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Loxia (Planar) 2.0/50 vs. ZM Planar 2.0/50 on A7R

thomas

New member
Here's a brief comparison of the Loxia (Planar) 2.0/50 vs. the ZM Planar 2.0/50 on an A7R.

My impressions…:
- both lenses show (almost exactly) the same distortion
- both lenses show (almost exactly) the same light falloff
- both lenses show a very, very similar look
- the Loxia’s resolution all over the image frame is much, much higher

As in the Loxia 35 vs. Sonnar 35 thread here are again PNG-screenshots from the Capture One interface (not taken from processed files) converted to JPEG.
Make sure to view the screenshots at 100% magnification...


1- scene: Loxia on the left, ZM on the right (in all screenshots below).
The ZM-Planar shows a slightly wider field of view:




Center.
Focus is on the wall (not on the trees or on the number attached to the street lamp).
You need to stop down the ZM Planar to f4 to come relatively close to the performance of the Loxia.

2- center f2:




3- center f2.8:




4- center f4:




Edge.
I’d consider the edge performance of the Loxia wide open really good… though it gets better when stopped down. At f4 the edges are usable even when really high sharpness is required.
The ZM Planar needs to be stopped down to f8 to reach a comparable level.

5- edge f2:




6- edge f2.8:




7- edge f4:




8- edge f5.6:




9- edge f8:




… at the very corners the ZM Planar comes nowhere near the performance of the Loxia … not even at f8:




So … I would say the Loxia Planar 50 is the good old ZM Planar 50… redesigned for much better resolution to meet the demands of current highres sensors.
As far as I am concerned it’s definitely a keeper :)
 
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Thank you for the comparison, but from what I see, it's more about accommodating the thick sensor filter stack on the A7 series. This test shows that even a 50 is not immune to this effect. I expect on the M240, the ZM 50 should be close to the Loxia.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Having tested the Loxia 35 likeThomas did and ordering the 50 as well after seeing this my conclusion is this for both Loxia lenses is they may have took a older design and tuned them big time for Sony sensors as the improvements are just flat out obvious. I'm glad I bought them both. Very excited about these two lenses. Bring us more focal lengths please. I may just buy the whole line of them. Lol
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I should add here I pretty much had the whole line of the Zf.2 Zeiss glass when I had my Nikons and these lenses have that same look. I had the 18, 25 F2 brilliant lens, 35 F2 several times, 85 1.4 and the 135 F2 another brilliant lens. If these Loxia lenses get some of those focal lengths and at least give us that look of them than I will be very excited.

I will say this the Loxia 35 has less field curvature than the 35 Zf.2
 

thomas

New member
Thank you for the comparison, but from what I see, it's more about accommodating the thick sensor filter stack on the A7 series. This test shows that even a 50 is not immune to this effect. I expect on the M240, the ZM 50 should be close to the Loxia.
maybe I did get you wrong ... but the images above are shot with an A7R
... which doesn't have a thick sensor stack... and also a siginficantly smaller pixel pitch than the 24MP M240...
 
V

Vivek

Guest
maybe I did get you wrong ... but the images above are shot with an A7R
... which doesn't have a thick sensor stack... and also a siginficantly smaller pixel pitch than the 24MP M240...
It does. Hiep was correct. The stack thickness is a total of ~2.5mm glass.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I think the conclusion is sensor stack or not the Loxia lenses are optimized for the FE body. They take away the variable of various quality of adapters and add native support. I may get the 50 as its one of my favorite lenses and performs ell on the A7R. The Loxia just improves it further.
 

thomas

New member
Thank you for the comparison, but from what I see, it's more about accommodating the thick sensor filter stack on the A7 series. This test shows that even a 50 is not immune to this effect. I expect on the M240, the ZM 50 should be close to the Loxia.
the light falloff is almost exactly the same with both lenses (in-camera correction turned off on the Loxia, of course). Hard to imagine that the clear advantage for the Loxia in terms of resolution is only related to the filter glass...?
 
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Vivek

Guest
Not to change the subject, but has anyone tried (rented) the Leica APO50 on the a7II?
If i had that (say Leica gives it as a gift :D ) i would sell it without even opening the box and continue with the lenses I am already using.
 

CharlesK

New member
Thomas, thank you very much for your comparison test results! This is echoing my feelings with the Loxia 50/2 on the A7II, A7s and even my A7r Kolari modified. I love my 50 Nocti f/1.0, 50 Cron DR and the 50 Lux Asph, but I am now leaving the Loxia 50 on the A7II/A7s. I am also seeing amazing detail with the 50 Loxia which is not apparent on most web sized images. But it is there and the colour graduation and tonality is wonderful. Like Guy, I had a large range of the ZE lenses with my 5DII, and I really liking the Loxia range!
In terms of ergonomics the Loxia 50 and A7II now works much better than my previous M240 and 50 Lux Asph/35 Lux FLE.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I think one big thing we leave out of these conversations although we have touched on it, is the fit on these to the A7 series. To me you can't find just the right size and weight with other lenses. Also the ergo's and finish on them is just wonderful. Maybe not so much here but I think they are just overlooked by many because it's not AF and frankly it would ruin them if they where.
 

thomas

New member
thanks guys!

... I think they are just overlooked by many because it's not AF and frankly it would ruin them if they where.
this ... and most likely also because they are "only" f2. I am under the impression most people only look for the fastest lenses.
Anyway... both - manual focus and the 'moderate' widest aperture contribute to the small size of the lenses. Although there is some distortion (incidentally less on the Biogon-Loxia 35) it's non-complex distortion that can be corrected very well with generic lens correction (for instance in Capture One). Then again the lens profiles in Alpa Lens Corrector for the ZM Biogon 2.0/35 and the ZM Planar 2.0/50 work just fine for the Loxia 35 and Loxia 50...
 
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