Do you own a Zeiss ZF/ZE/ZK/ZS or Voigtlander SL lens?

[Amin Sabet]

If so, please go to our Reviews (http://ziforums.com/reviews/) area and add your user review!

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[fotobiblios]

Series 1 SL Voigtlander/Cosina 75f2.5, 125f2.5, 180f4 all 42mm

[johan1967]

Zeiss ZF 35/2, ZF 50/2 Macro, ZF 100/2 Macro and Voigtlander 180/4 for Nikon.

I can't wait to get a new ZF 21/2.8. I have to wait a few months however.

[mikmik]

i have cz 100/2 makro zf, cz 35/2 zf, ultron 40/2 slII and sigma 50/1.4. i used it sporadically for couple of months to have fun so i'm still discovering them.

100/2 is pretty big but with d700 it's not a problem, focusing ring is quite stiff (stiffest of what i have) and you really need to turn a lot

35/2 shocked me when i first saw how sharp it is, focusing is more fun than 100/2, a bit strange thing is that when you look through it i have impression as if my eye was 2cm in front of my head (it's quite long lens for its focal lenght).

ultron 40/2 vignets quite on FF and is not as sharp (compared to above of course), but handling is really nice in my opinion on d700, kind of strange combination regarding size but very practical. ultron is chipped so i have to set aperture on camera and not on lens as it's the case for zeiss lenses - a bit annoying when i got used to zeiss.

[evicsih]

i have ZF 25mm/f 2.8, 28mm/f2, 50mm/f2 and 85mm/f1.4, just can't get enough on zeiss...really like its sharpness, color and bokeh characteristic

[Doug]

Yes, I have the original SL 40mm Ultron and the newer SLII 58mm Nokton in Pentax K mount, and the Zeiss ZK 2/28, 1.4/50, and 1.4/85mm. These Zeiss lenses are very substantial! I will enjoy exploring their character as I get more familar with them. At this point the Ultron has had some exposures with film, and the 28 Distagon briefly used on a Pentax dSLR with apparently brilliant quality.

[adebartolo]

Yes, I currently have the Zeiss ZF 50/2 Makro, Zeiss ZF 100/2 Makro and the Voigtlander 58 f/1.4 SL II

I will be adding in the very near future the Zeiss ZF 35/2 !

[wingmac]

I am new in using alternative lens, and I love the Zeiss/Contax/Voigtlander.

I currently have 28/2 ZF, 35/2 ZF, 100/2 Makro ZF, C/Y CZ 85/2.8, Voigtlander Nokton 40/2 and Voigtlander Skopar 20/3.5

These are all adapted to my Canon 5D Mark II.

[Ramesses]

Hi:

I just joined this forum. I finally got around getting my beloved Zeiss lenses: ZF 35 f/2 and ZF 50/1.4. I was going to get the ZF 28, but changed my mind – it is too close to the ZF 35. Instead, I just got the Leica D-Lux 4 (arriving tomorrow.)

I really wanted the ZF 50 f/2 Makro-Planar, but could not get over the psychological hurdle of not having a f/1.4 lens. However, the ZF 50 Planar is spectacular @ f/2.8 and above. The ZF 100 is just an amazing lens, but I have the Nikon 105 VR and won’t double up on the focal length. I use the 105 more like a tele and a handheld close up, inside and outside, and VR is a must. For true Macro I have the Sigma 150mm Macro f/2.8 + the Sigma TC 1.4. My cameras are the Nikon D300 and D700 and now the D-Lux 4. However, the Zeiss are my favorite lenses.

Many years ago, more than I want to remember, my father gave me his beloved Zeiss Ikon Super Contaflex with the Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.8. I stopped using it, when I “upgraded” to the Canon AE1 and A1. However, the Canon 50mm f/1.4 was not even close to the Tessar in quality and how did I miss it. Now, I have the Zeiss lens back.

I know, they are made by Cosina in Japan. Regardless, they are true Zeiss quality and control. Do people say that Nikon is Thai or Chinese because most the lenses and cameras are manufactured in those countries? On the same token, is Leica Portuguese, then?

Best Regards,

Ramesses

[paulmarotta]

I do and use it on my Nikon d200....none better!

[Mattes]

Hi,

I got my first ZF, the 35/2, a couple of months ago. Since it became my favourite lens, I got a ZF 25/2.8 last saturday. I'm using a Voigtlander Nokton 1.4/58 mm which I'm going to sell - I'd like to get the ZF 1.4/50 next. The 100/2 is a very fine lens, but I'm not the macro guy and already own a Nikon AF-D 1.4/85 mm. But who knows ... Zeiss aquisition syndrome is hard to cure ...

I'm mostly shooting landscapes and nature - wildlife also, but with longer lenses (so no Zeiss).

I'm using a D3 and a D700 with this lenses.

Regards

Mattes

[philber]

I own a Zeiss ZE 50mm planar and a ZE 85mm planar for my Canon 5D MkII, as well as a C/Y 135mm f:2.8 and a C/Y 25mm f:2.8.

[Thon]

Hello to everybody,
I finally got the Distagon 21 ZE , so start now my experience with Zeiss lens.
Just some shots to said about very impressive sharpness and incredible build quality.
I notice only a heavy vignetting @f2,8 , and my empty wallet :D

1)vignetting @f2,8
2)no vignetting @f7,1
3)vignetting @f2,8 after Lightroom

[klaju]

Since I shoot 95% of my photographs in manual focus (nature, landscape, macro) I have little by little changed my lenses to primes from Zeiss and Voigtlander. My camera is a D700.
Here is my line-up:
2.8/21 an outstanding wide angle, 2.8/25 my workhorse for landscape, 2/35 a super all purpose lens, 1.4/50 which renders beautiful creamy images at f/1.4 and is razor sharp at f/5.6, 2/100 the absolute reference, outstanding in sharpness. It shows CAs at f/2 in blurred areas and high contrast, so what? There is no other macro lens that even has f/2. Finally a Voigtlander Apo Lanthar 4/180 SL Close Focus, a tiny little thing that fits in the pocket of my jacket, superb bokeh, renders images like the Zeiss lenses, too bad it is discontinued, it is truly a forgotten pearl.

[aage]

Hi I´m posting here for the first time. I live in Iceland and have been interested in photography since about 15 (now 48). Few days ago I bought a Zeiss 35 F2.0 and ysterday I bought the Zeiss 21 F2.8, both for Nikon.

I have Nikon D3x and love that camera.

Im right now a little dissapointed in the Zeiss 35 F2.0, it seem to have a lot of CA or Purple fringing in the corners , If I find out how I can post some examples here to show you. I find it unaccaptable with lens of this cost and supposed to be a Top quality lens , it is very sharp though.

I was on the phone with the shop I bough it at and I´m gonna send them few samples and it will be sent to Zeiss.

Well the 21 is perfect really.

I´m used to use the Nikon 14 24 along with the 24 70 and 70 200 VRII, all very good lenses. My tought was to have only few Zeiss primes and sell off the 14 24 and the 24 70, but if I dont get a better 35 or if they say its Ok then I will probably hold on to the 24 70 and sell the 14 24, then later buy the zeiss 18.

Ok I´m gonna try uploading some samples of what I´m talking about and would love your opinion on it, ( it is do you find it acceptable or should I be firm on another copy )

the link is here to flickr

flickr.com/photos/41137408@N04/sets/72157623724016649/

[Brian]

Welcome to the forum. We had a lot of problems with Spammers, and new users have "limited" permissions until reaching 5 posts. I hope you bear with us! We tried relaxing it once, and it was like being in a spam hailstorm.

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[Brian]

I looked at your flicker set: I see what you mean! The out-of-focus areas with fringing, hard to tell.

But the in-focus areas: that is a lot of blue fringing. It should not be happening.

Two possibilities:

1) The lens is bad, one of the elements is out of alignment. If under warranty, get it repaired or replaced.

2) Somehow the corrections applied by the Camera are not matched to the lens. Have you tried shooting in Raw?

This fringing is far worse than anything that I get on my Leica M8 or Nikon D1x. I'm an early adopter of Digital, used for technical documentation. So I never upgraded the DSLR. The M8 is for use with 75 year old lenses. None of those old lenses are acting up like this one!

[aage]

I looked at your flicker set: I see what you mean! The out-of-focus areas with fringing, hard to tell.

But the in-focus areas: that is a lot of blue fringing. It should not be happening.

Two possibilities:

1) The lens is bad, one of the elements is out of alignment. If under warranty, get it repaired or replaced.

2) Somehow the corrections applied by the Camera are not matched to the lens. Have you tried shooting in Raw?

This fringing is far worse than anything that I get on my Leica M8 or Nikon D1x. I'm an early adopter of Digital, used for technical documentation. So I never upgraded the DSLR. The M8 is for use with 75 year old lenses. None of those old lenses are acting up like this one!

This is from a raw/Nef file. I shoot everything that way with jpg just for quick browsing.

the camera already makes some adjustments to the jpg files so that is not good enough for judging things like this.

It will be interesting to see what that shop I bought it from will do, I already get the feeling talking to them that ( a respond from the owner when on phone with him today, " well every lens has its charachter,,,,, ) ;-).

I already know that but I expect better than this from this lens and I´m not gonna give up till I get a goooood one :-).

I love using these lenses , I have always had a mf lenses along with the af one´s and when doing serious shooting (for me its landscape ) then nothing compares to a smooth nice mf lens.

[Brian]

Good luck with the return. Maybe he could exchange it for another one. I think the one you have has one (or more) of the elements off-center.

[aage]

Yes I hope it will be somth obvious and I will get another one, the problem is that its so little marked here for such a expensive lenses and there is no other Zeiss 35 at the shop now :-(. But anyway, I will return it on friday and take back my Nikon 24 70 and not sell it till I get this lens fixed by Zeiss or another new.

[Brian]

I use a Nikkor-O 35/2, factory AI converted.

If you have not tried one, it is inexpensive compared with the Zeiss. The Nikkor-OC 35/2 is the multicoated version.

Something about this design seems better than the later ones. You might try looking for one. It is all metal, and even if you get the non-AI version, a good repair shop can AI convert it.

I use a lot of Nikkor lenses, recently shoot mostly with Nikon RF's. I am biased toward older glass. But it is cheaper, and you will not lose much if you resell it.

[aage]

I used to have a Nikon 35 F2 Ais and that lens was not so good at all, maby just a bad copy, I sold it. I was just selling tonight my nikon 20 F2.8 Ais bc I love the Zeiss 21 ;-). I still have few old nikon lenses I like ( Nikon 55 F2.8 micro, 105 f2.5 ais, 135 f2.8 ais and the 200 F4) I hope to get a good copy of the Zeiss 35. I think its just a unluck for this lense. I cant belive they have a sloppy quality control there at Zeiss.

Right now I´m watching in the news about a Volcanic euruption here in Iceland, from underneath a glacier and the melting water is spitting out from under the glacier, Magnificent, I was there where the water is coming out just 3 days ago taking photos of that place , cant wait to get there with my camera to take some picts.

[Brian]

I look forward to seeing some of the images. I listened to the report yesterday.

On the Nikon 35/2: The older version is better than the AIS version. Nikon "economized" the design, and lost something in the translation.

[aage]

I look forward to seeing some of the images. I listened to the report yesterday.

On the Nikon 35/2: The older version is better than the AIS version. Nikon "economized" the design, and lost something in the translation.

here you can see some I took ( this is the place where the melting water is rushing down the glacier.

Oh sorry I cant post a link here , I get the message that member with fewer than 2 posts cant post a message with a www link :-(.

[Brian]

We had a lot of Spammers. We relaxed that rule "once" and got blasted. It was like releasing a Damn.

You are at 5 posts now, and it should work.

[aage]

Ys I understand your rule. No problem, I just have to post these 2 posts soon them I´m fine :-)

[jessejoshua]

can't wait to get a new tessar 50mm f2,8

[mnsato]

zf 35/2; 100/2
zf.2 50/1.4; 85/1.4

nikon D3; D700; F6

[Contarama]

zf 35/2; 100/2
zf.2 50/1.4; 85/1.4

nikon D3; D700; F6

Very cool..welcome to the forum Sato...I would love to see some pics from that 50/1.4 and 85/1.4

[kds315]

Cosina Voigtlander 2.5/125mm Makro Apo Lanthar in Nikon mount
Cosina Voigtlander 3.5/90mm Apo Lanthar in Nikon mount
Cosina Voigtlander 4/180mm Apo Lanthar in Nikon mount (sold, which I now regret)

[ARodriguezPixL]

i cant post?

[ARodriguezPixL]

I will post samples when possible of the Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 ZE, but in the mean time, I will venture around to learn this forum :)

[ARodriguezPixL]

Hello, My name is Americo, and I am a recent Zeiss convert. I had the 21mm f/2.8 ZE Mated to my canon EOS 5D MKII, but I found it too wide sadly, and despite it's fantastic IQ, I sold it to some lucky native California for a real deal :( and bought a new 35mm F/1.4 ZE that I have grown to love,yes love, and learn with! If I may, I will post samples of my photographic attemps. Thank you, and good photography to all! The Rose was handheld.

[ARodriguezPixL]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6428518163/" title="_MG_1002 by ∞RodriguezPhoto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6428518163_9e6de9edbb_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="_MG_1002"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6215207091/" title="Canon EOS 5D Mark II Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon T* ZE Distagon T* 1,4/35 ZE by ∞RodriguezPhoto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6171/6215207091_9ef46a1060_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Canon EOS 5D Mark II Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon T* ZE Distagon T* 1,4/35 ZE"></a>


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6326672985/" title="_MG_5012 by ∞RodriguezPhoto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6239/6326672985_1f2252ace4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="_MG_5012"></a>Hello, My name is Americo, and I am a recent Zeiss convert. I had the 21mm f/2.8 ZE Mated to my canon EOS 5D MKII, but I found it too wide sadly, and despite it's fantastic IQ, I sold it to some lucky native California for a real deal :( and bought a new 35mm F/1.4 ZE that I have grown to love,yes love, and learn with! If I may, I will post samples of my photographic attemps. Thank you, and good photography to all! The Rose was handheld.

[ARodriguezPixL]

More samples from the Carl Zeiss "35mm f/1.4 Distagon T* ZE" aka "Distagon T* 1,4/35"
, and the "Canon EOS 5D Mark II" Handheld and with the "Carl Zeiss T* POL Filter circular" with ambient light source.






<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6320398080/" title="_MG_4919 by ∞RodriguezPhoto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6052/6320398080_8d7ee79924_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="_MG_4919"></a>


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6281631055/" title="Free by ∞RodriguezPhoto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6097/6281631055_e43b79a990_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Free"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6319875251/" title="A Fence by ∞RodriguezPhoto, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6109/6319875251_0b52bdafb3_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="A Fence"></a>

[mretina]

Very interesting shots. Nice zeiss colors and oof as expected. I have 21ze on mk2, which I will never part with but makes me think of trading my 35l for this one if not for AF and to keep a canon L look lens.

[ARodriguezPixL]

Very interesting shots. Nice zeiss colors and oof as expected. I have 21ze on mk2, which I will never part with but makes me think of trading my 35l for this one if not for AF and to keep a canon L look lens.

I think if you decided to trade the canon for this one, you will be very pleased! the manual focus is excellent, and very well built as you know, and I feel the more i use it, the better i am able to master it regardless of no AF! Its just as if i were from the older days when people had to make manual only work!! :)

[ARodriguezPixL]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6468759795_62025f426a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468759795/)
killer pears will levitate and kill u if u dont eat more (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468759795/) by ∞RodriguezPhoto (http://www.flickr.com/people/67365062@N06/), on Flickr

[ARodriguezPixL]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6468759795_62025f426a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468759795/)
killer pears will levitate and kill u if u dont eat more (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468759795/) by ∞RodriguezPhoto (http://www.flickr.com/people/67365062@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6468757173_fa24b44a28_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468757173/)
killer pears (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468757173/) by ∞RodriguezPhoto (http://www.flickr.com/people/67365062@N06/), on Flickr

[ARodriguezPixL]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6468757173_fa24b44a28_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468757173/)
killer pears (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468757173/) by ∞RodriguezPhoto (http://www.flickr.com/people/67365062@N06/), on Flickr

these where out of camera and cropped for fun. they were hand held shots, while i threw the pears in the air :)

[ARodriguezPixL]

Here are some people shots of my brother in law, and his friend at my daughters 16th birthday party at the Casa Rodriguez Chateau :)


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6464858527_fc9a8749a2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6464858527/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6464858527/) by ∞RodriguezPhoto (http://www.flickr.com/people/67365062@N06/), on Flickr


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6468078465_df048e398e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468078465/)
_MG_1627 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468078465/) by ∞RodriguezPhoto (http://www.flickr.com/people/67365062@N06/), on Flickr


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6468063265_d264ceaf00_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468063265/)
_MG_1618 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67365062@N06/6468063265/) by ∞RodriguezPhoto (http://www.flickr.com/people/67365062@N06/), on Flickr

[frieri]

I currently have: Distagon T* 4/18 ZM, Biogon T* 2.8/25 ZM, Biogon T* 2/35 ZM, Planar T* 2/50 ZM, C-Sonnar T* 1.5/50 ZM and Tele-Tessar T* 4/85 ZM.