| Article Index |
|---|
| Zeiss Contax MTF Comparison |
| 35mm Comparison |
| 50mm Comparison |
| 70-100mm Comparison |
| All Pages |
Lenses compared at 70-100mm:
• Carl Zeiss 28-85mm f3.3-4 Vario Sonnar at 81mm
• Carl Zeiss 35-70mm f3.4 Vario Sonnar at 70mm
• Carl Zeiss 35-135mm f3.3-4.5 Vario Sonnar at 89mm
• Carl Zeiss 85mm f1.2 Planar
• Carl Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar
• Carl Zeiss 100mm f2 Planar
• Carl Zeiss 100mm f2.8 Makro Planar
• Carl Zeiss 80-200mm f4 Vario Sonnar at 81mm
| 28-85mm | 35-70mm | 35-135mm | 85/1.2 | 85/1.4 | 100/2 | 100 Makro | 80-200 | ||||||||||
| A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | ||
| f1.2-1.4 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 7.0 | 5.9 | |||||||||||||
| f2 | 8.0 | 7.4 | 8.2 | 6.5 | 8.0 | 7.6 | |||||||||||
| f2.8 | | | | | | | 8.6 | 8.0 | 8.6 | 7.3 | 8.7 | 7.7 | 8.1 | 7.3 | | ||
| f4 | 7.9 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 6.0 | 8.8 | 7.4 | 8.8 | 8.2 | 8.7 | 8.0 | 8.9 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 7.4 | |
| f5.6 | 8.3 | 7.6 | 8.8 | 7.2 | 8.7 | 7.8 | 8.8 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.9 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 7.4 | |
| f8 | 8.4 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 7.3 | 8.3 | 7.7 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 8.3 | 7.6 | |
| f11 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 7.7 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 8.2 | 7.7 | |
| f16 | 7.8 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 7.6 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 7.3 | |
| f22 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 5.6 | | | | | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.4 | |
| Distortion | +2.0% | -0.5% | +2% | -1% | +1.0% | -0.5% | 0% | 0% | |||||||||
| Vignetting | 0.40 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.25 | 0.9 | 0.75 | 0.6 | 0.65 | |||||||||
This chart gives us a rare glimpse of the performance of the highly desirable 85mm f1.2 50 Jahre edition. It's also an exercise par excellence in nit-picking: in reality, all the primes are very close indeed. However, it does seem that the f1.2 lens enjoys a clear advantage in the outer image circle at wide apertures when compared to its slightly slower sibling, which doesn't hit the 8.0 mark in Zone B/C until f4. It's enlightening to compare Zeiss' short/fast portrait lenses with the often-overlooked (but easier to design) 100mm f2: at f2, its corner-to-corner performance is remarkable and at most apertures it represents the acme of excellence at this focal length. I guess that's what the extra $5K buys you: the same performance as the 100mm f2, with an extra stop and a half on top.
Again, we find the 100mm Makro Planar poorly represented: no doubt if the same tests were conducted at short range, we would see a clear reversal of the pecking order that seems to place the fast primes above the truly superb macro. Elsewhere, all the zooms look pretty good: the 35-135mm now finds itself level-pegging with lenses it trails at shorter focal lengths, and the uncommon 80-200mm f4 shows promise at the low end of its zoom range. However, as you might expect, none really pass muster when compared to these benchmark primes.
