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Zeiss ZK on Pentax K5 IIs

4711

Member
Hi

I am thinking about switching from Sony fullframe to either Pentax K5 IIs or to a future Fuji x-Pro2.

In case it will be the K5 IIs I would be highly interested to hear about your experience with any of the Zeiss ZK lenses, no matter which focal range.

They are not available new anymore, only second hand, so I can not try them out myself.

Any comment is appreciated (with K5 or K5II or K5IIs)
 

neilvan

Well-known member
I have the 25mm f2.8 Distagon and 50mm f2 MP for a year now, bought them new from Pop and used them with my K-5 and used them both quite a bit. Got the K-5 IIs when it came out in late October and really like the increased detail the "S" provides (I can't wait for the flora this spring/summer).

Check out the reviews at pentaxforums and try searching here and at DPR for "zeiss zk", you will see more opinions of mine and others there.

They are a real joy to use, the focusing is smoooooth and is wonderful to use with LiveView and a tripod when doing landscapes. I do a lot of flora imagery with the 50mm f2 MP and the out of focus areas aka, bokeh is almost the best I have seen/used/owned. The colour rendering from these lenses mated with the K-5 II's is absolutely perfect in my opinion.

The 25mm 2.8 is great wide open for certain things but really shines stopped down to f5.6 to f/8 for landscapes. Using it wide open at its short MFD is a total hoot, it's still sharp as sharp can be in the centre but not so much at the edges. For certain images this can work rather well, once you get to know the lens it can be quite versatile.

My apologies for the poorly written post, I am in a hurry and just wanted to answer your question before I run out the door...

Hope it helps!

K-5 IIs and 50mm f2 MP
 
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