[Leica] OT - Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 ZE Planar T* lens

[alal at duke.poly.edu (A. Lal)]

The new 50/1.4 Sigma seems to have got good reviews. I'm surprised that no 
one has mentioned it yet.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marty Deveney" <freakscene@weirdness.com>
To: <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Friday, 19 December, 2008 3:22 AM
Subject: [Leica] OT - Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 ZE Planar T* lens


>
>
>>Has anyone had an opportunity to use this lens on a Canon digital
>>body?  I was hoping for a hands on review (particularly as is compares
>>to Canon's own f/1.4 50mm lens).
>
> I've tried it.  The ZE lens is the same design as the old Zeiss 50/1.4 
> Planar for the Contax SLRs.  It resolves more and has higher contrast wide 
> open than the Canon 50/1.4 and resists flare better.  The Canon has vastly 
> better out-of-focus rendition.  The 50/1.2 L lens is much better (even 
> taking into consideration that lens' now notorious focus shift issues) 
> than both.
>
> Both the Zeiss and Canon are now more than a generation behind.  This 
> doesn't make them bad lenses, it just means that better ones exist.  The 
> newest (60mm filter) Leica R 50/1.4 is about the best 50 for SLRs using 
> spherical elements.  The Canon 50/1.2 uses an aspherical element to 
> address a number of issues with spherical types, mainly diminished 
> close-focus performance.  They are all behind the Leica M 50/1.4 asph, 
> which has the aspherical element and a floating element, so it focus close 
> with a flat field and displays negligible focus shift, all with a maximum 
> aperture of 1.4.
>
>>I think the lens is pretty new.  Dpreview doesn't have a review up
>>either.  Supposedly it has electrical contacts that preserve pretty
>>much every function the Canon digital bodies have, except autofocus.
>
> It worked fine on the 5D I tried it on - and yes, it did everything apart 
> from AF.
>
>>Just wondering if it was worth the $600.
>
> Seriously? In my opinion, no.  If you want a really nice fast lens for an 
> EF camera get the 50/1.2 L and learn to deal with the focus shift, which 
> in practice means figuring out where depth of field catches the shift and 
> using the lens either wide open or after the DoF has caught the shift.
>
> Marty
>
>
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