I recently got a second copy of the 24-70L, which seems to have somewhat
better performance than my first copy at 70mm with infinity focus. The previous
owner had cherry picked through five copies of the lens to get this one, and
it seems very good, so I\'m pretty confident I\'m seeing the best of what this
lens can deliver on a 5D. [Well, at least the best lens performance. I\'m
sure a better photographer can produce better images with it than I can. ]
So, having recently been very impressed with the corner-to-corner performance
of my CZ 35-70/3.4 Vario-Sonnar on the 5D, I thought I\'d test the 24-70L
against it at one of its weak points: 70mm with infinity focus. I am testing
particularly interested in performance at the typical \"landscape apertures\"
of f/8 and f/11. I know, the 35mm end of the range would make more sense
for most landscape shooters, but I have always found the 24-70L to deliver
pretty well at the wide end, so I was focusing on the long end for the moment.
The results are here: http://www.pbase.com/tswen/gallery/midzooms
Here are the high points, all at f/8.
The scene, focused on the distant building/foliage:
Canon
Zeiss
Canon Mid Crop
Zeiss Mid Crop
Canon Corner Crop
Zeiss Corner Crop
Conclusion:
They are pretty close. In my testing, The Canon is the winner at
f/4 and below, but at f/5.6 the Zeiss pulls ahead slightly, and the Canon starts
to catch up again by f/11. The Zeiss seems to have better resolution into
the corners, but it has somewhat less contrast. The Zeiss has less vignetting
and less purple fringing in the corners when stopped down to f/8.
Full size images are at the link above. If I get around to it, I\'ll post some
comparisons at 35mm.
Tim
Oct 22, 2008 at 02:38 AM
Previous versions of trumpet_guy's message #6299291 « CZ 35-70/3.4 versus 24-70L »
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