naturephoto1 wrote:
I would think that the chromed ring could be a real issue for wildlife photography due to reflection. The ring might require some hiding through something like gaffers tape.
Then again, Zeiss don't have any lense longer than 135mm at the moment, i.e. nothing you'd typically use for wildlife photography.
AhamB wrote:
Then again, Zeiss don't have any lense longer than 135mm at the moment, i.e. nothing you'd use for wildlife photography.
That is true, but some wildlife photographers (not me) may use lens in the realm of 135mm ffor some applications. However I do use my Leica 100mm f2.8 Macro Apo lens.
naturephoto1 wrote:
Never having handled or used these lenses, are the hoods included and are they black in color?
Rich
The hoods are included with the DSLR lenses, but not the ZM (except the 18/4 Distagon). They are black metal and mount on the chrome ring bayonet. If the chrome ring was painted black, I'm sure the paint would wear off with the constant friction of putting the hoods on and off.
I also don't like the silver ring! It's particularly a problem with photographing through windows, such as from your seat on a train or plane, etc... While obviously that's not typically an ideal situation to be shooting from, sometimes you don't have a choice. My solution now, if I remember to bring it along, is to use a black step-up ring, since I don't typically use filters on these lenses.
Here are a few samples. Nothing special, just snaps out out a train window:
My usual solution to this problem before I thought to bring along a step-ring was to shoot at an angle to the glass, but of course this increases the chance of getting other reflections in the shot (unless desired). The first one above was shot at about 30-45 degrees but the 21mm is still wide enough to catch the silver reflection, about a third from the right. The 35 and 50 were shot straight on. The problem might have been reduced by moving back from the window, but IIRC, there was someone sitting beside me... Looking at the EXIF, I shot these at a slow shutter speed to show some blur as people/trains moved by, therefore I probably had the end of the lens pressed against the glass to steady the shots. At the time I didn't have hoods for any of these lenses and that might also have helped somewhat...
Thanks for posting these, Ron. The ring reflection is so clear and unmistakable. It seems that either a lens hood or a UV filter are a necessity with the Zeiss lenses.
Edward, I have found silver ring is a problem for my old Leica M 35/50cron, having a black filter help it a lot.
I also find silver ring be a problem for my 50lux, I have a nasty flare with BW silver filter in front of my 50lux ASPH, but I never see that without filter.
Though, I haven't see any problem with my ZF.2, but I use their hood all the time, and their hood design is very good, way better than my Leica R.
I don't like the chromed front ring, I've seen some reflections when I took some shots through aeroplane window. The lens shade didn't help at all on that situation because it's outside the front part of the lens. So in contra-light the chrome inner ring is still visible and doing the reflections with the front element. Filter helped to solve the situation, until I noticed at home that the polarization filter reacted with the window coating and created some weird rainbow patterns on all shots :P
If it is a problem, and you want to use the lens without a hood or filter, I wonder if screwing in a step up adaptor would be a solution to masking out the chrome thread.
martyn: yes, that is my solution and what I mentioned in my post above. At the time I didn't get the hoods for those Zeiss lenses because I felt the ~$85 each was a bit ridiculous and at least the 35 is particularly flare resistant. The cheapest convenient solution is definitely a step-ring.
Sami: didn't you know you're not supposed to use polarizers through airplane windows? It's something to do with them being plastic and birefringence.
rscheffler wrote:
Sami: didn't you know you're not supposed to use polarizers through airplane windows? It's something to do with them being plastic and birefringence.
Too busy with my work these days, so I didn't have the time to do the test shots. However, am I right to think that due to the absence of further contributions to this thread, especially on this forum where almost everyone has Zeiss lenses, the flare/ghosts caused by the chrome ring are not really an issue?
My opinion is that if you use the lenses as intended then the chrome ring does not cause any problems on the ZE/ZF range.
I have never seen a reflection/ghosting from the ring in any of my shots - the caveat is of course I always use the supplied hoods and all my lenses have a Zeiss UV filter fitted (so that shouldn't be a surprise as the chrome is completely covered)!
I have actually had much more of a problem on my Canon 1Ds III with reflections that look like they are happening at level of the sensor and cause a pattern to appear in the highlights when you shoot into the sun.
