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Fun with the Zeiss 24mm 1.8

Can't believe no one has started one of these yet so here we go!

Just got mine and after reading somewhat tempered reactions to the lens, I have been nothing but pleased with it. Did some quick comparos to my C/Y Zeiss 25 and 28mm lenses (which are both excellent on NEX) and the new 24mm looks to excel over both.

Quick note on these first images - they are cooked to my palate so if you see grain, vignetting, etc. it was the intent of the photographer. If you do not like my cooking, that's ok. What I look for in a lens is hard to define in words, as I like so many different types, but I know it when I see it and this lens has it in spades.

Without further ado, let's get this party started...looking forward to seeing what everyone else has cooked up with this gem.


All shot on the 5N: ISO 100 f/1.8 edited with Alien Exposure 3 and CS5







 

etrigan63

Active member
Bibble Pro (my favorite alternative RAW converter) now supports the NEX-7 RAW files. They still need to add lenses to their database, but they are doing a pretty good job otherwise. A sample:


Night Scene by Carlos Echenique, on Flickr

Noise and sharpness are managed very well in my opinion.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
first oportunity this morning to test the Zeiss 24mm F1.8.

first a morning macro



Second a shot taken wide open at F1.8 with a small full size crop near the edge of the frame to illustrate edge sharpness wide open.



Safe to say it blows the kit lens into the weeds. Simply another league. Sharper wide open than the Kit lens is at optimum aperture.

There is some fairly mild CA on backlit subjects, but easily corrected in Camera Raw.

Im giving the Kit lens to my wife to play with, or maybe to the dog to chew...:eek::D
 

etrigan63

Active member
Glad yours made it home QB. Quick word of warning to all Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 Sonnar-E owners: When mounting/dismounting the lens hood, make sure you grasp it from the petals and not the base ring (this lens hood is composed of two pieces). Mine came apart while I was dismounting it. I did not use any excessive force (I did not have a "kung fu grip" episode) and the base ring (which has the logo) unglued itself. Oddly, the petal assembly is the part that attaches to the lens and the base ring just makes it look nice and has all of the marks. I have contacted my dealer to see if Sony will replace it. I'm surprised that this happened, but I am more surprised that Sony used a two-piece design when a single piece design would be less expensive and more durable.
 
I've posted on DPI before about my love for the Distagon 28mm adapted to the NEX so I was anxious to pit that lens against the new 24mm. I will post some comparisons later but my initial deduction is that the lenses perform almost exactly alike. Same rendering, DOF, Bokeh, sharpness - it is all nearly identical. So it would seem that while labeled a Sonnar, it behaves more like the Distagon of the C/Y era.

Also, compared it to my Canon 35mm L at 1.8 and the Canon clearly has a creamier, more shallow rendering that appeals to me.

So I would say that this is a world class lens if you enjoy the look of the Distagon but don't expect it to act like a Full Frame fast 35mm.
 
Here are the samples from my Zeiss Sonnar 24mm vs. Zeiss Distagon 28mm shoot out. I'm not going to label them, feel free to guess which photo is from which lens. I also threw in one shot at f/1.8 - all others are at the Distagon's max aperture - f/2.8

All images were shot RAW from the approximate same position, edited with the same adjustments - pretty amazing how alike the color and contrast is between these two...

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
Its difficult to tell at that size what the relative performances of the two lenses are but yes they look similar, which presumably reflecs the common design background. You would not know they were different lenses. From my tests, I am impressed that the 28mm F1.8 is so sharp wide open.
 
Quentin,

The only reason you would need a larger image would be to ascertain sharpness and lens resolution. Everything else you can see here. And as you mentioned, the 24mm is very sharp, even wide open. When pixel peeping it looks to be a hair sharper than the 28mm (which is known to be exceedingly sharp) and I would guess can resolve equally well.

What pleases me the most about this lens is that, while relatively expensive, you truly do get the Zeiss look and not something more generic with less character or performance.

Best,
Chad
 

Amin

Active member
I'm guessing the second one in each set is the Distagon. All the samples in this thread look great and are much appreciated. I think the lens is great and someday hope to own one.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
The second one in each set is from the E-Sonnar. Very clear difference, even at this picture size.:)
 
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