The post I made yesterday showing the capabilities of the Zeiss 18mm ZF on a D3 received a lot of attention. Some people were impressed but would not be convinced that it was better than a kit lens until they saw 100% crops of some of the shots.

http://www.nikoncamerauser.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=271

My 16-85 vr matches images by Ziess wide angle, while giving me AF & VR capabilities,My AFS 60 mm micro Nikkor excells Ziess macros.


60 mm afs micro on D300.

Great!

It is great, but over sharpened.

Gerald

tjny wrote:
My 16-85 vr matches images by Ziess wide angle, while giving me AF & VR capabilities,My AFS 60 mm micro Nikkor excells Ziess macros.


60 mm afs micro on D300.

You should consider that D300 corners are hardly corners at all on FX, unless you're speaking specifically of the 16-85's performance on a D3 or D700. My guess is the ZF18 slaughters the 16-85. Any takers on that bet?

And have you tried the ZF100 or ZF50 Makros? The new 60mm Nikkor is undoubtedly a great lens, but it's f/2.8, whereas both ZF are f/2 and razor sharp from wide open. I own the ZF100 (use it on a 5D) and it is like no other lens I've ever seen before in terms of colour, contrast, and sharpness.

Agreed with Steven. A crop body cuts off all the bad spots... a full frame sensor makes a lens show its weaknesses.

Can't really compare.

I have the Nikkor 60 f2.8G Micro and it is a superb lens to be sure but both of my Zeiss macros are sharper and f2 is a nice option.