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Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28

Carl Zeiss/Contax Distagon T* 2.8/28 - side

My usage

I mainly use this lens for landscapes and cityscapes. Sometimes I use this as a normal wide angle lens in situations, in which corner sharpness isn't important.

Image quality

Sharpness and contrast

As can be seen from MTF graphs this lens is wicked sharp from center even wide open. However corners eventually catch up at f/8 and f/11. In addition to sharpness the micro contrast is excellent. When lens is used optimally pictures have very high acutance (apparent sharpness).

At close range performance decreases, but in practice that has not been huge problem since lens performance starts to decrease from 1 meter and it's not hopeless even in minimum focus distance.

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28 C/Y - MTF (screen capture from Zeiss PDF)
According to Zeiss (underline parts different than in Canon's MTFs): "The Modulation Transfer (MTF) as a function of image height (u) and slit orientation (sagittal, tangential) has been measured with white light at spatial frequencies of R = 10, 20 and 40 cycles/mm."

Highlight flare/reflection

Even people say that Carl Zeiss T* coating is the best coating available I have had some issues with flare when photographing nighttime cityscapes. Below is example of this flare/reflection problem. This might be caused by reflections between lens' back element and sensor? However during daytime I have not seen problems even sun is shining directly to the lens. Even in those situations veiling flare isn't problem.

Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28 - flare1
Whole image, from which below are crops which show the problems in more detailed way.

Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28 - flare2
As you can see the highlights cause lens to flare and cause some sort of reflected highlight on opposite side of the image (compared to center point of the image).

Build quality and basics

Lens body is made of metal and there is no wobbling or anything else strange. Build quality is excellent.

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28 C/Y - constructions Lens is very compact: Length 79mm (with C/Y adapter and lens caps, bare lens), diameter 62mm and distance from EOS mount with adapter is 52mm (how much lens extends from camera). Weight with C/Y adapter and lens caps is 311g, and the lens itself weights 276g. Lenses minimum focusing distance is 0.25m. Lenses minimum aperture is f/22. Lens has 6 aperture blades, and therefore aperture doesn't stay round when closed down.

Lens has 7 elements which are in 7 groups. Actual focal length is 28.5mm. Minimum focus distance is 0.25, which results 0.11x maximum magnification and full frame (36mm x 24mm) coverage of 316mm x 211mm. Magnification is calculated based on focal length and minimum focus distance.

Handling

Carl Zeiss/Contax Distagon T* 2.8/28 - front Manual focus feeling is very good, there is just about correct amount of resistance. Focusing from minimum distance to maximum distance takes about 140 degrees.

Lens also has proper depth of field scale. However on digital cameras I would recommend atleast one stop higher value since the circle of confusion is smaller these days when digital SLRs enable much larger print sizes than film cameras.

Summary

Pros

+ When closed down (f/8 and f/11) world class sharpness and accutance
+ Very compact size
+ Excellent build quality, while maintaining small weight

Cons

- Performance on close-ups (no floating element): sharpness decreases and some barrel distortion appears

See photos in my picturebank taken with this lens.

See how lens performs with 12mm extender:
Cactus with 12mm extension tubes - 1 of 2
Cactus with 12mm extension tubes - 2 of 2


Lenses links (Link to parent category)

Van Walree Photography - Optics (many good articles)
Canon TS-E lenses
Tilt and shift lenses (regarding all TS-E lenses)
TS-E 45/2.8 on the-digital-picrure.com
TS-E 24/3.5 on the-digital-picrure.com
TS-E 90/2.8 on the-digital-picrure.com
Sports with TS-E lenses by Vincent Laforet for the NY Times
Fred Miranda - how to correct CA when shift used
Cambridge in colour - Shift
Cambridge in colour - Tilt
Carl Zeiss lenses
digLloyd Zeiss ZF lenses
Zeiss.com - Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0
Zeiss.com - Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2.0
16-9.net - Test of 28mm lenses including CZ 28/2.8
Pebble Place - Carl Zeiss Planar T* 2/100
Pebble Place - Carl Zeiss Macro-Sonnar T* 2.8/100 N
SLR Lens Review - Contax Sonnar T* 2.8/135mm C/Y
SLR Lens Review - Contax Sonnar T* 2.8/85mm C/Y
SLR Lens Review - Contax Planar T* 1.7/50mm C/Y
Pebble Place - Contax Sonnar T* 2.8/135mm C/Y
Some example pictures of Zeiss lenses
pinciuc.com - samples from various lenses
Nikon PC-Nikkor lenses
16-9.net - Test of 35mm shift lenses
mir.com.my - PC-Nikkor 28mm f/3.5
mir.com.my - PC-Nikkor 35mm f/2.8
Adapters
Pebble Place - C/Y adapters
Cambridge in colour - Understanding camera lenses
Photo.net - Lens tutorial


Pictures of lens

Extending while focusing

Distagon 28mm extends while focused close.

Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28 - Lens extends while focusing close
On the left side: Focused to infinity
On the right side: Focused to minimum focus distance

Depth of field scale

Distagon 28mm has pretty good depth of field scale. However on digital cameras I would recommend one stop higher value since the circle of confusion is smaller these days when digital SLRs enable much larger print sizes than film cameras.

Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/28 - Depth of field scale
Depth of field scale

Huuhaakuukausi 2nd, 2009