Zeiss 25mm F2

[Guy Mancuso]

Had to post this. Clearly a great lens it finally got me my first moire shot with the D800E. Handheld no less at F5.6

I'm totally thrilled its a keeper now. LOL

 

[glenerrolrd]

Guy This looks a full “Clic” better than the 28/2 .

 

[Antonio Chagin]

Looks really sharp. Nice lens Guy enjoy.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Guy This looks a full “Clic” better than the 28/2 .

Agree Roger this does look a lot better and it gets the Nikon 24 1.4 also. Maybe one of the better ones. I just got the 35 f2 today looks the same overall but need to see how the detail is on it. I also bought a Tamron 24-70 2.8 that come tommorow. For the PR stuff. I'm building a 2 kit setup. Getting there

I'm feeling pretty good about the E version and controlling it in post.

 

[D&A]

Hmmm, that white pole in the lower right hand corner is purple...it has "CA" written all over it ............(I couldn't resist).

The Tamron 24-70 is an intriguing lens and although I haven't tested one yet, it's been debatable how it compares to it's mid range Tamron predisessor. If one seaches/tests long and hard for a good sample, and doesn't mind 28mm on the wide end, the old venerable "very cheap and unbelivably small Tamron 28-75 f2.8 comes through with shining colors (to use a metaphor) on the D800/e for a very sharp little travel lens...even the later "silent motor" versions perform well. (abeit with both versions having no "VR"). Problem with many of these lenses 3rd party lenses (I'm not refering to Zeiss) is getting a good sample where consistant "even" performance on the sides and corners is present. That often presents a challenge and if one mediocre sample is received, its no indicator just how bad (or good) a different sample of the same lens might be.

The Zeiss 25mm f2 by most accounts is a superb lens and clearly your image Guy, is a great example.

Dave (D&A)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Yes always concerned about a good copy when Sigma and Tamron names pop up.

 

[D&A]

Yes always concerned about a good copy when Sigma and Tamron names pop up.

Guy, when you say "two lens kit" for PR, are you referring to a ultra wide angle lens to go with the 24-70 or one on the telephoto side? I would assume one on the wide side (Zeiss 18?)

Dave (D&A)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Guy, when you say "two lens kit" for PR, are you referring to a ultra wide angle lens to go with the 24-70 or one on the telephoto side? I would assume one on the wide side (Zeiss 18?)

Dave (D&A)

For the PR stuff the Zeiss18 because it's so wide more a fail safe lens, tammy 24-70 the workhorse and the 85mm 1.4 as well and depending on job the 200 f2 although a 135 1.8 would be handy dandy instead. Ideal would be 24-70 the 18 and 135 . Hoping to see the 135 and 17PCE lens announced. A area on both side the wide and tele Nikon needs to address. Fingers crossed

 

[Guy Mancuso]

If you like the Zeiss 25mm f/2, you'll love the Zeiss 35mm f/2. Just sayin'. :thumbs:

Joe

Joe Played in the yard with it just like the 25mm now hopefully it's better than my 35 1.4 Nikon as I gave that up reluctantly. But this 2 kit lens setup makes a lot of sense for me. Actually feeling pretty good about this idea.

I have to go to NY next week to shoot more cityscape stuff so I'm packing the Tammy as primary so I can give it a good run and report here for everyone. In the meantime I am going to run it against my Zeiss glass and see how it does. They are rating this Tammy pretty high but very little data with a D800E. Guess I'm the guinea pig again. LOL

Of course as soon as I get a couple lenses my dishwasher poops out and so does my ice maker. Guess who has to try and fix it. Home ownership sucks sometimes. LOL

Oh not to mention cut and trim 3 big trees Saturday. Anyone have a ticket to Brazil so I can run away. LOL

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

Guy,
How would you compare the zf.2 25 f/ 2, against the Nikon 24 1.4?

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I think it is a notch better overall in color and detail rendering. But you better be good at manual focus or its a waste. The D800 could use a better MF screen in it but not sure any are made.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

BTW i do use a magnifier on my cam. It works pretty good too

Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece for D3, D2 & D1 Series,

 

[Alon]

1- Maybe you try the ZF2 35/2 in night shooting as it does renders well Orange and Brownish tones.

2- A bit disappointed with the 24G on the D800/E.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Tammy 24-70 is here looks pretty dang good too. Need to test it. Love you can just Override AF with focus ring. AF is fast but my guess Nikons might be quicker still fast though.

 

[D&A]

Guy, the Vibration Control in the Tamron is something one has to get used to in terms of the way its implemented. It most certainly is different than Nikon's VC! Looking forward to your observations. I suspect there are going to be a few weekneses with the Tammy, but I won't bias until you have a chance to comment.

Dave (D&A)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Wow Dave you hit the nail on the head. Okay very brief amount of time with it but I noticed immediately you focus and the VC kicks in and slightly moves the image in finder. I think for video this will be awesome for ME mister steady Eddie not so sure. It works that I can tell but that movement may bother me. Off it's very good as is and I can handhold very well. Now as we all know on everyone of these zooms the wide side 24mm is maybe the most problematic focal length, little vignetting wide open and distortion. This is expected with Nikon and Canon offerings as well. Now the other is 70mm but this seems pretty good wide open. I can tell its a sharp lens centrally wide open and very good stopped down. It's a little big but it fits the D800 nicely. Obviously first impressions here and I need more face time with it but so far it's a little better than I was expecting. It's damn sharp but I had to AF tune -7 but that was handheld and need to stick it on tripod and do better. Live view with it is very nice so that is good news and also deadly accurate focusing in live view. This may take some time to get me out shooting with it, have a lot of household chores that are killing me to get done. Everything seems broke right now and I am the maintenance guy. LOL

But I will use this 90 percent of the time in NY where I ll put it through its paces. I need cityscape stuff for stock for my other business with my wife. So get some time there . But if anyone is looking at this, I like it so far. Certainly competes well with Nikons

 

[kuau]

Guy, been following your posts as you transition from Nikon AF primes to Zeiss MF Primes.
My experience has been a mixed bag, if I can shoot my Zeiss at infinity F8 on my D800e
Life is good, but as soon as I have to some non infinity focus, I have to use LV and a 3x loupe and what sucks with D800 LV when you zoom in for critical focus, the image on he display goes to hell. What was Nikon thinking?
Gee I can manual focus my Sony NEX 7 without focus peaking turned on at it works great.
3x loupe on the rear articulating LCD and zoom in, perfect.

Good luck with MF through the Nikon OVF and your DK-17m

Steven

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Steven I think there is a way to fine tune the green dot confirmation to hit better with AF fine tuning control for each MF lenses. I need to play with this idea and look into it more. What I noticed so far is critical focus hits just right at the change to green. I would like it to hit more in the middle if I can. Somewhere in the manual I think it gives a way to do this. I saw a random post about this and I'm wondering if this really works. For now try as soon as the arrow goes to green, stop there and shoot. Also I would get on a tripod do live view than see if you can fine tune the AF to match it on the green indicator. We are talking very slight movements here.

BTW I now maybe silly but don't forget to fine tune your diopter also.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Also I use the single center point for focusing as well. I'm still a old dog about focusing, I trust nothing. Although AF is really good.

 

[tashley]

Guy, you need to watch the Tammy. It is very impressive in some ways but it has some bad habits.

First, bang it on a tripod and shoot a test target at 70mm and fairly close range. Focus in LVAF at 2.8, switch to MF and shoot frames thru f8 to see where your focus shift takes you.

Then assess for AF fine tune but be aware that many users have found that this is veeeery complex with this lens. Mine needs different amounts at different ends of the zoom AND it tends to front focus up close and back focus at distance.

Then shoot a VC series (ten on, ten off, middle distant target at f8 with MF unchanging, 70mm and shutter speed around 3x focal length). You will probably find after a lot of messing that if there's enough light at low ISO to keep shutter speeds safe, turn VC off. It seems affected by shutter slap and though some say shooting in Quiet Mode is best, I am veering towards keeping it off unless shutter speeds drop below 1/40th.

That is clearly a real bummer, but mine is for emergencies only and a lot of people seem to have found the same thing. I'm still playing to find the optimal strategy.

Finally, check you aperture lever calibration by stopping down from f2.8 and seeing that the Ev implied by the aperture change is appropriate to that aperture change. This is another known issue.

For all the above reasons I was going to return mine on day one BUT my 24-120 had a failed fix recently and I'm off on a trip so the Tammy is the preferable of two evils. Added to that, it is astonishingly sharp even wide open on centre when correctly focussed, the focus shift is within what I can live with, the AFFT issues similarly aren't terrible.

Bottom line, with a tripod or fast enough shutter speeds, focussed in LV, it is pretty damned good, and with VFAF it's not actively bad, you just won't get it's best.

Mine has softer edges at 24mm than my 24-120 but way better edges at longer focal lengths. It's a mixed bag and I am not yet sure if I would prefer it to a totally optimal 24-120 but there's a good chance, once I really get used to it, that I will....