I had been very interested in this lens for a while as it seemed to offer an interesting combination of portrait and close-up capability for larger macro type subjects such as dragonflies and flowers. As a very happy user of the Zeiss 85mm F.4 Planar I had an idea of what to expect.
All reviews I have ever seen give it a huge "thumbs -up" and the excellent Lloyd Chambers gives it stunning reviews in his comprehensive Diglloyd website, dedicated to photographic technique and equipment in real-world use. In fact he clearly sees it as one of the best SLR lenses available at any price for its ability to out-resolve current DSLR sensors from wide open, its bokeh, subject isolation and mechanical quality.
An excellent local photographic dealers (Robert White, Poole) ran a Zeiss day last week and it turned out to be a hugely useful experience, with access to all the Zeiss SLR lenses, great staff on hand to assist, well-known and very personable landscape photographer Jeremy Walker and a mini studio with a pretty model for trying one's hand with the different kit.
What did I think?....I was perhaps more overwhelmed by the performance of this lens overall than any other I have tried and this impression was both immediate and is increasing with use.
It has that amazing Zeiss rendition where the micro-contrast seems to pop and separate the subject from the rest of the image. It has amazing sharpness and contrast across the field on full-frame, from wide open at its very fast max aperture of F2. The depth of field control and bokeh is simply amazing....apparently this lens has an Arri-Zeiss optical design based on that used in motion picture industry lenses, which are very expensive and this design is used to knock backgrounds out of focus. It has the ability to cut an incredibly thin swathe of razor sharp focus right through an image, while rendering the rest as a pleasing blur. Performance both close-up and at infinity is to the same standard.
The focus action is absolutely sublime, with a firm, silky smooth and long action that easily enables precise focus. The build is awesome....a chunk of heavy glass and metal with the density of a black hole but surprisingly compact and manageable.
When Stu at Robert White kindly printed off one of the mono images for me (with virtually no PP) on an Epson 3880 from Lightroom onto Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper...that final result in print was the ultimate tribute to the lens and I knew I had to have one in my bag.
To be honest you could talk about it all day but the images really speak for themselves. My brother is a very competent and keen photographer and he saw something special in the image quality even when previewing one of these portrait shots as a small Jpeg on Flickr. The quality is a composite of all the qualities mentioned above but I think that more than anything, its the style of depth of field control that really makes this lens unique.
Of all the lenses I have used I would say that this is one that any keen close-up or portrait photographer should get as a priority and even if you don't see yourself as either of those, its the sort of lens you will always find a reason to use and learn to love. I have a baby on the way in September and can't wait to use it for both detail and portrait shots....oh and before then the dragonflies should be out if this winter ever ends!
Simply superb!
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