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Zeiss 24-70mm vs 35-70mm

FlypenFly

New member
My 24-70mm just came in and I'll be pitting it against my Leitax adapted Contax Zeiss 35-70mm this weekend on my trusty A850.

Plan is to test landscape and mid distance subjects in their overlapping focal lengths at F5.6 and F8. I'll also be doing a macro test. Any bets on the winner?

Essentially I'll be doing this testing to see how much performance I lose on the 24-70mm zoom which is a lot more flexible. The 35-70mm zoom is significantly lighter and can focus closer though so it might not be a terrible idea to have both.

Any predictions?

 
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Rand47

Active member
Prediction: No difference in image quality / characteristics that would matter in an actual print hanging on the wall.
 

FlypenFly

New member
Some observations after my initals long distance shots today.

For long distance infinity focus:

The 35-70 lets in more light than the 24-70 at all apertures and focal lengths. I stupidly shot at aperture priority instead of just locking in with a manual metering. Shutter was at least 1/250 at F8 and at least 1/1000 at F4. Everything was shot on a Manfrotto self standing monopod.

At 70mm at F8 and at F4, the Zeiss 35-70 is sharper. At F4 70mm, the 35-70 is Significantly sharper, at F8, the 24-70 starts to catch up pretty close.

At 50mm at F8 and at F4, the Zeiss 24-70 is sharper and has no CA at F4 while the 35-70 has some. At F8, the 24-70 is perhaps just a tiny bit sharper and more clear. At 50mm F4, the 24-70 is significantly sharper than the 35-70.

At 35mm at F4 the 35-70 is much sharper, the situation is reversed at 35mm at F8 with the 24-70 being sharper albeit with less of a differential. However, in the corners at F4, the 24-70 is significantly sharper than the 35-70.

I'm going to redo these tests one more time to have a second set of data then I'll post both samples. I'm also be going to be doing mid to close distance shots at 50mm (seems to be the sweet spot for both lenses) indoors with a mono light to control things a bit more tighter.

This is a lot more complicated story than I thought it would be.
 
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philip_pj

New member
Any thoughts on which files you prefer, as you are probably shooting the same subjects. Both will be very fine lenses and you may see 'sharpness' differences but which images do you prefer and why?
 
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