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Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm F/2 Lens Review

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8/4/2013 9:17:30 PM

Although this telephoto lens features rather basic specification, the promise of the optical Carl Zeiss lens that has high quality is known is that itself is enough to tempt some photographers, though it costs more than $2,550. This ZF2 Lens is manual focus, but it has electronic contacts to inform metering and aperture control attached to the camera. The ZE version of this lens is also available to match with the Canon EF cameras

Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2

Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2

Features and processing

Similar to the cases of the other Carl Zeiss ZF lenses, the lens outer is molded from metal and results in feeling of the maximum quality. The lens is fairly large though if the use of high quality materials has been taken into account, it generally weighs about 930g and balances well with the Nikon D600 used for testing, with or without the MB-D14 battery grip attached.

The lens outer is molded from metal and results in feeling of the maximum quality

The lens outer is molded from metal and results in feeling of the maximum quality

The process of manual focusing is quite smooth and each focusing, the focus ring should be adjusted a turn by three-quarters of the ring and the closest focusing distance of 80cm. This may be a blessing or a curse, because it makes applying the good process of adjustments to focus accurately at fast aperture become great, but this also makes it more difficult to make major changes in the focus distance. A measurement chip with integrated electronic contacts accompanies with matrix supported on all Nikon cameras. The Hyperfocal distances for apertures between f/11 and f/22 are marked on the case, as a sign for the process of infrared focus.

A circular aluminum hood also comes with the lens; it will be fastened to the metal bayonet on the front.

A circular aluminum hood also comes with the lens; it will be fastened to the metal bayonet on the front.

The Lens expands about an inch at the closest focus point, although the result is that the 77mm filter thread does not rotate, this makes this lens ideal for use with graduated or polarizing filters. A circular aluminum hood also comes with the lens; it will be fastened to the metal bayonet on the front.

When installed on a Nikon camera

When installed on a Nikon camera

Performance

Sharpness is prominent in the center of the frame at maximum aperture, reaching amazing levels of clarity to the edges of the frame. Lowering improves sharpness more across the frame, approaching the excellent levels to the edges of the frame at f/2.8 and highlighting levels of sharpness between f/5.6 and f/8. Do you really not need to request more with clarity that has achieved?

Rating image chromatic aberrations

Rating image chromatic aberrations

How to read our graphs

The blue column stands for the indexes from the center of the frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them, we will have the red weighted column.

The conventional column on the left side is to show the resolution level of the actual image. The higher the column is, the better the quality of the camera lens is.

In this article, the lens was tested on a Nikon D600 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are almost non-existent across the frame at all apertures. Imatest was able to detect fringing including 0.21 pixel widths towards the edges of the frame at f/2, but you will be able to hardly see it for yourself.

Rating the image sharpness

Rating the image sharpness

How to read our graphs

High chromatic aberration given the remarkable range or create a halo effect around sharp edges around the image. It can be handled by the software. High chromatic aberration offers a remarkable range or a halo effect around sharp edges around the image. It can be handled thanks to the software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, ultra-low dispersion, etc.) to minimize the problem, so their prices are often much higher.

In this article, the lens was tested on a Nikon D600 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is properly controlled for a lens with a fast maximum aperture. At f/2 the corners of the frame are 1.96 stops darker than the image center and visually uniform illumination is done with the aperture lowered down to f 4 or beyond.

The distortion is very slight and you will have difficulty to detect it, even in images with straight lines parallel to the edges of the frame. Imatest managed to find 0.21% barrel distortion, which is an extremely small number.

High contrast and glare rarely cause problems, even when shooting in the light. The deep circular hood does its job perfectly is to shade the lens, and protects it from the impact of factors from the front.

Test images

The sample images come from the product

The sample images come from the product

Value

The old saying confirms that you get what are worthy of your money spent for surely applies to this lens. In order to obtain such high optical quality, thus the asking price of $2,587.5 seems reasonable.

However, when the price is compared with the same lenses from Canon and Nikon, the increased price becomes more difficult to explain, AF-D 135mm f/2 DC of Nikon costs about $1,500 and stands out with the features of defocus control, allowing you to control the amount of spherical aberrations and prominent features out of focus areas. Canon’s EF 135mm f/2L USM features an ultrasonic focusing motor, which allows manual focus adjustments to be applied anytime for around $1,290, which is equal to half the price of the Zeiss.

Conclusion

There is not much that needed to improve towards the optical performance or the build quality, or handling of this lens. It is definitely a very sharp lens, but then it's also very expensive, especially when it does not have autofocus feature.

Those who want, or need the complete best quality lens for their SLR will feel this lens attractive, as long as their shots match with the manual focus. It is not a lens for everyone, so for some it will not fit; then they will struggle to find fault in its performance.

Pros

·         The optical performance is incredible.

·         Metal build quality is very good.

·         Focusing is smooth and accurate.

·         There is almost no distortion or CA.

Cons

·         It is expensive.

·         Long distance on the focus ring is between infinity and closest focus.

Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2 Specifications

General

·         Lens Mounts: Nikon F; Canon EF

Lens

·         Focal Length: 135mm

·         Angle of View: 64°

·         Max Aperture: f/2

·         Min Aperture: f/22

·         Filter Size: 77mm

·         35mm equivalent: No Data

·         Internal focusing: No

Focusing

·         Min Focus: 80cm

·         Stabilized: No

Construction

·         Blades: 9

·         Elements: 11

·         Groups: 8

Box Contents

·         Box Contents: Front and rear caps; lens hood.

Dimensions

·         Weight: 920g

·         Height: 105mm

Other  
 
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