds, very tasteful but would be good to see more continuous subject matter extending into the images.

Feb 28, 2013 at 03:16 AM

edwardkaraa
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p.1 #7 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Results just as expected, superb. However, I too have the feeling the ZA draws more nicely and with some extra 3D rendering, but with lower contrast and less biting sharpness. The APO Sonnar is a pure Zeiss breed, while the ZA is what you expect when you mate Zeiss with Leica/Minolta look.

Feb 28, 2013 at 04:56 AM

freaklikeme
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p.1 #8 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Looks good to me.

As for the APO vs. the ZA, I'm betting the APO will be much nicer to manually focus.

Feb 28, 2013 at 05:45 AM

mpmendenhall
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p.1 #9 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

I've seen some of this same bokeh characteristic in other makes of Apo lenses (Leica and Voigtlander): "donut" point spread in the medium-defocused regions, bright-ring bokeh with a wider/softer outer edge. This can give pronounced double-edging when you hit just the "wrong" frequencies in background patterns, though not the harsh striations that sharper-edged bright ring bokeh circles can produce.

One image that stood out to me was this pair of jeans; the out-of-focus rendering near the focal plane seems very unique to me. I can't recall having seen any other lens that would "draw" the scene this way.

Feb 28, 2013 at 05:58 AM

Jamesmdo
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p.1 #10 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Hi all , I hope to have more standard images up for the weekend , I mean with minimal PP .

It is a lovely lens , very comfortable to use and extremely precise focus ring , really love it .

Hmm , yes , perhaps the ZA has smoother boke , but it is 1.8 and that is enough to have smoother bokeh , I think . I have a set with the ZA version too .

Thanks for nice comments over here ;-)

Feb 28, 2013 at 09:27 AM

carstenw
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p.1 #11 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

It looks to me as if the spherical aberration is almost perfectly corrected. This leads to flatly illuminated boke circles with no soft edges, nor rings, as far as I know. Under-corrected SA has nicer boke, with soft-edged boke circles, but less contrast.

Nice portraits.

Feb 28, 2013 at 10:38 AM

alundeb
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p.1 #12 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

I don't see double ghosting (think it is repeating detail in the subject), and not donut shapes either.
To me it looks like a "perfect" lens, wiht uniform blur discs as Carsten mentions. Some prefer this bokeh over soft blur discs, I remember Richard (brainiac) did. It also depends on the subject and conditions of course. Most of the samples look gorgeous to me. Thanks for sharing jamesmdo, and welcome to FM!

Feb 28, 2013 at 12:12 PM

mpmendenhall
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p.1 #13 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

The "donut" bokeh that I'm seeing is mainly in the areas slightly out of focus, where blur discs are a handful of pixels wide in the "large"-sized image. Look, e.g., at some of the pointlike specular highlights in some of the duck images (on the slightly defocused rear ducks). This transitions to "perfect" bokeh in the bigger blur circles further away. I just thought this was interesting because it seems to be due to some common factor in the design of many APO lenses, regardless of make.

Feb 28, 2013 at 04:16 PM

wayne seltzer
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p.1 #14 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

James, welcome to FM Alt!
Thanks for posting all your very nice images with the new ZF 135/2 APO. We like to discuss here the drawing style of all zeiss lenses new and old. And compare them to see their strengths and weaknesses, although this new lens may not have any weaknesses.

Look forward to seeing moreof your images with this lens soon. Bokeh rendering style is very subjective but we try to indentify the differences and not say one is better.

The rate at which the focus transitions from in focus to out of focus in an image looks slower, than. ZA, but hard to say when not compared side to side. What do you think?
@Hiep, I have leica 180 2.8 APO and can compare them too. Look forward to your comparisons too!

Feb 28, 2013 at 04:23 PM

Almass
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p.1 #15 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Why you want to compare with a Leica R APO 180/2.8?

I would like a comparison with the Nikkor 135/2 D, the Canon 135mm/2 L USM and the Voigtlander 125/2.5.

Feb 28, 2013 at 04:33 PM

carstenw
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p.1 #16 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

I'd be interested in a comparison with the not-quite-equivalent Olympus 75/1.8.

Feb 28, 2013 at 04:55 PM

Toothwalker
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p.1 #17 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

alundeb wrote:
I don't see double ghosting (think it is repeating detail in the subject), and not donut shapes either.
To me it looks like a "perfect" lens, wiht uniform blur discs as Carsten mentions.

Right. To be frank I don't even see ghosts.

Feb 28, 2013 at 05:52 PM

hiepphotog
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p.1 #18 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Almass wrote:
Why you want to compare with a Leica R APO 180/2.8?

I would like a comparison with the Nikkor 135/2 D, the Canon 135mm/2 L USM and the Voigtlander 125/2.5.

Cause he said he would compare it with the Nikkor and Canon soon. Though the focal length is different, both are pretty similar in size and weight. To say if one wants a manageable and fast APO, which one would be the choice. Lloyd already has the Leica so it doesn't hurt to know. Anything below 200, the Leica 180 APO (both cron and elmarit) seems to be the sharpest with most consistent performance.

Feb 28, 2013 at 06:20 PM

JaanOs
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p.1 #19 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Was tempted but more I see images... I think I’ll pass this time.
Probably mislead about naming scheme Sonnar and associated bokeh rendering style with ZA 135/1.8 dreamy look. 135/2 is much more neutral. And there are alternatives- good lenses with similar rendering.
Agree, it can be as perfect as possible on plane of focus. And surprised how good is foreground rendering on those portrait pictures Jamesmdo shared (subjective of course but there is more neutral approach handy). It could be very interesting portrait lens due to this.
Maybe I have to eat my words as there will be more pictures with foreground rendering like this

Feb 28, 2013 at 07:07 PM

carstenw
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p.1 #20 · zeiss 135/2 APO:first shots

Yes, uniform blur disks gives the same boke in front of and behind the plane of focus, I think, whereas ringed boke and soft boke get each other on the other side of the plane of focus.

Feb 28, 2013 at 07:52 PM

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