Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Nikon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

1
       2       end
  

Archive 2016 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?

  
 
EyeCandyExposure
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


Has anyone used both these lenses? Is Zeiss worthy of spending that much more for it? Is there a considerable amount of quality between the 2 lenses?



Thank you



Apr 11, 2016 at 02:33 PM
jmjuhl
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I haven't used both but picked up the Zeiss recently with the $400 rebate they are offering. Manual focus took some getting used to but this lens is quite possibly one of the best I have ever put my hands on. It is stunningly sharp on the D810 albeit a little heavy. I did quite a few visual comparisons with the Nikon version going through images on Flickr and could see a perceivable difference.


Apr 11, 2016 at 04:57 PM
Jonathan
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I've owned the 135 f2 and now have the Zeiss. I thought the 135 f2 DC was amazing, but the Zeiss is miles ahead of it. One of the best lenses I've ever used if you can live with manual focus.


Apr 11, 2016 at 09:20 PM
Frogfish
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I don't have the Zeiss 135 but do have the 100/2 MP. Yes I know not the same but it still has that Zeiss rendering and incredible sharpness.

To my mind which one I use depends on the purpose. For portraits I almost always go for the DC 135/2 as it has a beautiful way of rendering people and skin tones, whilst still retaining excellent sharpness.
I find the Zeiss is often *too* sharp for ladies' skin - my wife is in complete agreement here, she loves the results from the DC but always asks me to delete the Zeiss shots

The Zeiss makes a fantastic landscape lens though and for many other uses too and the Zeiss 135 is recognised as one fo the very best 135mm lenses ever made.



Apr 11, 2016 at 11:42 PM
jhinkey
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


Own the 135/2 AIS, had the 135/2DC, and own the 135/2 Zeiss.
Zeiss is miles ahead of both.
Very disappointed with the DC as it was not better than the AIS (in fact it was worse due to the inconsistent AF), so the AIS stayed.

If you want the best, the Zeiss is the way to go, and used copies are not too expensive it seems these days.



Apr 12, 2016 at 03:55 AM
tntcorp
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


different lenses, rendering, and applications. it's all depend on your taste. obviously, the zeiss will be sharper but cannot duplicate the effects created by the dc lens.

you are comparing apples and oranges 😊 but you cannot go wrong with either lenses for their intended purposes.



Apr 12, 2016 at 04:46 AM
sanjayg
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


Rendering of 135 f2 DC is beautiful especially for people. The pictures it takes is old school and reminds me of the beautiful 85 f1.4D but with longer reach. Unfortunately, I sold it because it is too long for my application and I will be going back to the 85.

Sorry no experience with Zeiss 135 but I have heard nothing but great things about this lens.



Apr 12, 2016 at 07:34 AM
Lee Saxon
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


Well, the Zeiss has faster autofocus.

A joke, of course, but the DC autofocus is the actual worst, as the kids are saying these days.



Apr 12, 2016 at 04:11 PM
T_Gordon
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I've had both at one point and will echo everyone else's comments... if you can live without AF, the Zeiss is near equal to the 200mm f2 (yes I've owned one as well) at a fraction of the cost! If it's too sharp for your tastes in certain applications, it's easy to tone down in post but the colors, clarity, etc cannot be matched by the 135 DC.


Apr 12, 2016 at 07:54 PM
suteetat
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I also have both but use Zeiss mainly on A7r ii rather than my D810. Technically, Zeiss is much better. It is excellent for portrait, landscape, whatever you may need 135mm for. However, I keep coming back to DC for portrait here and there because of its rendering as well. If I get to keep only one, I would keep Zeiss but for portrait, I prefer not to be without the DC as well.
However, if I only have D810, I would keep DC as personally, I cannot achieve critical focus well enough with Zeiss on D810 consistently.



Apr 12, 2016 at 08:24 PM
Jorge Torralba
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I have owned both. There is no comparison. None. I will exaggerate a comparison . is there a difference between a lens baby and a leica 50 apo ? Same thing with the Nikon 135DC vs the 135 Zeiss APO.

The words should not be spoken together. The Zeiss is a God and the 135 is a minion if that. Come to think about it, strike it from your thoughts and never says those words agaon. 135DC is forbidden!



Apr 12, 2016 at 08:31 PM
jbouchard
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I'll echo what others have said, but for me it comes down to the ability to focus. If's it's not in focus, it's not sharp. I had the 135/2 Ai-s first which was nice. Then the 135 DC. The smooth bokeh was nice, but I had a hard time nailing focus with the 135DC. When it was in focus I thought it was plenty sharp for my needs. I ended up stopping down to f2.8, and keeping the DC function on Neutral to increase my hit rate, but if I'm going to do that I might as well use my 2.8zoom. Now I have the Zeiss, and I'm able to focus this more accurately than the AF on the 135DC.

I've heard people write about some Zeiss lenses having good "in focus to out of focus transitions". The way I experience this is that the in-focus DOF is not as razor thin as it is with some others. If focus were graphed like a bell curve, the Zeiss's curve would look more like a desert plateau with a drop-off on each side and a wide top. I see this situation in spades on the 100MP, and maybe not quite as much on the 135 APO Sonnar. but it's there enough that I don't have a hard time focusing.



Apr 15, 2016 at 06:30 PM
ocir
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I don't know about you all but I got rid of my 135 DC and decided to get the Rokinon 135 f/2. I have never shot with the Zeiss but I can assure that the Rokinon is sharper than the Nikon wide open. Bokeh is also equally as good and less purple fringing wide open. Oh, did I mention I saved some extra $$$?


Apr 15, 2016 at 06:54 PM
rw11
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


Frogfish wrote:
that Zeiss rendering ...


what does that look like?



Apr 15, 2016 at 07:05 PM
Jorge Torralba
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


rw11 wrote:
what does that look like?


You will see a mix bag of photos here:

http://www.zeissimages.com/standardgallery.php?lenstype=557&showall


http://www.zeissimages.com/lensbrowser.php?lenstype=557



Apr 15, 2016 at 07:14 PM
Lee Saxon
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


For what it's worth by the way if you don't mind manual focus and you can't afford the Zeiss I'd get the Nikon 135/2 AI-s before the 135/2 DC. I think the overall "look" is more pleasing.


Apr 15, 2016 at 07:51 PM
rw11
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


Jorge Torralba wrote:
You will see a mix bag of photos here:

http://www.zeissimages.com/standardgallery.php?lenstype=557&showall

http://www.zeissimages.com/lensbrowser.php?lenstype=557



Thx - they look nice but I was hoping for a description in words as I don't see anything there that can't be taken with a Nikkor.



Apr 15, 2016 at 08:08 PM
Tiancao
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I have 135mm DC and Zeiss 100mm MP but never compared the images from them. I think the weak points of the 135 DC is that it tends to flare and have purple fringes wide open or closer in high contrast scene, while the Zeiss is much better here-sure it should because it was more recent design while the Nikon is old. the Nikon really shines in soft light. But I had shot kid ski with it with very good results-which also showed that my copy has pretty decent AF (although I use manual focusing often). So the 135mm DC may not have the optical excellent as the Zeiss but it does have its own merits. And if you stuck a TC-14B on it, you will turn it into a bulky 189mm f2.8. (Finally got my first serious post up. )


Apr 15, 2016 at 08:18 PM
jbouchard
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


jbouchard wrote:
I'll echo what others have said, but for me it comes down to the ability to focus. If's it's not in focus, it's not sharp. I had the 135/2 Ai-s first which was nice. Then the 135 DC. The smooth bokeh was nice, but I had a hard time nailing focus with the 135DC. When it was in focus I thought it was plenty sharp for my needs. I ended up stopping down to f2.8, and keeping the DC function on Neutral to increase my hit rate, but if I'm going to do that I might as well use my
...Show more

Attached is the ever popular cat picture... this is SOOC jpg at 50% crop (threw away half the pixels). The cat is a "Scottish Fold" hence the folded ears.

This is Zeiss 135 APO wide open f/2 at near minimum focal distance. Notice how pretty much the whole eye on the right is in focus, along with half the nose... the depth of field isn't paper thin, which makes it easier to nail focus. I didn't own 135/2 Ai-s, 135DC and Zeiss all at the same time so I could comp them, but it's my opinion that the Nikon lenses would have transitioned to out of focus more rapidly.

I think I the 135 Samyang/Rokinon/etc is certainly worth of consideration. I've just read too many times about people having to try 3 copies to get a good one, and I don't have the patience for that.







Apr 16, 2016 at 09:54 AM
RexGig0
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Anyone Use Nikon 135 f/2DC vs Zeiss 135 f/2?


I get enough shots in focus, with my Zeiss 2/135 APO Sonnar ZF.2, to have abandoned plans to add the Nikkor 135 DC. This is with a D700, so only 12MP, but soon after I added a Canon 5Ds R*, my local full-line camera store had a pre-owned Zeiss 2/135 APO Sonnar ZE, and, after trying it on the 5Ds R as a mere experiment, well, succumbed to temptation, and added the ZE version, after consulting multiple review sites and viewing many images posted on-line.

From the first time I tried shooting moving subjects with the ZF.2, on the D700, I knew that manual focus, using the viewfinder, was, indeed, practical. The image that absolutely confirmed this was a "hero shot" of my wife's white Shepherd mix, as she played in the front yard. This was shot within minutes of capturing images of a Fulvous Tree Duck on a neighbor's roof. None of these images will win any prizes, but the detail and clarity confirmed I had not wasted my money. (The ZF.2 was, also, bought pre-owned, for much less than new retail price.)

*No worries, I am not switching brands. There are individual Canon and Nikkor lenses that I love, which ensures I will not abandon either Canon or Nikon.




Apr 16, 2016 at 12:47 PM
1
       2       end




FM Forums | Nikon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

1
       2       end
    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.