JaanOs,
No correction here. Zeiss 15 has no hotspot at any aperture, even shooting into sun. Hands down, the cleanest IR images from any lens I have used.
Not much of a hot spot on Zeiss 35/1.4 either. Contax 85/1.4 and Leica 100 APO and 50/2 also clean.
Pretty large hot spot from Contax 50/1.4 and Zeiss 21/2.8 (sadly).
Thank you Jim, good to know
You probably talking about older 35/1.4 because 35/1.4 ZE has quite visible hotspot as most other "new" ones I have used.
135/2 was pleasant surprise for IR however, no hotspot, just specific darkening in sides (bit hard to correct with standard vignetting controls). Nice to know 15mm is as well "good and clear" without PP hassle for IR
My ZE 35 is clean. There is a small hot spot at around f/8, but easy to manage. Hot spot on my 21ZE is pretty rough though. Coating change? I believe that there was rumor of something like that to reduce fringing and flare. It does flare like crazy in vis light.
I got the 15mm back from S.K Grimes and they did a great job removing the petals from the hood. I will need to get some black paint to cover where the petals were machined, but otherwise it's perfect. I called Singh Ray again, but they don't seem interested in making 95mm filters, so I got the Heliopan slim pol filter. It fits pretty far down into the lens, so it's a little fussy getting it off. There should be no problem holding my 100mm Lee and Singh Ray nd and grad nd filters to the front of the lens...
Labor was $50
Shipping with $3000 insurance was about $35-$40 each way
Zeiss does offer the same service (although they did not send me pricing details). I got this reply after asking about whether they will sell a verson of the lens without the hood.
"Yes, we offer a modification of the Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZE/ZF.2 to a version without a lens shade. If you´d like to get your lens modified, please contact our representative in the US."
It sounded like they will only perform mods and not sell the base lens without the hood.
I had read that they were thinking about offering something, but wasn't aware they had actually decided to do it. Additionally, I had heard the lens would have to be sent to Germany, so I decided to have it done here in the states... Given the lack of activity for this lens on the forums, I don't think very many have been sold. I doubt Zeiss is in any hurry to provide this service for such a small number of users wanting it done...
From what I can tell, S.K.Grimes has a very good reputation, and they did a great job on mine.
Zeiss did send me a picture of the lens without the hood. It looks just like you would expect it would without the petals. The ring around the front element is black anodized metal.
B Landau wrote:
Zeiss did send me a picture of the lens without the hood. It looks just like you would expect it would without the petals. The ring around the front element is black anodized metal.
I've found another "out of the box" solution for a ND/Polarizer combo for the ZE 15. Nisi makes a 95mm ND8 and polarizer combo filter which is insanely thin. The filter has no coatings but in my normal shooting conditions it seems to work well. I with other manufacturers would do this.
-Tim
tsdevine wrote:
I like using a CP/ND combo for waterfall photography. No matter how thin the two filters, I would get vignetting in the corners. Even with a combo of a Marumi Super DHG and B+W Slim ND, which were the thinnest 2 solutions I could find, I'd still get vignetting.
I sort of gave up for the winter as I don't shoot much, but now that spring is here I renewed my efforts. With the help of Schneider US, I had the glass removed from the slim ND in the hope that the thin retaining ring might allow me to mount the glass directly to the front of the CP. Unfortunately, that ring was a slightly narrower diameter than the front filter threads of the CP. So, I bought some UHU TAC and rolled it into a thin string. I put it around the thread area of the CP and attached the ND glass that way.
Voila...I now have a CP/ND4 combo, with NO vignetting.
FWIW, not sure anyone will care. But figured it was worth sharing.
? I believe that there was rumor of something like that to reduce fringing and flare. It does flare like crazy in vis light.
