Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

To all ppl whom are confused like me !! I was looking for a great landscape \ portrait lens with good contrast and details after a whole lot of research i decided to go with this [$] lens not many review out there !! i looked over and over trying to compare this lens with his rivals after deep research from b&h and other great websites i bought this lens !! shipping was great fast ! the built of this lens is like no other its like a tank good focusing easy i took this lens to a field test i currently own A canon 16-35mm mkii canon 5D mkiii I have no words to my disappointment from the lens compering it to the 16-35 there is so much purple fringing when its a bit over exposed the 16-35 its AMAZING there is only 1 thing on the far adges of the zeiss things like trees look more details but as far as contrest on the same setting the canon takes this madly expansive lens !!!!!!!!!!!! the fringing of the zeiss its horrible it kills the pix !! THE PIX ARE VERY CLEAR AND NICE BUT WHEN U COMPER THEM THERE IS NO DIFFRENT P.S WHEN U GO TO 5.6 OR UP NOT MUCH FRINGINGCANON 16-35 2.8 MKIIvs ZEISS 35 MM 1.4

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Everything you hear about this lens is true: Unbelievable build; compelling image quality; a little heavy and bulky for it's focal length (although not objectionably so); pricy; extremely high quality bokeh and close focusing. Add it all up an you get a fantastic lens that produces stunning images. Wide open, you're treated with bokeh that has a distinctive smoothness which, to my eye, is very unlike the Canon L glass. At 1.4 it's slightly soft, but sharpens nicely. Stop it down to F8 or F11 and you get crystal clear, beautiful color rendering and contrast. Regardless of which end of the spectrum you use, corner sharpness is excellent, which has more of an impact than I expected.

You can read other reviews to find similar testimonials, but wanted to share this experience: Prior to purchasing, I rented this lens and thought about using a couple of the images taken with it in a local nature photo contest. When I lined up the 10 candidates for submission and asked friends to review, there was a consistent response: the two close up images of flowers that were taken with the Zeiss 35, folks would say they really liked this one or that -- "there is just something about it."

Couldn't agree more - there is unique, artful quality to images taken with this lens.

One note about hand-held manual focusing: took some time to get the hang of it using a Canon 5D MK2. Based on what others suggested, purchased the precision matte focusing screen (Eg-S). It's helps somewhat, but not a game changer. I would say more like training wheels - use that to develop your skills and technique, then you can go back to your normal screen - in my case the (Eg-D.) Despite what folks say about the Eg-S being "slightly darker" with 2.8 or slower lens, I've found it to be really dark with F4, so I needed to swap out. If you'll also be using lens slower than 2.8, I would suggest either borrowing a Eg-S, or purchase used. In hindsight, it's not worth purchasing a new screen for this.

On my Canon 1D MK IV, it's a much different story: focusing is super easy with the stock screen - far better than even the precision matte on the 5D. No need to fool around with screens on this camera.

One issue that isn't mentioned often is how fast this lens is. On a sunny day with a bright subject, shooting at F1.4 at ISO 100, you may run into the shutter speed warning of 8000 being overexposed. Not often, but something to be aware of. The flip side is you'll be amazed with how little light you'll be able to shoot in with lower ISO's which opens up a whole new world of opportunities.

What I don't like:

- The lens cap. Heavens, how can a company have such amazing engineering skills produce a lousy lens cap. You'll need to push the sides in while twisting to remove consistently. A maneuver that's impossible with the lens hood in place. The frustration was immediate and I replaced the lens cap within a few days. If you get this lens, buy a 3rd party cap up front and save yourself the aggravation.

- Lack of lens case: It's a disappointment that at this price point there is no lens case included. Guess they assume that you'll never want to remove the lens from your camera - there may be some truth to that, but still...

- Lens shade alignment: I have a hard time finding the white orientation dot on the lens shade to mount correctly. Others have commented they have mounted incorrectly and have not noticed until they are reviewing images with a strange vignetting pattern. Using a gray sharpie to place a small dot on the shades rear rim solved that.

- Warranty: I wish it would be more heavily promoted that you need to register the lens within the first 30 days to activate the complimentary extended warranty and that for service you need to work through through an authorized reseller - not directly with Zeiss.

Given the investment and the length of time you'll have this glass, I would recommend renting first, giving yourself a few extra days to work on the manual focus business, determine if this lens matches your style of shooting and the Zeiss "look" is to your liking.

My guess is you'll fall in love like I did and will be hitting the Add to Cart button in no time.

The 35 1.4 is my first Zeiss lens. Now that I've experienced Zeiss bokeh and image quality, it won't be my last.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

This is now my favourite 35mm lens which has taken over the thrown from my 35/2 ZE.

I would call this an artists lens. It may not tick all the boxes in a techno review but it would tick all the boxes from a creative view point.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Yes, it's a big lens and is heavy. Yes, the manual focus takes some thought and forces you to take a moment to compose your photos. I put a KatzEye ([@]) focusing screen in my 60D to help out with the focusing and between that and the fact that the autofocus assist still works, the manual focus isn't too big of a deal. What's amazing about the lens, besides the obvious heft and precise feel, is the quality of the photos. I think the best description that I've read before and agree with wholeheartedly is that the photos have a large format feel to them, a real presence is apparent. When you compose the shot right and get the focusing spot on, even mundane photos look amazing.The only down-side is that I occasionally get an error on the camera saying that the lens and camera can't communicate but the next shot is fine.I previously had the 35mm f2.0 Distagon but returned it for this one and even though it's quite a bit more expensive, that extra realism is well worth the price, weight, and size.The 35mm f1.4 isn't my walk-around lens but it's in my small kit that goes with me most places now. My Canon 24-105 f4.0L is still my walk-around gun but this is my number two. If I didn't have kids and depend on the auto-focus for so many of my photos, the Distagon might be my primary lens. I had considered the Canon 35mm f1.4L but after having one Zeiss, it's hard to go back and the reality is that with primes at 50mm and lower, I'm almost always focusing manually anyway. I grew up shooting fully manual cameras and lenses and there's a certain satisfaction that comes from using this lens and manually focusing with it. For me and my style, I couldn't have found a better lens.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Very high performance.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

While I have enjoyed Zeiss and Contax lenses on my Canon camera bodies for some time, I tend to shoot much longer focal lengths and was unsure of whether or not to purchase this lens.

How foolish I was. The bokeh from this wide angle lens rivals that of my 100mm Leica APO. The Zeiss 35/1.4 is simply amazing. It has a wonderful transition from sharp to soft and then to butter. Unlike many of its brethren that function well at only a distance, this lens produces jaw dropping images from minimum focus distance to infinity. Of course it has all of the Zeiss build quality and wonderful flow to the focus ring, but what it produces with the glass inside simply with stun you.

Bravo Zeiss design team and B&H for carrying this gem!

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

I use this lens almost exclusively for video work with the Canon 60D. I put a lot of thought into a Canon L series lens but after renting this lens for a wedding it was a no brainer. Of course it's a manual focus lens but if you are doing video you're used to that already. As soon as you confirm your purchase it instantly becomes the sharpest lens in your bag.

I love shooting primes and on the crop sensor this becomes pretty much the most versatile 50mm you can have. I know on the still photo side shooting at 1.4 can be tricky, but on the video side zooming in with live view makes it pretty easy. Be aware thought that although this does have a very small minimum focus distance, it's technically not a makro. The 50mm F/2 is though.

What else can you say...it's a Zeiss. It really is everything it's touted to be and more.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

From the aesthetically pleasing build and construction to the utterly stunning output this lens is an absolute pearler.

Without a doubt this is the sexiest piece of glass I've ever held. Solid as a rock and with the smoothest manual focus, everything about the look and feel of it screams class.

This is a sharp lens with the zeiss character and ability to create 3D if you nail the focus. The other main attraction, the bokeh, is smoother than a baboon's big old beehind.

If you enjoy squeaming with delight when you look at your photos then this is the 35mm you want.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Great lens for those who like to shoot in low light conditions. Excellent quality and affordable price

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

The Zeiss Distagon T* 1.4/35mm ZE is an exceptional lens with unique rendering characteristics that set it apart from other 35mm lenses; even Zeiss' own excellent 2/35mm ZE. It is hard to verbalize the uniqueness of it, but before buying this lens I spent many hours looking at example images online to get acquainted with look it delivers. And the copy I bought delivers that same look.

True to typical Zeiss form, the lens is exceedingly sharp and renders colors brilliantly. When shooting wide open the lens delivers possibly the most wonderful bokeh available in a 35mm Canon-mount lens. I have rented/used the excellent Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L lens, but I feel the image quality produced with the Zeiss 1.4/35mm is better in sharpness, color rendition, and out-of-focus rendering (bokeh).

The only negative I have experienced with this lens, is some color fringing at wide apertures along the high-contrast edges in the out-of-focus areas. But, the overall benefits of the lens far outweighs this little nuisance.

This all metal and glass lens is both heavy and large, which will be a concern for some. The buyer needs to consider this potential drawback carefully. Since it is a manual focusing lens, the large barrel size offers a nice ergonomic benefit; it feels great in the hand making the task of manual focusing a pleasure. My concerns about size and weight were alleviated with practical use; using this lens on my Canon 5d mkii feels "just right" to me.

When shooting with this lens I am continually surprised and overwhelmingly delighted by the images it produces. The Zeiss Distagon T* 1.4/35mm ZE has become my very favorite lens; it's a wonderful walk-around lens that performs brilliantly in all conditions. Highly recommended!

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

This and the Zeiss 1.4/85 have become my standard two lens set for event and travel photography with my 5DmkII. The 1.4/35 has actually made me to begin to prefer manual focus to autofocus, even with L glass, for the first time since I switched all my equipment to autofocus back in 1995. The Zeiss glass is so sharp and so clear that I can see the "pop" when the desired detail comes into focus, and there is no need to be messing with changing focus points or focus and recompose. I love it!

CA when shooting wide open in bright light is the only downside optically, but I've learned to avoid this. Stopping the lens down to f/5.6 reveals a level of detail that I have never seen before from the sensor on my 5DmkII. I was stunned the first time I used the 1.4/35 with my B+W circular polarizer, and I could actually see the loss of detail in the photos. For that reason, I stopped using any type of filter with this lens.

Except when I am shooting sports, this lens and my 1.4/85 are pretty much glued to my camera. In fact, I just used them to shoot a wedding this weekend and was once again delighted by the results. It's an expensive purchase, but it's done more to rekindle my passion for photography than any other lens I've used in the last 30 years.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

This is my first zeiss lens and it won't be my last. It makes all my canon L glass feel inferior. I can tell you already I am looking into the 21mm, 100mm macro,
50mm, and 85...
I am getting incredible results out of the 35. It has that 3d quality everyone talks about with Zeiss. Manual focusing has not been a problem. It seriously hasn't come off my camera since I purchased.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Before I talk about the Zeiss, I must say this: Canon's 35mm f/2 is a cheap, noisy piece of plastic, and it was the best [$] I've ever spent.I shoot a lot of stuff; weddings, newspaper work, portraits and landscapes. And for years the 35/2 has been my trusty companion. I have the Eg-S focusing screen on my 5DM2, and with the AF switched off, it has been amazing.There are two reasons for my upgrade:> I needed the extra light> I wanted the ability to have less depth of fieldI can't think of any other reasons to buy this lens. If you find yourself being forced to shoot wide-open at 1/15 sec and below when you've cranked the ISO as high as you comfortably can, consider upgrading. If the depth of field at f/2 isn't shallow enough for you, maybe consider upgrading. (And if you need an extra $400, you'll probably be fine with the 35L)Otherwise.. the 35/2 is a beautiful lens that will not disappoint you. I plan on hanging onto mine. While it's not as good with strong backlighting, I think it's actually sharper than the Zeiss from photos I've taken, and the focusing ring is way more nimble than the Zeiss's. It's also like a foot shorter and 50 pounds lighter - kind of like the difference between driving a Lotus Exige and an armored bank truck.Of course the Zeiss has all that lovely microcontrast and fantastic color reproduction, but that's what everyone raves about. Yes, it makes beautiful images, and that is what you pay $1800 for. That and the fact that it's indestructible.Bottom line: I miss my trusty little 35/2, but the Zeiss was definitely worth it.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

What a joy it is using this exceptionally well built lens for portraits. I have several Canon 1.2 lenses and this lens just might replace them! The look of the bokeh and true to life color and contrast make for wonderful portraits in natural settings. I have yet to find fault with this lens, other than CA in brightly lit scenes, which is to be expected to some degree with any fast lens.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Best investment I have made in years. Images are incredible even when wide open at 1.4. Little or no distortion. Perfect for environmental portraits. Having used 6X7 format cameras for my film days the weight of this lens is not a factor. Come to think of it I love the weight and all metal body construction.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

I don't have much else to add about this lens that hasn't already been said. It performs beautifully, and is well-made. And heavy.

After purchasing this lens, I quickly turned around and purchased the Zeiss 50mm f2.0 Makro. Both lenses are just splendid, well-built works of art. I generally prefer the 50mm over the 35mm because of size and focus throw. I like the long focus throw of the 50mm over the 35mm. And the 50 weighs about 1/2 as much. I also have the Canon 24-105 F/4.0L, which is a very nice lens. However, both of my Zeiss leave the Canon in the dust.

I'm mostly into video. If your main interest is video, I would suggest taking a closer look at the 35mm F/2.0. On the Zeiss web site, the F/1.4 ZE was listed with their still lenses, and the F/2.0 ZE was listed with their "cinema" lenses. That should be a clue. Shooting at F/1.4 in video is challenging, shall we say?

However, if you like pushing the envelope and do a bit of stills and want to shoot low, low light at not too high ISO, this lens is a lot of fun.

I'm currently shooting the Canon 60D (waiting for that 5D MkIII). This lens has the field of view of a somewhat long normal (55mm). I wanted the fastest normal prime I could get. I remember my first days of photography, OM-2, upgrading from whatever kit lens I had to their fast 1.4. Wow, that was something!

But nowadays, with multiple ISO options just a menu away, you might want to ask yourself if a half-stop or so is that important. Or, do you need to go to 11?

Along with my two manual focus Zeiss ZE lenses, I purchased the Canon EF-S focus screen. For stills it helps, but not as much as I had hoped. Probably required for shooting stills with the manual focus. Since I'm mostly into video, and the live view focus is so handy, I'm not too disappointed with the screen. Reviews of the Canon full-frame focus screen seem to indicate they are better than the crop sensor focus frames.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Just got the lens last week for a 3 day shoot. The results are incredible. It has given my work a whole new look. The 35mm and the 18mm Zeiss lenses were the only optics I used on the entire shoot. Having been a professional photographer since the 60s I now have excitment in my work once again.
No cons only pros.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

Gorgeous bokeh at wide apertures and tack sharp closed down.

Yes, there is field curvature in its design but this doesn't really bother me at all, even with landscapes at smaller apertures.

Folks have noted the size and weight. Yes it is bigger and heavier than most 35mm lenses but it is no behemoth.

I love it!

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

It's a Carl Zeiss, so that says a lot about the lens, it has every single character of the traditional Zeiss lens, build like tank metal construction, silky smooth long throw focusing ring, sharp edge to edge, un-match local contrast and color rendition...... all good.

Now, some not-so-cool about it, you really need to watch out for color fringing when shooting at large aperture F/1.4 to F/2.0, it pretty much goes away at F/2.8, I had the old F2.0 version of this lens and have been using it for landscape for a while, very happy with the result, the reason I am replacing it with this new lens is because besides for landscape, I want to use it for portrait as well, I am currently using the Canon 35L specifically for portrait when I need the for background isolation, so was thinking this will be a "one-fits-all" lens, I can use the large aperture for my portrait work and take advantage of its edge performance for landscape work, however, from the result of it I am having a second thought, while it's still one of the best 35mm lens for landscape work just like it's older brother, but I am not convinced it's a replacement for the Canon 35L F1.4 yet, while it has a GREAT Bokeh quality at large aperture so that's good for portrait but the very pronounced Color Fringing at the F1.4 - F2.0 range makes it more difficult to use than the 35L for portrait work, or i should say at least you need to pay more attention to the issue when using it at large aperture.

So bottom line, still a great lens and I am keeping it for landscape works, just like the old F2 version it replaced, but I will also keep on using the Canon 35L for my F1.4 portrait work, and when I actually occasionally use the Zeiss 35 F1.4 for large aperture portrait work, i will pay special attention to the color fringing issue. so overall it's a great lens but not perfect one and that's where the one point deduction went. I would take half of point but again for a brand new lens introduced a large aperture to replace the slower F2.0 lens, and it turn out to be the new F1.4 feature is somewhat limiting in actually real world use, so I would take one full point off.

Comments about Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 Distagon T Lens for Canon EF:

It is clear and obvious that Carl Zeiss makes the best lenses in the world, what more I can add, this lens once again proves it. This purchase was worth every dollar!