Thanks Fred - it would be great if Zeiss made a native E mount version with CPU contacts, but I won't hold my breath.
PS - I'd be really happy if someone made a programmable M to E mount adapter with a CPU just so the camera knew what lens was attached and would not have to be manually specified. Is this so hard?
SKumar25 wrote:
Hi guys, how's the Zeiss ZM 4/85 at mfd or short/mid distances on the A7x?
I've found it to at least be very good if not the same excellent IQ at near distances that it has at far distances, though I've never formally tested it.
jhinkey wrote:
I've found it to at least be very good if not the same excellent IQ at near distances that it has at far distances, though I've never formally tested it.
stevesanacore wrote:
Anyone test these lenses against the Leica 90 2.5 Summarit? That is also a reasonably priced option, if the performance is on par with the others.
I’ve had the Summarit and use the ZM now, both used mostly stopped down to 5.6-8 with focus on or near infinity. Both are great and are sharp stopped down. However I have a slight preference for the ZM rendering and the sunstars on the ZM are amazing compared to the Summarit. If you like sunstars like I do, there is no comparison.
Wide open use and close up performance I have no idea about.
stevesanacore wrote:
Anyone test these lenses against the Leica 90 2.5 Summarit? That is also a reasonably priced option, if the performance is on par with the others.
I’ve tested it against the 2.5/75 summarit.
Very similar performance at shared apertures, nicer sunstars on the zeiss...
Many thanks for posting this review, David. You helped me save a lot of money, as I think the zm is good enough for me and I don't need the twice as expensive L85.
I took some amount of searching to find this thread topic, so I am bumping it to the top. I knew I had seen this, before. (I had used search terms, such as “tele-tessar,” which are not in the title.) I think I may be about to buy a ZM 4/85, to try on my new-to-me Monochrom Type 246, which I bought pre-owned, like-new, this past week. (My M10 is about to be shipped to NJ, for what I hope will be some healing, after an unfortunate Humpty-Dumpty moment.)
I keep looking at this lens. Less than 350g is pretty tempting. The Loxia 85 is pretty incredible, but it's *really* heavy for its size & aperture--nearly the weight of the Canon FD 85L.
Right now my lightweight short tele is the Contax 90mm Sonnar.
At one point, I put a bunch of Zeiss short telephoto stopped down MTF charts in photoshop layers and matched their individual charts to each other to compare them. The ranking was:
MAubrey wrote:
I keep looking at this lens. Less than 350g is pretty tempting. The Loxia 85 is pretty incredible, but it's *really* heavy for its size & aperture--nearly the weight of the Canon FD 85L.
Right now my lightweight short tele is the Contax 90mm Sonnar.
At one point, I put a bunch of Zeiss short telephoto stopped down MTF charts in photoshop layers and matched their individual charts to each other to compare them. The ranking was:
If I throw Marco Cavina's K8 MTF test of the FD85L into the mix, the FD@f/5.6 is effectively tied with the Batis@f/4.
(I wish I had stopped down info for the two FE 85's.)...Show more →
I've compared many copies of the Lox 85 and ZM 85 under intense scrutiny.
At infinity and 1:1, they are equal similar starting at f/6.3 and I prefer the colors from the ZM. So, for landscapes where we are stopping the lens down at bit, I came the conclusion that the ZM is the best choice for me for its weight, size and IQ.
That's from Loxia line fan that owns all other Loxias. The 85 ZM is also the only ZM I own and currently my only adapted lens.
Having said that, if I were shooting the Lox 85 wide open, that would be my choice but I prefer the 85/1.4 GM for these applications.
I have now a kind of freak kit with lox 21, ultron 35, fe 55mm, Cron 90mm. small and light but maybe too alternative...
Regards
Fred Miranda wrote:
I've compared many copies of the Lox 85 and ZM 85 under intense scrutiny.
At infinity and 1:1, they are equal similar starting at f/6.3 and I prefer the colors from the ZM. So, for landscapes where we are stopping the lens down at bit, I came the conclusion that the ZM is the best choice for me for its weight, size and IQ.
That's from Loxia line fan that owns all other Loxias. The 85 ZM is also the only ZM I own and currently my only adapted lens.
Having said that, if I were shooting the Lox 85 wide open, that would be my choice but I prefer the 85/1.4 GM for these applications....Show more →
It's sad the rumor about an M mount Zeiss camera looks like it got mixed up with the 'Zeiss RX1' to be announced today. You just know they can do it when they want to. From their data sheet for this 10 year old, 310 gram one-of-many ZM jewels:
'The imaging quality of the Tele-Tessar T * 4/85 ZM is equal to the high aperture models in the lens program. It is almost distortion free and adjusted to field of curvature as well as to all other defects in color.'
It's a lens they did not undervalue, still goes for nearly $1000 new. Different from the Sonnars, it's virtually as good wide open as best aperture - a dedicated landscape lens.
