September 20, 2008
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AND THE HEAVENS OPENED...
Luck, or divine providence, shines upon us today.
Carl Zeiss, the maker of LITERALLY some of the world's most flawless, stunning camera lenses, is releasing one of the world's most legendary, no, mythical lenses in both the Canon, Nikon and Pentax mount...
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8!!!
A manual focus, "prime" lens costing maybe $1,800, few of YOU (and I) will ever even consider this lens. But as a landscape photographer at heart, let me tell you, it is a holy grail. Canon users have long ago adapted the original version of this lens to their full-frame 1-series DSLR's, and the lens literally makes a laughing stock out of even the finest of Canon's L lenses, AND even Nikon's newest legend, the 14-24... In the corners, that is. Dead-center all Canon / Nikon lenses are pretty perfect by f/8 or f/16, where most landscape shooters find themselves. But in the corners of the 35mm frame, The Zeiss is, well, in a league of it's own. Don't believe me?
Old Zeiss 21mm versus Nikon 14-24 and Zeiss 17-35
Old Zeiss 21mm versus Nikon 17-35 and Canon 17-40I should have warned you, if you ever thought your Canon / Nikon wide-angle lenses had sharp corners. The Zeiss slaughters them, looking as sharp at f/2.8 in the extreme corner than any of the other lenses at ANY apeture, pretty much.
So yeah. I'm sure that landscape photographers are going to jump for Joy when Nikon can come out with a quality 24 megapixel FX sensor, and hopefully in a lighter / smaller D700 body and not the massive D3 body, so people can bear it (literally) out INTO the landscape. Maybe I'll buy that setup when I have a mid-life crisis and need some expensive, rolex-of-photography type toys to cheer me up!
...IN OTHER NEWS, we begin to see Canon 5D mk2 sample photos...
http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/eos5dm2/html/sample2_e.html
I *really* don't want to be quick to judge, but neither can I resist pointing out that the detail at infinity, in those hills, ...oh wait, what detail? Are you sure that's not a watercolor painting? Okay okay, NO being quick to judge allowed! Must. Refrain.
I know that Canon is KNOWN for having grain-free, "silky-smooth" images at ISO 100 and ISO 50. But hey Canon users out there, inform me- THAT is not the kind of "smooth" you're talking about, right? Cause in my book that is called smeared detail.
I'm sure that in competent hands and with an adequate lens, the 5D mk2 may perform beautifully. Fingers crossed, for Canon's own sake!
=Matt=
Comments (2)
If I bought that lens, you would shoot me.
It would be useless to you though, unless you got a 5D mk2 and took up landscape photography. In which case I'd be jealous, but I'd wish you well. If you tried to use that lens at a wedding, I'd just laugh at you!
=Matt=