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Peter Kotsa
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Registered: Nov 1, 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 265
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Review Date: May 31, 2013
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Solid, sharp, great colour
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Cons:
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Price
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Amazing glass in a nice package. I use this mainly from f2 to f4 and the image and contrast absolutely shine.
I have been using the Canon 35L for many years and was happy, but I wanted something that can give me better color and microcontrast for that "realism"...Zeiss fits that package to a T, or should I say T*.
Great lens and design..if it was Autofocus, it would probably be double its price. Nonetheless, a great lens for general photography.
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 May 31, 2013
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chmod
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Registered: May 18, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 24
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Review Date: Jan 3, 2013
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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build quality, discreet size, almost analog feel to the output
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Cons:
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lens cap designed as a practical joke?
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The thing about this lens is the way it resolves - it reminds me very strongly of the better days of film.
I cannot quantify the look or support it with micro specs, but will share the feedback I have received from colleagues - we all agree it has a classic "analog" feel to the images, and in the most positive ways.
Rich colors, tack sharp, subtle contrasts and overall lack of clinical digital look are apt characteristics to describe it.
Used exclusively on a long holiday in Italy, I grew very fond of the discretion of the lens, the inconsequential footprint when traversing tourist areas packed with DSLRs and massive lens kit.
It focuses beautifully on my 1Ds MIII as the knob is solid and without play. 35mm is a very good range for general walk around use and wide enough for honest landcape rendering.
There is really nothing to externally indicate this is a special lens except for the end results.
Some examples....
http://www.idyll.com/p966376212
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Jan 3, 2013
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GOVA
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Registered: Nov 23, 2002
Location: United States
Posts: 959
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Review Date: Dec 28, 2012
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness, bokeh, subject isolation, color reproduction.
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Cons:
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None.
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Superb built quality, great focus ring and its action. Excellent bokeh.
Sharpens and subject isolation at F/2.0 are excellent. Replaced Sigma 30mm f/1.4 with this. No comparison, those are different animals.
It actually feels great going back to MF. It reminds me of built quality of older lenses such as Pentacon 135mm. Solid metal feel, great focus ring and action.
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Dec 28, 2012
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Ulan
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Registered: May 14, 2008
Location: Belgium
Posts: 101
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Review Date: Oct 23, 2012
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Impressive sharpness, beautiful contrast and colors, solidly built, nice to handle
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Cons:
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none
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Really a top glass. On a full frame or on a 7D.
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Oct 23, 2012
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martyn.
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Registered: Jul 29, 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 324
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Review Date: Sep 30, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Build quality, image quality, colours and contrast in images is amazing, really does make images pop.
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Cons:
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Lens cap ( replaced with a Nikon one )
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The images this lens produces on my D700 are amazing, no problem with manual focusing, reminds me of my youth when I started photography.
If I was only taking one prime attached to my D700 this would be my first pick.
This was my first venture into Zeiss, I soon added the 25/2.8, and I am now looking at the 50/2 or 100/2 to complete my set, truly wonderful optics.
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Sep 30, 2011
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evannuil
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Registered: Sep 15, 2011
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 0
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Sep 15, 2011
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arcticchilla
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Registered: Apr 25, 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 346
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Review Date: Jul 14, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Super sharp wide open
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Cons:
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Focus ring is a little tight. Would like to see it have a little more play.
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This lens is amazingly sharp wide open. After contemplating going manual focus this lens made the jump well worth it. I feel a connection to all of my photo's now. Can't wait to see what I can create with this piece of art.
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Jul 14, 2011
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ViscaB
Offline
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Registered: Sep 9, 2009
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 507
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Review Date: Jul 10, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness (already at large apertures), colors, contrast, rendering, build, smooth focussing ring, great value.
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Cons:
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Minor barrel distortion, lens cap hard to put on (that goes for all Zeiss lenses it seems).
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I love this lens. I mostly use it for night panorama's at f/5.6. It's incredibly sharp already by then and the contrast and colors are superb.
Images speak louder than words. An example of a night panorama I took with this lens @ f/5.6 with my 5D mark II. Around 5,000 * 2,500 pixels.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavibarca/5924613520/sizes/o/in/photostream/
The lens is almost as sharp as my benchmark Zeiss MakroPlanar 50 2. Which I think is a really strong performance for a 35mm lens.
The minor barrel distortion it exhibits can be fixed in Photoshop in a minimal amount of time.
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Jul 10, 2011
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cputeq
Online
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Jun 24, 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 3626
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Review Date: Jun 24, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Sharp wide open, build quality, manual focus feel, contrast, colors.
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Cons:
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Vignetting wide open (though I like it), price.
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I bought the EOS mount of this lens brand-new after pouring over lens recommendations and reviews, including Lloyd's excellent site.
Great lens, very smooth manual focus action like anyone would expect. So far I have had zero problems with the lens or the hood, great all around.
What might concern some people is the vignetting at f/2 - it can be rather strong, but easily corrected. Frankly I like the vignette so I usually never correct it. Lightroom 3 has a profile for this lens and will easily correct any faults, though half the time I leave the shots as-is.
Great color, great contrast, a decent price (for a Zeiss) - a very nice lens in a great focal range on my 5D2.
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Jun 24, 2011
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mvinson
Offline
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Registered: Dec 13, 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 0
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Review Date: May 10, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,017.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Vivid colors, sharp details, manual focus.
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Cons:
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I didn't buy it sooner.
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As my kids would say. OMG! I've been shooting the Canon 35mm L lens on my 5D Mark ii and switched to this lens. I love the manual focus - it connects me back to what I am shooting. Get the matte focusing glass and you will never have to guess what is in focus again. I took a street photo of an artist and the colors and detail leap off the page. I am so happy with this purchase.
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May 10, 2011
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pkupcik
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Jul 27, 2006
Location: N/A
Posts: 267
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Review Date: Apr 27, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Image Quality, sharpness, colors, contrast, Zeiss look, smooth manual focus.
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Cons:
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Vignetting, distortion
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I bought this lens in addition to my Zeiss 50/2 ZE and Zeiss 100/2 ZE. This lens is in the same league and produces very comparable images, as far as the image quality and Zeiss look goes. I have ultimately sold the lens as 35mm was an awkward focal length for me. If 35mm lens is what you need, you should give this lens a serious try. The only negatives I noticed were vignetting between f/2-2.8 and geometrical distortions. The distortions are probably normal considering it's a slightly wide angle lens, but it may be noticeable. Adobe Ligthroom does a great job to automatically correct for the vignetting and distortions. The price of the lens is appropriate and reasonable.
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Apr 27, 2011
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helimat
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Apr 6, 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 3546
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Review Date: Mar 28, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $850.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Compact, well built, smooth focus ring, signature Zeiss contrast & sharpness
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Cons:
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Well, no lens is perfect I suppose. I guess I could mention light falloff in the corners wide open, or even the lack of AF, but these 'issues' have ever really affected me.
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A great lens wide open or stopped down. It seems to me that it is in my bag more often than not... In fact it is rarely out, so I guess that itself is pretty good testimonial.
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Mar 28, 2011
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Jon Shafer
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Registered: Apr 16, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 47
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Review Date: Nov 10, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,004.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Unparalleled build quality, fantastic image rendering, contrast, color, legendary Zeiss "3D".
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Cons:
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Price, lack of AF.
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After reading the reviews here on FM I decided that I needed to own a piece of Zeiss glass to go with my collection of Canon lenses. At first I bought a 50mm Makro Planar which I played with for a week or so. Even though the IQ was fabulous I wasn't so impressed with the macro shots, and because I already own a Canon 50mm 1.4, I couldn't see tying up $1,200 plus for a redundant focal length. I returned the lens and studied the reviews for a few days until I decided to give the 35mm f/2 a try. It seemed like of all of the Zeiss offerings, if there was one single lens that people were truly stoked about it was this one. I have a Canon 24-70 and shoot with both a 1D Mk III and a 7D and I though the 35mm would fill a niche. I bought a 35mm and tried it the first time and was disappointed with the results due to out of focus shots. I have serious vision problems so lack of AF is a real challenge for me. Trying Live View to focus solved the problem, but I really wanted to be able to shoot on the fly, so I ordered a EC-s focus screen. Once I installed that, I was totally blown away with the results. I can't wait to get more opportunities to shoot surfing with this lens.
Here are a couple of sample test images:
http://santabarbarasurfer.com/images/J0NS7012-1024.jpg
http://santabarbarasurfer.com/images/J0NS7043.jpg
http://santabarbarasurfer.com/images/J0NS6773.jpg
http://santabarbarasurfer.com/images/J0NS6784.jpg
Buy this lens, it is a sure bet. Good as gold!!
Aloha Nui Loa,
Jon
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Nov 10, 2010
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dimitris77
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Aug 29, 2005
Location: N/A
Posts: 511
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Review Date: Oct 28, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness, contrast, colors, bokeh, small size and build quality.
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Cons:
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Vignetting.
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I replaced my 35L with this. Needless to say that I haven't regretted it my choice. The Zeiss has a lot better characteristics and it makes the Canon look plain and flat. Build quality is excellent and its pretty easy to use. It makes an excellent walkaround lens coupled with a 5D.
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Oct 28, 2010
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edwardkaraa
Online
Image Upload: On
Registered: Sep 27, 2004
Location: Thailand
Posts: 5732
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Review Date: Oct 25, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,000.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Everything is perfect or near perfect. 3D is very pronounced.
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Cons:
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Some CA in the corners.
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Oct 25, 2010
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dstraton
Offline
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Registered: Jan 17, 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 4
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Review Date: Oct 8, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,004.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness, Color "Pop", build quality insanely good, rendition of fine details fantastic
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Cons:
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Seriously? None.
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Believe everything you hear.
I wasn't really in the market for a new lens, and the 35/2 was not even remotely considered. I was researching for a wide-angle replacement for my 17-40 which I like, but have never loved due to it's edge performance which shows up in large prints.
The Distagon 21 was my real target and then I started reading about the 35 f2, and Zeiss in general. It piqued my interest. I bought this and the 21 today, brought it home and snapped 100 photos or so on my 5D MkII.
I stayed at f2 a lot - yes there is vignetting. I was expecting it. But I don't care because at f2 this thing is sharp pretty much to the edges without PP, the colors are insanely saturated, and the fine detail was amazing...I have nothing in my Canon arsenal which compares except maybe - maybe- the 135L. f8? Whoa.
Well - I haven't even tried the 21 yet - and it is supposed to be even better. I can't even fathom that.
I don't care if I ever see another zoom or AF unless it is on a telephoto lens.
Next up the Makro 50mm f2...
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Oct 8, 2010
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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32
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42032
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May 31, 2013
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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97% of reviewers
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$967.64
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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9.94
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9.50
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9.8
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