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Zeiss Batis 25 versus Canon 24mm TSE ll lens

jpaulmoore

Active member
Hello all, I have using the Canon 24 TSE ll lens with my A7r ll via the Metabones lV adapter with superb results. Just yesterday (birthday present to self) I ordered the Zeiss Batis 25 due to the rave reviews, and wanting a smaller/lighter lens when traveling. I know it will probably be some time before getting the Batis, but in the meantime, has anyone compared these two lenses in this setup? I realize the Canon is a TS lens but as far as pure optical quality, how do they differ?
Thanks,
J. Paul
 

dmward

Member
I have both but haven't done a comparison.

I'm planning to do some shooting to see how stitching together multiple frames works using the shift function to gain coverage.
Also, planning to do a combination of shift and panning with nodal point off set. I'll take along the Batis 25, will be instructive.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
My bet the Batis will smoke it until it gets to about F8,f11 in the corners. The TSE is a brilliant lens but it shines starting around F8. The Batis starts at 2.8 in the corners and at F4 is just about perfect. Diffrent lenses and diffrent needs. Carrying the TSE around all day is not exactly fun.
 

jpaulmoore

Active member
Thanks to DMWard and Guy for your feedback. I will surely be making some comparison test between the two. Guy, like you say, the Canon 24 TSE ll is a stellar lens, but there are times I may not choose to carry the beast :).
Regards,
J. Paul
 

onaujee

Member
If you are going with the Batis 25, try replacing your 24 with a 17 TSe... That way you can have both for different situations and you will be covered for landscape work too..
 

Zlatko Batistich

New member
The 24 TSE version II is one of Canon's best. The Digital Picture says it "is impressively sharp wide open and is very sharp right into the full frame corners. Stopping down does not make a significant difference in sharpness". Distortion is "negligible". I would be surprised if the 25 Batis is better than that. On the other hand, I'd much rather use a smaller lens like the Batis.
 

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

I have the Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII, too. My feeling is that it is mostly outperformed by the Sony 24-70/2.8 ZA zoom I have. Now, it may be that my sample is a lemon. On the other hand, I have seen a test on DPReview which was not that great and Ken Rockwell also says that Canon's own 24-70/2.8 and 24-105/4 may outperform it.

From what I see, I would think that anyone not needing the TSE functionality would be better of with any decent 24 mm lens.

I'll try to put up some images on the web…

Best regards
Erik


Hello all, I have using the Canon 24 TSE ll lens with my A7r ll via the Metabones lV adapter with superb results. Just yesterday (birthday present to self) I ordered the Zeiss Batis 25 due to the rave reviews, and wanting a smaller/lighter lens when traveling. I know it will probably be some time before getting the Batis, but in the meantime, has anyone compared these two lenses in this setup? I realize the Canon is a TS lens but as far as pure optical quality, how do they differ?
Thanks,
J. Paul
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
From Photozone

Now it's not overly surprising that the lens is capable of providing a very high quality based on a neutral shift setting. But what about the extremes then ? There is, of course, a decrease in image quality when shifting the image frame towards the edges of the image circle. This is most obvious at f/3.5 where you can spot some corner softness and, of course, a higher amount of vignetting. The corner softness is gone by f/5.6 and the vignetting issue is also very much reduced here. The image quality is generally very good from f/5.6 till f/11. Lateral CAs remain a non-issue here as well.
Typical for tilt-shift lenses you've to live without AF but if in doubt your camera's LiveView feature should help in critical situations. The build quality is absolutely stellar but then you can expect no less from a lens in this price class. The metal body design in conjunction with the large glass elements results in a fairly big and heavy package though so be prepared for that if you consider such a lens.

Regarding its optical qualities and the immense creative potential we can only conclude ... highly recommended!
 

Hausen

Active member
The 24 TS-E is my main user lens. Think it is probably big and heavy compared to my 28 Summicron, but feels very natural to me on A7rII. Both metal bodies and I have always loved all things metal.
 

philip_pj

New member
That bar chart is the lens with 12mm shift, Guy. It's very different shot straight on:
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/603-canon24f35tse2

I'd say it's designed for shift at f8 or so.
But these are very different classes of lens: 780 grams and 82mm filters, very large even on a DSLR, then add in the adapter; versus 335 grams, 67mm filters.

What I see here, as with many Canon lenses, is excellent centers wide open and a stop down, with not great corners - then the center falls away as the corners rise at mid apertures. You can expect this in a TS lens, these are generally much less wonderful used 'straight on', design constraints come into it, due to coverage (image circle) needs. This one does quite well on 21mp but on high res can be expected to go the same way as the new 11-24, the first lens PZ tested on the 50mp body - that is, rather badly outside the centers:

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/940-canon1124f4?start=1

The B25 has excellent optical qualities, as shown by the fabulous MTF. I'd back it in a heartbeat at any aperture in this contest (TS used head on) on 36/42mp. It's corners are 80-90% of centers at all apertures. Then you have Zeiss micro-contrast to factor in. Then $1300 versus $1900. f2 versus f3.5. Versatile versus specialized. No adapter. The B25/B85 were designed for high resolution. The 24 TS II is a June 2009 release, well before even the D800 ushered in 36mp photography, and the game changed forever.
 

Zlatko Batistich

New member
The B25 has excellent optical qualities, as shown by the fabulous MTF.
Is the Batis 25's MTF chart pre- or post- software correction? I noticed that the Zeiss pdf shows the vignetting and distortion charts with camera correction "on", but doesn't specify for the MTF.
 

Bluebird

New member
Hi,

I have the Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII, too. My feeling is that it is mostly outperformed by the Sony 24-70/2.8 ZA zoom I have. Now, it may be that my sample is a lemon. On the other hand, I have seen a test on DPReview which was not that great and Ken Rockwell also says that Canon's own 24-70/2.8 and 24-105/4 may outperform it.
Erik
Ouch Erik - you must have a very bad example of the V2 TS-E. We use this and the 17mm all day on jobs along with the 24-105, 70-200 F4 and 14mm II. The latter is the only lens that comes close to the pair of TS-E's for sharpness, colour, contrast and all round wonderful'ness :)

They can get knocked easily out of alignment - the 24mm has gone in twice to Canon for calibration.

ps. Generally ingore Ken ...
 

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Not very happy with my 24/3.5 TSE… much interested in observations

Hi,

I just shot a comparison between my Sony 24-70/2.8 ZA and my Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII. To me it seems that the 24-70/2.8 ZA outperforms the Canon 24/3.5 TSE. My Canon lens is brand new while the 24-70/2.8 is quite a few years.

Here are some samples (24/3.5 TSE on the left and 24-70/2.8 on the right):







Raw images:

http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/24mm_comparison/SUB/20150831-_DSC0241.dng
http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/24mm_comparison/SUB/20150831-_DSC0243.dng

These were shot on the Sony Alpha A7rII with the Metabones adapter. Sony 24-70/2.8 at f/6.3 and Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII at f/11. The Canon was not shifted/tilted.

Much interested in any comments as my lens is definitively under warranty, so I can send it in for repair if it is a bad sample. Just keep in mind that the crops are actual pixels from 42 MPix.

Best regards
Erik
 

dmward

Member
Erik,
Is there a lens profile for the Sony 24-70?
I noticed there is not a lens profile for the 24 TSE when I was doing some comparison shooting this morning.

If there is a profile for the Sony lens it makes it hard to do a comparison since there is know way to know what sharpening or contrast is baked into the profile.

The details you provided look as though contrast, clarity and sharpening would go a long way toward getting the TSE looking similar to the Sony.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
TSE do not have any profiles available in any raw program.its a shift lens so they have no real standard point to go by.
 
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