Carl Zeiss 2/50 Review
Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/50 - Nubble Light
As promised, a review of the Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/50 – graciously donated to me by Carl Zeiss for a month-long demo. I’ll once again state that I do not get all über-technical in my reviews but give a look, feel and ease of use report through the eyes of an amateur photographer. Though I have only had the lens two weeks so far, it has quickly become one of my favorite lenses to shoot with. I’ll post some of the various 3,000 photos I have taken in the past 13 days that show the varied performance of this very versatile lens. I’ll try my best to not get all wordy here.
Beauty of Nothing
First Impressions
Out of the box, the super fast f/2 macro has the same magnificent build quality of my other Zeiss lenses. This lens is all glass (8 floating elements) and metal, including the hood, as you would expect from Carl Zeiss. There is a solid feel at 530 g and a smooth turning 300º perfectly damped focus barrel. This is once again a beautiful piece of art. There is very little distortion (less than 0.8% from my research) and almost no light drop-off, wide-open. The lighthouse shot above was wide open.
Putting the Makro to Work
Macro of Carl Zeiss Planar T* 2/85
This is where the Makro-Planar shines – and one of it’s chief functions in life – macro photography. The shot to the right is actually the very first shot I took with this lens. There is no edit on this shot – no crop, no color adjustment – a straight SOOC example. I was focused on the ‘e’ in Zeiss from about 9″ away. As you can see, tack-sharp with amazing drop off to the out of focus region – very smooth (you can click the image for a full size version). Though it magnifies at 1:2 rather than 1:1, it is still the fastest and most beautiful in its class.
Again, this shot is wide open at f/2 – super fast for a full frame macro, and has just amazing color rendition.
Wide Open Splash
Speaking of Fast
Here’s another wide-open f/2 shot that was requested from one of my followers on Flickr. The only lighting I added was a couple of stationary flood lights and bumped the ISO to 800 at 1/2000 second. Looking at this large, you can see how great the focus is, with some drops in sharp focus and others way out of focus. This photo was just for fun – to see if I could actually freeze the coffee with this setup.
As you can see from this one, the region transitioning from focus to blur is very smooth. And the out of focus region is smooth as hell. Those cups in the distance are only 3 feet away.
So, moving on.
The Bokeh Canon
Hasselblad with CZ 2.8/80
Let’s face it – when you buy a macro, what you really want is extremely sharp close-ups with outstanding bokeh. A bokeh cannon, if you will. So, I took this shot yesterday to demonstrate the wide-open bokeh of the 2/50. And what better subject than an old CZ 2.8/80 mounted on a Hasselblad 500c? Again, the smooth transition from focused to blurred is incredible.
And the bokeh region is like magic.
One minor draw back wide open is the bokeh is more of a football / cat’s eye look – but that transitions to a perfect beautiful circle by f/4. I do love a smooth round bokeh, but to be honest, I am not at all turned off by this more oval bokeh at f/2. And the color? Just perfect here. This is exactly how it was seen in the coffee shop.
Luscious Landscapes
50mm Landscape - York, Maine
Again, as asked by a bunch of people, how does the 50mm macro perform with landscapes? Outstanding, I say. The shot to the right is an unedited 1/6000 f/2 shot of crashing waves at sunset. Beautiful color rendition, sharp waves and great contrasts from light to dark. Zoom in (4000 pixels) and check out the lady sitting on the porch just in front of the sun and compare with the sharpness of the trees on the distant shore.
Man, I was in love with the lens after this shot.
Pure Dynamite with Portraits
Edward @ f/2
I was also tasked to see what this could do with natural light photography. So, here’s a shot of my friend, Edward – owner of the Hasselblad above – at the coffee shop. This was taken with indirect sunlight pouring in from the windows, camera left.
Again, wide open at 1/350 second – the lens performs amazing. Thanks to the 8 floating elements, focus is much easier than with the 1.4/85. It does a great job with shadows, highlights, sharpness, etc. No blowouts here. I really think this makes a wonderful piece of glass for the portrait shooter.
Final Thoughts
One Final Macro
My wife hates it. Well, she hates that I now am going to buy this delicious piece of Zeiss goodness. But she does love the versatility of this lens – as do I. It is an amazing performer through and through – from maco to landscape to portrait. I have a growing collection of shots and still 2 weeks to demo it. Though I have over 3,000 shots with it in the past 2 weeks, I am only posting those that are different enough to demonstrate the wide range of subjects, light and ranges you can shoot with.
I know once I buy this, it will be a tough battle for the honor of sitting on the D700 between this and the 2/35. If you have the means, I highly recommend you picking one up.
I am not affiliated with Carl Zeiss or Nikon – I am just in love with what I have and love to share the information I have gathered through hands on experience.
12 Comments
Tweets that mention Carl Zeiss 2/50 Review | Raymond Larose Photography -- Topsy.com
November 22, 2010[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by planetMitch, creativebloke, Tom D. Stratton, Jeff Arnold, Carl Zeiss Lens Team and others. Carl Zeiss Lens Team said: New review of the Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/50 by Photographer Raymond Larose @zen_bones http://bit.ly/9epcE3 [...]
nove
November 22, 2010Carl Zeiss 2/50 to me, is the best lens ever before. it is so powerful at any kinds aspects.
Raymond
November 22, 2010Yeah – I’ve learned to fall in love with it – so amazing.
Rick
November 22, 2010I really enjoy your photos. I first saw them in Flickr when I was looking for sample photos from Zeiss lenses. About a year ago I purchased the ZF.2 35/2 and agree with you it is a wonderful lens. I want to purchase a second. I really enjoy their manual focus and build. I’m looking for advice wherever I can get it. I’m an amateur presently shooting with a D200 but plan to purchase a D700 in the spring or similar if Nikon has a new fullframe model by then. I was very interested in the ZF.2 85 but noticed your mention of focus shift. I have no problem focusing the 35 or my Voigtlander 58 so I’d be interested to know how much of an adjustment it is to learn to deal with the focus shift. Does the shift occur with the ZF.2 as well or only the ZF to your? I know the optics are the same on both but wasn’t sure if the added electronic interface on the ZF.2 changes that. I realize the 100 is potentially sharper (if that matters), but the 100 doesn’t seem to have the focus issue from my reading. I would lose a stop purchasing an F2. I really appreciate a photo with thin depth of field and have been working on that over the last year. I am wondering if you can point out any other pros or cons between the two lenses as I can’t justify getting both. I agree with your comment that price shouldn’t matter as these are long term investments. Any suggestions about what else I should consider?
By the way .. your photos of your friend … aesthetically I greatly prefer the simpler composition of the first although of course it doesn’t show what his interests are as the 2nd does, so it depends on what you are trying to portray. Thanks!
Raymond
November 22, 2010Hi Rick-
The 2/35 is so easy to fall in love with, isn’t it? I am contemplating the 1.4/35 coming out this winter for the zf.2 – but that’ll be another post.
The focus shift on the 1.4/85 was on a zf.2 – I do not own any zf”s (non chipped). It did take some doing to realize that the focus isn’t quite where I want it. When I have it on a tripod and all the time I want for a shot, I use the live view on the D700 to zoom way in to make sure I am getting it right. Then I use the preview to make sure I got it right. Sometimes the focus is just off and have to back it up a touch. The focus barrel is so accurate, that there is a ton of room where the D700 thinks the shot is good enough (getting the green circle) but a zoom confirms you need to adjust it a few degrees.
Though I have not tried the 2/100 yet, I have heard great things on the sharpness. It is my next lens to demo and have a feeling I will fall in love. Like you, I’d gladly jump to a f/2 for an accurate focus. But I don’t want to blow off my own foot before I know what I am talking about. I hope to demo that lens in December or January.
I think this 2/50 you would just fall in love with – if you like the 2/35 like me. Having that macro range is amazing. And if the 2/100 is anything like it – that will be the way to go.
Also, thanks for the comment on the portraits. I don’t like the clutter of the square one – I like a nice, clean and smooth background.
Ray
Rick
November 22, 2010I really appreciate your reply and advice. Yes, I was tempted by the makro 50 f2 but sometimes my wife picks up my camera when we are out somewhere. She refuses to turn the focus ring so I bought a Nikon 50 1.4G to use for those times. Sounds like the 100 is probably in my future before the 50 but I’ll watch for your review when you have the lens and the time. Thanks again and your photography is an inspiration!
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