Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/50, anyone....?

[sirhc_1]

I read about this lens in some other forums & would like to have a detailed info from you guys bcoz you provide your members & readers a lot of info....


I am on a Canon & the above is available on a ZE mount. Is this a stellar lens by any means? What I do know is that this lens has an exceptional build & a manual focus lens only. Is it recommendable to use on a crop body? How's the IQ overall?

[Brendan7]

It's a Zeiss lens, and/so IQ is exceptional. Overpriced IMHO. You will prob. miss autofocus.

[sirhc_1]

given a chance, which one will you have? the canon 50mm 1.2L or the zeiss planar 1.4/50?

[Sheiky]

Prices are totally not in the same reach, so are the advantages/disadvantages. So not really comparable if you ask me.


I don't know about IQ for both lenses, so I can't say anything about it.


What I can say is:


At f1.4 your DOF is really shallow, therefor it can be usefull to have a good manual focus. That is of course if you need it. For as far as I know, the Zeiss lens is specifically build to the needs of a manual focus-photographer. There are often times when the eyelashes are in focus, but the eye itself is out of focus. Also with certain product-photography I can think of times where a good manual focus could be very handy.


In other cases. For instance if you only buy such a lens for low-light situations instead of the shallow depth of field. You might want a good autofocus. I think of concerts etc.


When I think of it, my 100mm macro has a lesser autofocus, yes it is usm, but the lens is still made to manual focus. In some cases you don't really need autofocus and manual focus is often preferred. I couldn't care less if my macro lens could only manual focus, but if I wanted to use this lens for other purposes the USM comes in handy after all.Personally I think it is not to hard to manual focus at 50mm, so that part would certainly not stop me from buying.


So in my eyes this decision is purely personal.What are your needs?





Of course this is all based on the things I can think about, so I could be completely wrong. If I am, just tell me [:P]