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 p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · What is the sharpest medium to wide-angle (Canon DSLR) Zeiss Milvus or Sigma Art? | |
billsamuels wrote:
Hey Rex(?),
Thanks for emailing me. I want to tell you that as I mentioned above, my favorite all-time lens thus far is the traditional Zeiss 25mm Distagon XE (for Canon) and it practically lives on my 5DSR! It's everything that Zeiss promises in a lens as far as being sharp and bright and just downright brilliant. The one I have now is my second lens. The first one I bought I got from Adorama used and it had some problems that were from abuse. I couldn't live w/o it so about 6 months late, I broke down and bought a NEW one from B&H and savored opening the box for the first time.
I under-use the Zeiss 21mm and I should get it out more! It's also a pretty amazing lens, but it's harder to focus because everything in the viewfinder looks so small, it's hard to see if you're in focus or not. On the other side, it's a 21mm so everything is in -focus all the time, mostly!
The other spectacular lens that is my #2 Zeiss is the 100mm Makro-Planar ZE. While it's not as practical as having the Canon 70-200mm, which comes in several different forms and I have this version as well, again it has the beauty of other Zeiss lenses in making bright sharp photos.
Given all of this, when Zeiss came out with the Milvus line, I was really concerned that the jump in price and the differences in the lenses, the one lens that seemingly everyone on FM would brag about both in sharpness and uniqueness was the traditional version of the 135mm APO Sonnar ZE (or alike). So I stretched for this and bought a new one from B&H. However, from the start, I could not get a sharp photo and it was very frustrating. I contacted Zeiss and sent them photos and they seemingly did everything they could to NOT let me send the lens to them so they could check it out and fix whatever was out of whack. After 5 months of game playing emails from Zeiss, I sent them an email bomb and they got it that I wasn't going to disappear, especially since the lens had a very long warranty and I have mostly manual lenses so I know how to focus a lens and a Zeiss! They did find something that was cracked and sent it back and I think it's okay now. I would say it's not as perfect as the other lenses I have, and it makes me feel that way as well. However, the other Zeiss lenses are fine and I really do have a lot of general confidence in them, more so than Canon and others.
As a side note, thanks for letting me know about the Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS, non-L lens. I'm not attached to "L" lenses or Zeiss or anything as long as they're a really good lens. I have the Canon 50mm F/1.4 (non L) and it's "was" a spectacular lens before I accidentally dropped it. I had it repaired at a local lens shop, but they did a lousy job so it's still not right. It's cheap enough that I've considered replacing it, but I also have a Canon 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS STM. While it doesn't fit a full-frame camera, I use it for an SD1 as a back-up camera I travel with. There are areas of the lens that are razor sharp!!! Not all areas are this way, but when you use them on an APS-C camera, wow! I wonder if Canon has an equivelent for FF sensors?
I will check out the Canon 24 and 35mm IS and see what they offer. Also, I think Sigma offers a couple of lenses in their Art series that are around that area that are award winning lenses. My problem is that the 25mm is really wide still and I need something between these areas. If I find something, I'll email you and as I mentioned, the Art series from Sigma is spectacular, as are their Sport series, but they're a lot more money.
Bill Samuels
...Show more →
Hey Bill!
I did not “e-mail” you. The forum automatically notifies you, if someone likes or quotes your post. 
I am glad that Zeiss sorted-out your APO Sonnar 135. I liked my first APO Sonnar 135 so much, that I bought another, so that I would have both the ZE for Canon EF mount, and the ZF.2 for Nikon F mount. I bought both of them pre-owned, at Houston Camera Exchange, which is a short drive, enabling me to test-shoot when selecting lenses, and, of course, letting the first owners take the initial depreciation hit.
I like manually-focusing. My first mentor, with SLR camera usage, was my wife, who made sure I learned how to manually focus. I started using DSLRs in 2010, primarily to shoot macro and at very close-range, often in low-light, which meant that manually-focusing was often necessary, even with the best DSLRs of that time. Not until late 2014 did I have the 7D Mark II, with AF which worked MUCH better in low light, at close range, with my 100L Macro IS, than the AF in the original-version 7D. The 5Ds R further improved the AF situation.
One convenient thing about the Canon EF 35mm IS is that it has a VERY close Minimum Focusing Distance. This was very handy, one time, when I photographed a limo bus that had been shot-up, in either a road rage or gang-banger situation. Bullets had entered the vehicle, and passed through seats and other things. I was able to crawl between and under the seats, and using a Macro Ring Lite flash, shoot INTO the bullet holes, at those close distances, with the 35 IS and 100 Macro L IS, on my 5Ds R. This was the only crime scene that I shot, with the 5Ds R, because those huge files bogged-down the proprietary software that uploaded and stored the images, in the police computer. (I worked police patrol, with crime scene photography becoming an added duty, in late 2010, until I retired in early 2018.)
Rex G
(Yes, Rex. My parents named me after a dog.  Well, actually, I think it was singer/song writer Rex Allen.)
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