CAMERA

Carl Zeiss 24mm F/1.8 Sonnar E ZA T* Lens Review

7/22/2013 9:09:13 AM

This wide-angled lens provides viewing angle that is equivalent to the 36mm lens used on a 35mm camera and has the price of $1,142. It has fast max aperture of f/1.8, silent focusing and is one of the highest-end lens of Sony having the Carl Zeiss brand and the optical anti-reflection T8 coat.

This wide-angled lens provides viewing angle that is equivalent to the 36mm lens

This wide-angled lens provides viewing angle that is equivalent to the 36mm lens

Feature and processing

Since metal is used to create much of the body and lens barrel, this lens seems to be incredibly sturdy when putting side by side, in maintaining its high-class position in the product line of Sony. Even with all the metal used, it’s still not a heavy lens, keeping at 225g, making it the best companion for the Sony NEX-5R body used to test.

Auto focus is fast and accurate

Auto focus is fast and accurate

Auto focus is fast and accurate, with the inspiration of confidence when using the lens at quick aperture. A wide, lightweight curbed focus ring make applying hand-held focus adjustment become comfortable. Min focus is 16 cm from the sensor surface, perfect for infrequent close-up shooting, or shooting in narrow space.

The non-rotating 49 mm filter ring
The non-rotating 49 mm filter ring

Since the focusing is performed interiorly, the 49-mm filter ring doesn’t rotate, making the lens ideal for using with polarized and graduated filters (NGD).

Performance

While maintaining the high-end structure, this lens also provides advanced performance. At max aperture, the sharpness is already excellent in the center of the frame, though heading toward the edge of the images the clarity indicates as pretty good. Stopping at f.4 improves sharpness for the image edges into good level and the prominent clarity can be reached in the center of the images. Incredibly good sharpness can be reached for the frame edges at aperture stopped between f/5.6 and f/11.

24mm resolution

24mm resolution

Instruction for reading the diagram

The blue column represents the reading from the center of the frame at many apertures and the green column is from the edge. Their average value ends up in the red column.

The metric on the left side is the real-life resolution indicator. The higher the column is, the better the lens performance will be. Just simple

For this review, the lens will be tested on a Sony NEX-5R using Imatest.

The chromatic aberration level is quite a little on the top edge of the border, just surpassing ¾ of a pixel width. Though this edging level is acceptable for many, you should notice when putting high-contrast edge near the edge of the frame.

Chromatic aberration at 24mm

Chromatic aberration at 24mm

Instruction for reading the diagram

Chromatic aberration is the helpless of the focusing lens on the sensor or filming all the colors of invisible light at the same time. Strong chromatic aberration creates purple edge or nimbus effect around the sharp edges in the image. It can be removed with the software.

Apochromatic lens has special lens components (no aspheric, low dispersion…) to minimize that, so they normally have higher price.

For this review, the lens is tested on a Sony NEX-5R using Imatest.

Illumination reduction for the frame angle is well-controlled., especially for a lens with such max aperture. At f/1.8 the corner is 2.8 point darker than the image center and visually synchronous illumination is reached with the lens at f/4 or more.

Imates detects 1.05% needle-shaped distortion in the test, which is an extremely low level and proves that there’s no problem with shooting. If the absolutely straight lines are important, the samples are uniformly distorted all over the frame, which is edited in the image editing software in a reasonably simple way.

Contrast is maintained well when shooting against the light and there’re a few situation being washed-out, even in the most severe light condition.

Sample images

This lens provides viewing angle that is equivalent to the 36mm lens used on a 35mm camera| 1/250 sec | f/6.3 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

This lens provides viewing angle that is equivalent to the 36mm lens used on a 35mm camera| 1/250 sec | f/6.3 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

Accurate focus inspires confidence when using fast aperture and keeping good contrast when shooting against the light | 1/640 sec | f/1.8 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

Accurate focus inspires confidence when using fast aperture and keeping good contrast when shooting against the light | 1/640 sec | f/1.8 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

16cm min focusing  | 1/250 sec | f/2.8 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

16cm min focusing  | 1/250 sec | f/2.8 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

Sharpness are excellent in the image center and good at image border when reduced | 1/60 sec | f/6.3 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

Sharpness are excellent in the image center and good at image border when reduced | 1/60 sec | f/6.3 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

1/60 sec | f/8.0 | 24.0 mm | ISO 160

1/60 sec | f/8.0 | 24.0 mm | ISO 160

1/80 sec | f/2.8 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

1/80 sec | f/2.8 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

1/60 sec | f/5.6 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

1/60 sec | f/5.6 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

1/80 sec | f/3.5 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

1/80 sec | f/3.5 | 24.0 mm | ISO 100

Cost

Though the price seems to be high at about $1,148, this is fair because the structured quality and optical performance are good. Now, there’s no other alternative at this focal range for the Sony NEX system, if you want a 24mm fixed lens, so it must be this one.

Conclusion

This lens provides performance that deserves the Carl Zeiss name, especially in the image center, where the sharpness is excellent, or even outstanding when reduced.

It’s a high-class piece of glass, and thanks to that it has a high-end price tag. Those who’s willing to pay $1,148 for this lens won’t be disappointed.

Advantages

·         Good structured quality

·         Light weight

·         Fast and accurate focus

·         Excellent sharpness

Disadvantages

·         CA level is pretty high for the frame border

Rating

·         Feature: 4.5/5

·         Processing: 4.5/5

·         Performance: 4.5/5

·         Value: 3.5/5

·         Overall: 4.5/5

Technical specs

Overall

·         Lens barrel : Sony E Mount

Lens

·         Focal length: 24mm

·         Viewing angle: 61°

·         Max aperture: f/1.8

·         Min aperture: f/22

·         Filter size: 49mm

·         35mm equivalent: 36mm

·         Inner focus: yes

Focusing

·         Min focus: 16cm

·         Stabilization: no

Structure

·         Blade: 7

·         Component: 8

·         Group: 7

Container

·         Container: front and back cover, lens hood, sleeve.

Size

·         Weight: 225g

·         Height: 65.5mm

 

 

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