Just got it, and took a stroll downstairs in Downtown Brea.
Here are the first night shots. Too lazy to create links to every shot.
If you have a flickr account you can see the full size JPG.
Shot with:
Canon 5D
Faithful Mode
Tried to keep ISO as low as I could handheld
DPP Export JPG
Zeiss 50mm F1.4 T* Planar ZE with Hood Mounted.
All Shots @ F1.4
If you want me to take some shots in certain apertures or anything reply here and I'll see what I can do. I'll be taking some tripod shots tomorrow side by side with CY and ZE mount.
Manual focus is OK, the smoothness is about the same as my old CY Zeiss 50/1.4. I don't really rely on the autofocus confirm blink anymore when wide-open. You can still move the focus 1mm or so and it still shows as focused, so I rely on my eye and the ee-s screen (high matte) and when I use the 85/1.4 Zeiss (which has a REALLY shallow DOF wide-open) I try to use the Angle Finder with the magnification, THAT makes focus SPOT ON every time because you see it.
SJMD wrote:
Forgive me for asking, but is it better than using a CY with an adapter?
I just took some with my 50 1.7 - and I have to admit I love it.
Look at your shots and the color is great and you did a good job making the lens look super.
best
steve
It's not going to be much better optically, the only real upgrade from an IQ perspective is the 9-blade aperture (vs 6 in the C/Y version). The real advantages to the ZE are the full meter coupling and body-controlled aperture (in 1, 1/2 or 1/3 stops)
Judging from the MTF graphs Zeiss seems to have tried to flatten the curves in order to get a more even sharpness across the frame while the Contax version seem to be sharper in the center but loses sharpness more rapidly as you move away from center.
mawz wrote:
It's not going to be much better optically, the only real upgrade from an IQ perspective is the 9-blade aperture (vs 6 in the C/Y version). The real advantages to the ZE are the full meter coupling and body-controlled aperture (in 1, 1/2 or 1/3 stops)
Ok, I was waiting for the SUN to come out to do these tests but it was OVERCAST all weekend where I am, so I just did this test without any sun around. Can you believe the day I want to do some nice park testing it is overcast for 3 days? This is Southern California!! It's never cloudy more than a day!!! =/
Well, I couldn't get all the tests I wanted to get done. I'll do a center/corner sharpness comparison and a CA comparison sometime later when I get some time. For now I just did some color/contrast and OOF BOKEH tests.
My impression so far... they are AMAZINGLY close in how they render throughout the aperture I tested. They both have pretty strong VIGNETTING at 1.4 but by 2.0 it is gone. Colors are very good throughout. I guess no surprise because they do have the same mechanical design. The main difference would be the OOF blobs between F2.0 and F4.0 on the CY, because they will have the "ninja star" effect, and you'll get more "star points" on the ZE if you stop down to F16 or so for landscape because of the 9 blades compared to the 6 blades of the CY.
SHARPNESS, they are both hairline sharp wide-open at 1.4 (problem being trying to get the correct focus using the MF). The middle frayed plastic/thread looking thing is where I focused. 100% crop below
The ZE seems to let in more light than the CY lens. It is not a White Balance problem, they had the same value and at the same spot they have a neutral gray RGB. The ZE is just brighter. I saw this throughout the test at all apertures.
These were taken with a 5D, Faithful Mode, NO sharpening, DPP Output JPG "8".
REALLY boring pictures, and I'm too lazy to take crops and put them side by side, someone can do that if they want... you just have to go to my flickr and download the full-size jpg.
The ZE seems a touch warmer as well. But in terms of sharpness they are practically similar in the crops provided. As for the ninja star, it depends on the copy as I have both AE and MM versions and neither has the ninja shaped aperture blades at f/2-4.
By the way, it would be easier for comparison to sharpen both files equally (such as level 3 in DPP).
yeah, I didn't want to do any sharpening at all. Just plain RAW. With some DPP sharpening or better yet Photoshop USM you will get REALLY sharp images (at least in the center)
Sharpening also changes the subtle color changes and gradation so just wanted to show you guys the simple raws.
Below also done with Faithful Mode with no sharpening F1.4, ISO 250. Colors are nice.
I downloaded all the images and did side by side comparisons. The ZE seems definitely warmer and has slightly higher contrast especially at smaller apertures. In terms of sharpness they seem pretty equal, but there are areas where one is slightly sharper than the other which denotes slightly different field curvature characteristics. To my eyes, the Contax has more areas where it is sharper, but this could be different with different subjects. Honestly, for someone who owns already the Contax, there is little incentive to upgrade from the pure IQ consideration. I expect the 85mm to behave in a similar manner. (But this won't stop me from buying them both )
True, the only main advantage I see from the ZE, is that you don't have to do STOP DOWN metering. (Although I already miss playing with the aperture ring ahhaha)
But for me, it is definitely worth it as I have the "ninja star" version of the 50/1.4. It is an AEJ version and anything between 2.0 and 4.0 the blade shapes gives an... "unique" look that is quite distracting to me.
I also have the CY 85/1.4 MMG version with the "ninja star" which I'm still using.
chris hwang wrote:
What's on Birch and Starflower?
You would make a left from Birch into Starflower to see the Candycane Lane of Brea. Nearly 95% of the homes have good amounts of decorations on their front yard, and some open their homes for a show.
Depending on your taste, some of these homes are either National Geographic or Jerry Springer in real life.
chris hwang wrote:
Focus was off, I forgot to put my angle finder in the bag.
What focus screen do you have? The split circle, like the brightscreen, should be easy to focus in this kind of light.
Before AF got good no one would try to do manual focus with the standard Canon screens. The Canon screen made for manual focus is not ideal and on the dark side.
Zeiss has links to focus screens on their web site.
mawz wrote:
...........
It's not going to be much better optically, the only real upgrade from an IQ perspective is the 9-blade aperture (vs 6 in the C/Y version). The real advantages to the ZE are the full meter coupling and body-controlled aperture (in 1, 1/2 or 1/3 stops)
I agree, but the situation is better now with auto ISO. The shutter can be set and the ISO automatically minimized.
Say your shooting at night and don't want to go below 1/60 shutter. Set the camera to TV 1/60 and ISO to auto. The aperture can be varied with no other user intervention besides exposure offsets.
There's no advantage to shooting alts in AV mode with auto ISO.
dcmiller wrote:
I agree, but the situation is better now with auto ISO. The shutter can be set and the ISO automatically minimized.
Say your shooting at night and don't want to go below 1/60 shutter. Set the camera to TV 1/60 and ISO to auto. The aperture can be varied with no other user intervention besides exposure offsets.
There's no advantage to shooting alts in AV mode with auto ISO.
Well, until Canon implements Auto ISO properly (right now they're where Nikon and Pentax were 3 years ago, quite primitive Auto ISO). With proper Auto ISO you can specify minimum shutter speed for ISO bumping, select your aperture in Av mode and not have the camera drop below that shutter speed until max ISO is hit, making Alt's very usable in Av mode with Auto ISO.
I think it's implemented fine. If I wanted everything automatic I wouldn't use manual focus lenses.
Index finger on the dial controls shutter speed. My thumb on the wheel controls exposure offset. The camera sets the lowest ISO. I don't have to fiddle with the simple to calculate ISO adjustment.
I always have the option of P mode if I want to go to sleep.
How easy is the manual focus?
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