Confirmed for Canon. Seems a waste that they are making 50 and 85 when the market already has excellent lenses in these focals lens. We are clearly in need of excellent wide lenses so why not a wide first.
andrew_rs wrote:
I get the feeling that some people never using a manual focus lenses on manual focus cameras and are have come to believe that some of the problems associated with using manual lenses on AF bodies are actually "features". My ancient contax body has auto aperture with C/Y lenses, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
For manual focus lenses it is much easier to focus wide open. Also, the apparent depth of field as seen on the focus screen and as it is actually recorded are quite often not very close. You just need to shoot for a little bit to understand this. The best way to judge depth of field is through experience of using your various lenses at varying apertures and focus distances. The next best way is to look at the scale on the lens. Using DOF preview comes in a distant third compared to the previous methods.
Yeah, keeping a manual lens on an AF body stopped down for focus is really only for convenience, such as in cases where you're taking pictures at a quick pace and don't have to time to open up the lens to focus better. You can never achieve better focus by reducing the amount of light to the viewfinder. ...Show more →
I can't tell if you're criticizing my post or just adding to it (probably just adding to it). Either way, we are in total agreement.
i am very happy that there is an automatic aperture and that the ZE version has the focussing ring turning the right way like the old contax and canon lenses. now i just have to make my mind up wether to get the 50ZE or to get the N50 converted. maybe both :-)
My old Zeiss C/Y 85 f/1.4 compares very favourably to my 135L - colour, contrast and sharpness are wonderful and I stopped caring about the 85L after picking up this beauty for $450US. It's built like a tank yet half the weight of the 85L. My C/Y 50 f1.4 also is a superb little lens for the $140 I paid.
The old C/Y 21 f/2.8 goes for about $2700 used, so this is a steal. The Zeiss 21 is legendary. If the ZE version is as good as the C/Y version, it will be the ultimate Canon-mount wide angle. The Zeiss 21 is absolutely razor sharp from extreme corner to extreme corner. Like, imagine 135L at f/4 center resolution across the entire frame on a wide angle. It's that sharp. Unbelievable micro contrast too.
As long as I have the 85L, 24L and 16-35 II, Zeiss lenses in that FL range don't hold any appeal to me even if they were superior optically, which yet remains to be seen.
However, if that 50 f/1.4 turns out to be a really well performing lens wide open, sharp, without funky bokeh, colour cast, high CA and such, there will be a good Canon user market for it.
So are these ZE lenses actually manufactured by Zeiss? I thought I read somewhere that some line of their lenses was manufactured under contract by one of the larger Japanese firms.
I love my Ls, but this is very exciting. ZE lenses should be insanely sharp, across the entire field (my ZMs are certainly like that). It would've been nice to see AF on these lenses, but I can live with MF. Smaller, lighter lenses are a good thing. The 2,8/25 Biogon "set a record" for resolution. Some other info from Zeiss as well. The guy at 16-9.net seems to like the 21mm Distagon as well. Can't wait to see some test results come in on these lenses.
CMOS wrote:
So are these ZE lenses actually manufactured by Zeiss? I thought I read somewhere that some line of their lenses was manufactured under contract by one of the larger Japanese firms.
The M mount lenses are made by Cosina Japan (but must pass stricter Zeiss QC). Not sure about the ZE lenses (or other) lenses.
EDIT: Except for the 2,8/15 and 2/85 lenses, which are made in Germany.
CMOS wrote:
So are these ZE lenses actually manufactured by Zeiss? I thought I read somewhere that some line of their lenses was manufactured under contract by one of the larger Japanese firms.
The Contax Zeiss glass definitely is manufactured by Zeiss, and is easily mounted on Canon with a simple adapter. Oh, and by the way is for the most part much, much less expensive than the "Z" varieties. So I can't really understand anybody getting excited about these new lenses...
I think reliably transferring lens data to the camera so all modes are available is a development don't you? I have some Contax Zeiss glass but I'm not using it on my EOS bodies yet. Is there an adapter that will work without stop-down metering?
It seems to me that is a development, plus the focus confirm.
ChrisDM wrote:
The Contax Zeiss glass definitely is manufactured by Zeiss, and is easily mounted on Canon with a simple adapter. Oh, and by the way is for the most part much, much less expensive than the "Z" varieties. So I can't really understand anybody getting excited about these new lenses...
