Nice review but the Roki is underexposed and the Zeiss is over exposed. I'm doubting the Zeiss is correctly focused on the center for that test - that lens is suppose to have a very sharp center at f4 - could be sample variation.
Thanks for sharing this! It looks pretty good! Certainly an improvement over my current set up. The SEL16F28 does OK in some astro settings, but comes out looking bad in others. I got a nice Milky Way recently with some big triangle stars in the corners, even at f/4.:-\
Very sharp center from f/2. Extreme corners are sharp at f/4. Both center and corner sharpness peak @ f/5.6.
There is wavy distortion. It can be corrected in LR, but not fully. CA's are there, but can be fully corrected in LR.
Vignetting is on the heavy side, even stopped down. This may explain why another reviewer saw a color shift in the mid of the frame. Depending on the light and conditions, I can see this too. Not sure yet if this is visible in real world shooting situations.
I was the one who earlier reviewed the lens had a color shift, I got a new copy of the lens and the color cast is gone. I found the lens to be pretty good, especially for the price. It is pretty well corrected, I think it is a bit soft at f2, but sharpens up pretty well stopped down a few stops. Chromatic aberration and coma are minimal, there is some but not enough to be a problem. The lens hood is a bit dicey, comes off easily. A short update is here with a little more detail.
Update on my purchase from blattworld1: I ordered about a month ago and only received the lens yesterday. They were selling the lenses even though they didn't have them in stock, and I had to wait for them to receive a new shipment. I had to open a case to get them to tell me why it was taking so long. That being said, they seem to be one of the only sellers around that has the Fuji version of this lens, and they accepted a best offer of $360. So it's a bit of gamble I with them I guess. I did get my lens in the end!
I ordered one from " PRO 1 DIGITAL" off of ebay. I paid $365 ( $25 for expedited shipping) - $20 ebay promotion. They too had run out. Today they shipped and refunded me $15 towards the shipping as an apology. So $330 for a new one.
Picked one of these up in E-mount, finishing up my Sony kit. Pretty good lens. A fair bit of CA and vignetting, but very good central sharpness even wide open and good edge sharpness stopped down. The corners stay a bit soft, but not bad. Overall, excellent for the price.
Some from the Ohio Statehouse: First two at f/5.6, last at f/2.
