Nikon D800E with Carl Zeiss Super APO TPP 300/2.8T* + paired 1.7X

[Pingang]

Put the Nikon D800E with the invincible Carl Zeiss Super APO TPP 300/2.8 T* with its paired 1.7X. I have this lens use on my Hasselblad 205FCC, Contax 645AF with film and now Phase backs, Canon and Nikon and SONY NEX, great images besides lots of fun.
Plan a new shoot with this set up soon!

BR,
Pingang

 

[glenerrolrd]

Impressive set up .....but invincible? The 300/2.8 VR2 Nikkor is an absolutely stunning telephoto . Despite all the complaints about Nikon s AF ....with the telephotos it near perfection . And as good as it is ..its not near the Leica R APO Telyts .

Still it looks awesome and who can knock the best zeiss lenses ..not me .

 

[Pingang]

I have the Leica Apo-Tylet-R 280/2.8 and 400/2.8 too and I can tell you, the Carl Zeiss TPP is certainly at least as good, considered it also serve up to 6X6, both Canon and Nikon have wonderful telephoto lens, but mechanically less than Leica, and the Leica in comparison to this Zeiss TPP is less good. This Zeiss TPP focus with the milky smoothness as movie primes.

BR,
Pingang

Impressive set up .....but invincible? The 300/2.8 VR2 Nikkor is an absolutely stunning telephoto . Despite all the complaints about Nikon s AF ....with the telephotos it near perfection . And as good as it is ..its not near the Leica R APO Telyts .

Still it looks awesome and who can knock the best zeiss lenses ..not me .

 

[Tektrader]

At the risk of being controversial, What good are the BEST optics in any package that doesnt have AF?

How many static subjects are there for a 300mm+ tele lens without VR or IS ?

2 inches of depth movement from the subject and its OOF. I struggle with the Nikon 400mm F3.5 to shoot moving sublects. I can only imagine its worse with an F 2.8 manual lens. The AF lens from NIKON and CANON are still kings for this application.

Any resolution advantages are robbed by small subject movements that cant be speedily compensated for.

 

[glenerrolrd]

Exactly ..if you haven t shot with one of the newer professional bodies you may not appreciate how far the AF tracking has come. When I shot Polo this winter I could focus on the ball its self with the horses crossing at about a 45 degree angle ...the D3S would accurately track a dozen captures using either the 600 F4 or 400 f2.8 wide open . These are at a distance but DOF is just a few feet maybe 3-4ft .

If the zeiss uses a similar system to the Leica R the manual focus is very very quick and smooth ...you can learn to follow focus if the movement is predictable ..as a bird in flight . So it depends on what you shoot .

This should t be about whats best ..its just an interesting combination capable of great IQ . You sure don t see this everyday .

 

[Alon]

...you can learn to follow focus if the movement is predictable ..as a bird in flight . So it depends on what you shoot .

Unfortunately only on the X or Y axis!

 

[glenerrolrd]

Unfortunately only on the X or Y axis!

Not true . Its a function of technique ,skill and ability . Sports photographers for ever had to do this before AF became predominate . We used to shoot birds frequently with the Leica R 400/6.8 lens that had a push pull set up just to facilitate follow focus .

I have the modular Telyt system and used it a bunch to shoot surfers . There movement is slower and more predictable than wild life .

But the question is ...why would you want to work on a skill that does not come close to the effectiveness of the best AF systems. The new long glass from Nikon and Canon is superb against any standard .

The answer always seems to be in the subjects you choose and the technique you have mastered .

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Not in the very long category but my Nikon 200 f2 is amazingly good. I owned the Leica 180 F2 cron and the canon 200 1.8 and the Nikon is right in line with them if not actually better. It's a laser and the AF on it is outstanding. Moving or not

 

[Pingang]

Telephoto lens designed to compress the depth of field, not just sport, and I am not shooting sport but I use telephone lens to shoot landscape, and portrait sometimes.
There are masterpieces of sport image made prior the time of AF, so I guess a lens is at its best of capable of reaching critical focus, with or without the aid of automation, of course, AF is a convenient and becoming more and more of a dependent feature, all of them still allow manual focus tell that manual focus is important.
I use to think my Nikon was good mechanically until I started to use Leica M 20 years ago, I thought my Hasselblad was good until I get an Alpa. Yes, I have many long lenses from Canon or Nikon to 600mm, they feel what they are worth. Not the Carl Zeiss TPP, it is in a different leage from the beginning. The lens when it introduced can only be pre-order without specific delivery time because Zeiss would only wait until the lab found the right piece of glass that met the tight specification then they can manufacture into lenses they need for the lens. Planed to make 300 but in reality much less due to the high requirement of special glass that does not come everyday - even from its own works, mine is serial 78, not sure how many more after that. The tele-converter is optically paired, and individually calibrated.
I just got the Canon EF 300/2.8L IS II last night, yes, it is a good lens, but still a lot less when you put in on hand.

BR,
Pingang

 

[georgl]

@Pingang
Wonderful lens, I think about 170 were made.
Would you mind posting a few pics or crops for us pixel-peepers? ;-)
I guess it feels at home with a larger sensor (80MP-MFDB anyone?)...

 

[Pingang]

Ha, I never know exactly how many were made, where to find such information?
Sure, will post an image with P65+, my IQ180 was H mount so I can't use this lens but I have a Contax 645AF mount P65+ with the image from this lens.
When I get back to my archive sometime later today, will post one.

BR,
Pingang

@Pingang
Wonderful lens, I think about 170 were made.
Would you mind posting a few pics or crops for us pixel-peepers? ;-)
I guess it feels at home with a larger sensor (80MP-MFDB anyone?)...

 

[Pingang]

a test of Zeiss TPP Super-APO will be tested on D800E soon but by request, this is the shot made on P65+ with this Zeiss TPP at the high pass of Ancient silk road (north route) - the Ancient xiata pass, the mountain in the far right is the Khan Tengri, reaching 7,010 meters -2nd highest of Tian Shan.
The original image was cropped to 8,984 X 2,591 pixels and I have cut a section of the original image (orange rectangular box) with 100% image for pixel peeping.
The Zeiss TPP rendered detail very well, with good definition on highlight and shadow which is usually difficult for snow mountains, free of any chromatic aberrations - where critcal glass is applied to this lens for such reason.
The Zeiss TPP, as most of high-end Zeiss and Leica lens, provides ability to focus beyond infinity to offset possible physical variation during extreme heat or cold , in this case, the picture was taken with a rather minor minus 7 celcius - in May - still consider Spring in this region of China. Over the mountain is the Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan.

BR,
Pingang

 

[georgl]

Excellent subject for an excellent lens! Thank you!

If you are more into panoramic shots and still want to stick with state-of-the-art Zeiss lenses, you should propably get one of those ;-) :
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