REVIEW - ZEISS 28MM F2 DISTAGON ZE
Lens Handling and Performance on the Canon 1Ds Mark III dSLR
ZEISS 28mm F2 DISTAGON ZE FOR CANON
Focus confirmation works fine with the Canon 1Ds Mark III, beeping when focus is achieved for the selected auto-focus point. The focus throw is about a quarter rotation, allowing for fine focus adjustments. The trade-off is focus speed. Going from near focus to distance focus requires a healthy turn, plus the time to finesse focus. Some people may find the Canon “S” focus screens beneficial for manual focusing:
On the ZE lenses the aperture is 100% automatic, thus eliminating the stop-down metering process. In the past 4-5 years I have missed my fair share of pictures due to the time required for stop down metering. While turning the aperture ring, sometimes I moved the camera and compromised critical focus. Or the subject moved, or the composition changed, thus compromising the picture. With the ZE lenses aperture control is like any other Canon lens. The aperture value is set via camera body and when the picture is taken, the Canon body sends a signal to the lens to close the aperture to the set aperture value.
The 28mm ZE has a 58mm front filter thread. A 67mm front thread would have been a better choice since the 50mm F2 Makro-Planar ZE and 100mm F2 Makro-Planar ZE have 67mm threads.
PERFORMANCE
Thus far the most impressive aspect of the 28mm Distagon ZE has been its resolution at near and mid focus distances. A well executed floating element design results in a sharp lens across its entire focusing range. The 28mm ZE’s near focus resolution and sharpness is excellent. I compared some product shots taken with the Canon 50mm F2.5 Macro and the 28mm ZE; the Zeiss 28mm images looked as sharp and as detailed as the 50mm Macro images. Resolution is equally impressive at 5, 10 or 12 feet. The 28mm ZE appears to do well as traditional wide angle lens as well. But I feel that F11 images focused at infinity sort of miss the point - the 28mm ZE really shines at the near distances.
The 28mm ZE’s rendering reminds me of the Leica 50mm F1.4 Summilux-M ASPH. There is a subtle 3-D feel with close subjects. The 28mm ZE’s bokeh is fairly smooth and thus far has not produced anything jarring or “nervous” (a very busy background with lots of double image outlines) bokeh. Bare tree branches with no leaves are ideal candidates for nasty looking bokeh, thus far I have been pleased with the 28mm ZE’s rendering in those settings.
Two commonly mentioned issues with the Zeiss 28mm F2 ZF reviews are focus field curvature and color fringing. While selecting images and working them in Photoshop, if a problem becomes apparent, then I start pixel peeping. Thus far I have not come across any objectionable color fringing (chromatic aberrations). There have been traces, but the CA was only visible when reviewing the images at 100% or greater. And, the CA as either been minimized or completely removed when using the lens correction tools in Phase One’s Capture One raw editing software.
As for the curvature in the focus field, I simply have not noticed it in any of the pictures. Thus far most of my pictures have been at wider apertures at near or mid focus distances, so the curvature could be there, but because of my style, I am not seeing it. The following file is typical example of the CA performance thus (click to download a 22 MB 1Ds Mark III CR2 file).
