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pkupcik
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Jul 27, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 323
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Review Date: Apr 21, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Pleasure to use, build, sharpness, color, contrast
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Cons:
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CA, price, lack of weather sealing
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I sold Canon 100/2.8 Macro L IS lens to purchase this Zeiss. The Canon is an excellent lens, but it's image rendering while of high IQ, was somewhat boring/clinical. The Zeiss on the other hand gives that unique Zeiss rendering and is pure joy to operate with its all metal build and smooth manual focus. I find manual focusing with this lens relatively easy as the the small DOF at 100mm and F/2 is easily seen in a 5D viewfinder with high-precision screen.
The lens is very sharp already at f/2, but the DOF at F/2 is very small especially at close distances. IQ starts dropping at f/16-f/22, which is normal with every lens.
Colors and contrast are unique Zeiss and with a little bit of curve/contrast adjustment in post processing you can achieve some amazing looks with image that pops out.
The lens vignettes significantly below f/2.8. I actually prefer it as it gives the image a depth. For macro purposes I use f/4 and higher where this is not an issue.
The lens has significant CA under f/4 in contrasty scenes.
Overall I'm very satisfied with this lens. It's basically a longer version of Zeiss 50/2 which I also have.
The price is twice as much as the Canon 100L. Only you can decide if it's worth it. The lens does not produce 2x better IQ compared to the Canon. It's simply different, has some extra IQ and is pure joy to use. I can see using this lens for the rest of my life.
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 Apr 21, 2010
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rapscallion
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Oct 15, 2009
Location: Norway
Posts: 50
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Review Date: Apr 19, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp, great micro contrast,"king of bokeh", easy MF, exellent build quality
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Cons:
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price, lens cap design is poor, no 1:1 macro
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One of the best lenses I have ever had.
I find its much easier to focus than a few of the other Zeiss lenses, ( i.e. the 85mm MP, 50mm MP )The focus plane "jumps" out towards you.
I love the weight and build quality.
To bad its not 1:1 macro
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Apr 19, 2010
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Toothwalker
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Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jan 23, 2009
Location: Norway
Posts: 1571
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Review Date: Apr 17, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Overwhelming optical performance
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Cons:
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Some vignetting and out-of-focus color
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All aberrations are extremely well corrected, and, consequently, the raw optical performance is overwhelming. There is noticeable vignetting at full aperture, but this is unavoidable. One may find the familiar achromatic purple and green artifacts in out-of-focus parts of the image, but this is not a primary design criterion and affects nearly all lenses. It is a certainly a challenge to nail the focus at f/2 without live view, but if you do, the definition in the plane of focus is superior.
Finally, two practical issues. The focus throw is a bit short in the 'normal' regime between 1 m and infinity, and the lens cap is clearly a disaster when the hood is mounted. Zeiss should provide slip-on caps for the hood instead. Until then my Contax metal hood #5 will serve me well.
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Apr 17, 2010
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burningheart
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Mar 20, 2005
Location: Canada
Posts: 4074
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Review Date: Apr 13, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp details, colors, contrast, bokeh
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Cons:
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CA
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Edge to edge sharp, excellent contrast and drawing style
The blues and greens produced by the lens are unmatched by any other macro lens. Beautiful smooth bokeh. Has some CA but not an issue. Feels heavier than it really is. When I first got this lens it was used all the time, but I now grab the Leica R 100 APO or Voigtlander 125 APO more often but I wouldn't hesitate putting the Zeiss on for 1 second because it delivers.
For IR shooters it has no hotspots for RG715, but put on a B+W 093 or equivalent and I have found it starts to hotspot at F5.6
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Apr 13, 2010
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snowboarder
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Aug 27, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 2926
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Review Date: Apr 4, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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absolute sharpness, color range, Zeiss look
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Cons:
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Nothing, maybe CA, but less than 50MP ZE
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What should I say here? This lens is a blast, the images look
so amazingly real, vibrant and rich, nothing Canon sells can approach it.
I bought it not because I'm a macro shooter, I just wanted a compact
tele lens with an ability to focus really close. That's what this lens is.
Sharp wide open. One of the best lenses ever made by anyone.
Completes my Zeiss "trinity" (with 21 ZE and 35 ZE).
Please visit my website for the recent examples.
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Apr 4, 2010
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BokehBeauty
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Image Upload: Off
Registered: Feb 6, 2010
Location: Germany
Posts: 673
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Review Date: Apr 4, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Color rendering, amazing sharpness across the frame
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Cons:
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None
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This lens makes me smile whenever I use it and PP the images. The color rendering is so much better then any Canon lens I have.
The amazing sharpness possible with this lens lets me happily carry and use a tripod.
The 3D effect comes for me easier with the 21mm.
Considering the joy it gives me it's well worth the money.
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Apr 4, 2010
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charles.K
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Image Upload: Off
Registered: Nov 6, 2009
Location: Spain
Posts: 11106
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Review Date: Apr 3, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Incredibly sharp, and great rendition and drawing of color. An amazing lens.
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Cons:
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None
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This is my favorite portrait lens. Great for landscapes too. This is an amazing lens. Superb engineering, and easy to MF with the correct focusing screen installed.
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Apr 3, 2010
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nazdravanul
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jul 1, 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 373
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Review Date: Apr 3, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Superb Zeiss incarnation, resolution, bokeh, drawing style are simply amazing.
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Cons:
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Some CA in OOF areas.
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There is just one other lens that I might prefer over the Zeiss : the Canon 200 2 IS. But the Zeiss is a lot cheaper, a lot lighter, and a lot more versatile. Probably it's not even an IQ issue, I just prefer the 200 FL over the 100 FL.
The only minus is represented by the CA in OOF areas, which are a bit annoying, but that's just being spoiled by perfection  .
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Apr 3, 2010
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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24
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69848
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Jan 22, 2022
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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100% of reviewers
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$1,382.09
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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9.92
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9.21
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9.7
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