Zeiss Distagon 35mm F/1.4

about | support

It's a fantastic wide angle lens with really great IQ. The bokeh and background blur is the best I have seen on a wide angle lens. It can be a bit difficult to do MF on the largest apertures.

Quite possibly the best lens I have ever used, no joke. I have found that a precision focusing screen is indispensable however; with my 5D2 which has the EG-S focus screen installed my keeper rate was high, while with my 5D3 using the AF confirm the results were disappointing.

Size, weight, cost. Some field curvature. Slight loss of contrast wide open

The 35 f:1.4 is a lens for the determined. First because of its weight, size and cost. Then because the images it creates are not immediately as spectacular as those of its lesser sibling, the ZE 35 f:2.0.
But on direct comparison, the faster lens has much more detail, better and more subtle colours, impeccable spatial placement including in the OOF areas. And the bokeh is a cream dream.
A couple of issues prevent it from being perfect. It suffers from field curvature, so the corners and centre may not be sharp at the same time if you are shooting wide open. While this matters, it has not lost me a single shot, so it sould not be made into a major issue at all. Then, wide open, there is a slight loss of contrast, which can be mistaken for loss of sharpness, which it isn't.
What is fantastic about this lens is its almost total lack of visual signature. Its rendering can stretch from the austere to the lush, from neutral to spectacular. That is something very few lenses can do (the newer 25 f:2.0 does it as well, showing that this pair is a new generation for Zeiss).
Overall, probably the best lens to date in the ZE/ZF.2 line, with the exception of the more recent ZE 15. In a direct comparison, even the formidable ZE 21 shows its age.

The Distagon 35/1.4 is a truly great lens. It is razor-sharp and provides the exceptional color rendition with the tangible zeiss look and feel.
One of the downsides for me is the size and weight. It is not that big or heavy, but I would have appreciated a more compact design (probably not possible from the engineers point of view).
The second downside is the high price, especially when you compare it to the Samyang 35/1.4 for 400 bucks which is caomparably/equally sharp (they say).

All things considered I'm very happy with this extraordinary lens.

Thin dof takes a lot of time to get used to

I upgraded to this model from the f2 version. At the beginning I thought I made a mistake but after using it for a while I got used to its narrower dof. It is this feature that makes it stand out. I use it a lot as a portrait lens.