OVERVIEW

This ZF review was written before the ZE (Canon EF Mount) version was available. The Zeiss 50mm F2 Makro-Planar ZE is new / updated review. The ZF review discusses build quality for the ZF version only. For a full review of the Zeiss 50mm Makro-Planar ZE lens review, click here.

ZF BUILD QUALITY

Opening the box and handling the lens for the first time, the Zeiss 50mm F2 Makro-Planar ZF felt solid and well built. Overall the build quality is equal or better than most of the Contax RTS lenses (now discontinued). The new Zeiss ZF certainly feels more substantial than any of the Contax era 50mm lenses. The entire outside assembly appears to be metal; there are no signs of plastic on the barrel, mount or bayonet. All the markings are engraved and painted.

The Zeiss 50mm F2 Makro-Planar ZF weighs 1.1 pounds with its mass evenly distributed, resulting in good balance on the Canon 1Ds Mark III. The 50mm ZF is slightly shorter than the Contax 100mm F2 Planar (image to the right). The 50mm Makro-Planar ZF is noticeably longer than the original Contax 50mm Planars and Canon 50mm F1.4 USM. The polished silver mount for the lens hood is nice - no paint will rub off when the (included) lens hood is attached and removed. The silver does stand out which may or may not be a good thing depending on one’s tastes.

The lens has 9 aperture blades which maintain a fairly round opening up to F5.6. By F8 the 9 sided polygon is pretty clear. Maximum aperture is F22. The aperture marking are in full stops; the aperture ring steps in 1/2 stop increments. The lens includes a hood and the usual Zeiss documentation - including a signed inspection card. A lens pouch is NOT included. The Zeiss 50mm Makro is backed with a 2-year USA warranty.

MANUAL FOCUS

The focus ring is smooth and light to the touch with a nicely dampened feel. The focus ring travels about 300 degrees to go from infinity to the minimum focus distance. Macro lenses typically have very long focus throws, thus allowing for subtle focus changes. As such, macros are not known as fast focusing lenses. Since I will be using the 50mm Makro-Planar for walk around pictures, this is a draw back. When the Zeiss 50mm Makro-Planar is focused to its maximum extension, the 50mm telescopes ~1.25 inches. Most outdoor shots will be in 10 feet to infinity range, and that is a fairly small portion of the focus range.

Focus ring stiffness has been a mixed bag based on forum discussions. My findings have been the same. This ZF lens had a reasonably light touch, so did a subsequent ZE. The focus ring on my current ZE is stiffer.

THE APERTURE RING

On the 50mm F2 Makro-Planar ZF the aperture ring sits too close to the camera body. When mounted to the Canon 1Ds Mark III (via adapter) the aperture ring is only ~5/16 from the camera body. Furthermore, the ring recessed and sits in a valley, so finding the ring and getting a grip on it is difficult. On top of that, the ring is skinny too. It seems Zeiss engineers want your left hand under the lens with the thumb and index finger making a “U” shape - the thumb at 3:00 and the index finger at 9:00. This is very unnatural for me. Usually my thumb is at 6:00 and index finger at 12:00. Shifting the finger position 90 degree counter clockwise is uncomfortable. The image to the left shows the aperture ring sitting in a recessed valley.

On my Contax lenses the aperture rings move smoothly and step gracefully across the stops. The 50mm Makro is very abrupt and the stops have considerable resistance. The 3:00 and 9:00 position on the aperture ring have raised grooves. Those grooves are needed because it takes a death-claw-scissors-grip to turn the aperture. Maintaining focus while stopping down is not easy.

The good news, for Canon users this is moot because there is now a ZE version which usually a fully electronic aperture and that is set and controlled by the Canon EF dSLR. So only Nikon users have to live with this crappy set-up. Oh wait, that is no long true now because they have ZF.2 Versions! Yeah!!! The .2 version brings an electronic aperture control to the Nikon version as well. I do not mean to dwell on the original ZF aperture ring design, but it did suck... And Canon dSLR shooters, just save yourself the headache and get the ZE version of the lens. No adapter is needed and there is full-electronic support for the shutter, focus confirmation and complete EXIF info. It is a no-brainer.

For the rest of the view, please refer to the Zeiss 50mm F2 Makro-Planar ZE review - click here. Note, the last 5 pictures on the ZF page are the ZE version.