philber
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The focusing ring on the ZE50 is, for me, perfect. It is geared long enough that I can focus very precisely, but not too long so that one must turn it forever, and its damaing is reall good but not such that the ring gets stiff.
As for the lens, Jonas, you want me to write "anything I have to say", so here goes: I know that Zeiss experts tend to look down on it, and consider one of the "lesser" CZ designs. I respectfully disagree. For my mix of landscapes/cityscapes/portraits, it produces a very high number of not only keepers, but "wow" shots. For example, it has turned me away from my Canon 35L, because the FL difference is not so great that, many times, I just go to the Planar and zoom with my feet rather than use the 35L which would be the better suited lens.
The first thing I see in a picture taken with this lens is a feeling of, for want of a better word, classiness. Colours, contrast, 3D, it is all there.
The second main asset is its lack of an idiosyncratic "signature". On a portrait in India, it can be rich and warm, and also cold and almost cutting on a cityscape. This to the point that it is particularly good a producing the ambiance and atmosphere of a scene
It catches a huge amount of detail at infinity, and is especially good at light, colour and volume gradients.
What it does not do well is shots that combine minimum focusing distance and wide open. It is generally a sharp lens, but sharpness is not the way in which it expresses its superior performance the way a macro lens shines. Its bokeh does not blur the background the way a Sigmalux might.
Two words of concusion. One is that it is the lens which is getting me also the most positive comments on FM when I post a good shot. The other one is that it is IMHO by far the cheapest world-class lens for Canon users. Except if (1) you only want to use zooms, or (2) you are allergic to MF, or (3) you are addicted to corner-to-corner sharpness wide open at minimum focusing distance, or (4) you can't see yourself spending that amount for a 50mm prime, or (5) you are afraid of any lens that is not Canon, or (6) you prefer to choose a cheaper used Contax lens, slap it on an adapter and do stop-down metering, then everybody else should have a ZE 50....
Canon EOS 5D Mark II 50 mm f/5.6 1/200 sec 100 ISO 0.0 EV
Canon EOS 5D Mark II 50 mm f/4.0 1/80 sec 100 ISO 0.0 EV
Canon EOS 5D Mark II 50 mm f/5.6 1/200 sec 100 ISO 0.0 EV
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