A cross post from the Leica thread in case this interests anyone here and who doesn't normally visit that thread...
Happened to be in the NYC area last Friday and stopped by the PhotoPlus Expo. There were a few things I wanted to see, but the number one priority was to have a look at the new Zeiss Distagon 35/1.4 ZM. Zeiss had a couple on display for actual hands-on use and I spent a few minutes running it through a few tests on my M240. Unfortunately I didn't have access to a Sony a7/R/S body to also try it on...
Initial impression is that it is somewhat large, but it's not gigantic, IMO. And it's lighter than its size implies, just as the spec sheet indicates that it's lighter than the CV35/1.2.
Focus feel was excellent - extremely smooth. And the throw seemed decent. Viewfinder blockage is there... it's creeping into the bottom right quarter of the frame, but should be manageable.
I managed to knock my M240's rangefinder out of alignment a few days ago, so had to rely on the EVF for critical focus. But in that respect, the Distagon seems to deliver very nicely. It's very sharp near or far wide open, with a hint of SA that cleans up a stop down. It also seems to be very sharp across the frame with a flat field of focus already from near wide open. Couldn't see any wavy field curvature typical of Leica glass. I could sometimes make out faint onion rings in the out of focus specular highlights... we'll see how bad this is in real life, but I suspect it probably won't be a major concern.
Difficult to judge rendering character with the limited time and location, but it seemed quite neutral. Double edged blur can appear in some situations and the blur balls towards the very edge of the frame sometimes take on odd, squarish shapes.
But so far, I'm very enthusiastic about the lens and plan to get one. The Zeiss rep I spoke to indicated it should be available already in December at around USD 2,200.
Here are a few web-rez snaps from the ZM. I'll see about posting a link to some full-rez versions in the near future... I believe these were all wide open.
Here's a smartphone snap of the ZM on my M240 with the 21 Lux for a size comparison. That's the 28 Cron behind the camera (with non-standard $5 vented hood):
Also, the above ZM sample images were all shot uncoded and couldn't make out any obvious color shift/tinge along the edges. Looks promising in this respect, too.
From last week here in Kansas City while the city was celebrating the World Series the lights and waters were made blue in support of the KC Royals baseball team:
Since I 'put it to the forum' about which Zeiss 25/28 to get a little while ago, I thought I should follow up that I'm now the happy owner of a 25/2 ZE.
I was sold on the 25/2.8 ZF but at Australian $ prices (sadface), plus Nikon adapter, plus additional adapter L plate - it worked out even slightly more than the used but mint 25/2 ZE I acquired.
It definitely seems to give a real Distagon look, like the 35/1.4.
I've only been able to use it a few times so far, still getting used to the DOF at 25mm (have been spoilt by the TSE24 for too long!)
