Carl Zeiss ZF/ZS Info Page
Overview:
January 18, 2006 Carl Zeiss
announced the new Zeiss ZF and ZS line of lens for 35mm SLR and DSLR cameras.
Zeiss ZF lenses are for Nikon F mount cameras. Zeiss ZS are the same
optics, but for M-42 screw mount cameras or adapters. Canon SLRs can use
screw mount or Nikon F mount adapters
such as these
to mount Zeiss ZS or ZF lenses.
Key Points of interest:
- Initial manual focus products are: Planar 50mm F/1.4 - F/16 lens in Nikon AI-S (ZF) and M42 screw mounts (ZS), Planar 85mm F/1.4 - F/16 lens in Nikon AI-S mount (ZF).
- Second products are to be announced Sept. 2006
- List price is 499 euros for the Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 ZF and 999 euros for the Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 ZF.
- ZF and ZS lenses are made in Japan by Cosina under Zeiss quality assurance.
- Zeiss lenses are well know for excellent optical quality
- Improvements over previous Contax RTS lenses are, "better straylight suppression, leading to cleaner, crisper color, and improved aperture geometry, leading to more pleasing, more natural looking circular out-of-focus highlights" according to Kornelius J. Mueller, Carl Zeiss Marketing Manager.
- This is a new line of lenses from Zeiss. Six lenses are expected at Photokina in September. Zeiss has given some clue about future plans by including two unannounced products in the press release product photos. A photo.net member concludes these are a 35mm f/2.0 wide angle and 60mm f/2.0 macro lens.
Zeiss ZF ZS Lens news, info and discussions:
- Four new Zeiss ZF lens Sept 20, 2006
- Zeiss technical information including MTF charts for each lens in the "Technical Datasheet"
- Camera Lens News 24
- Twenty questions about Zeiss ZF/ZS at RobGalbraith.com
Zeiss ZF ZS Lens sample photos
- Zeiss ZF 50mm Bokeh samples from cameraquest.com
- Zeiss ZF resolution chart test on photo.net
- Carl Zeiss ZF 50/1.4 and Portrait on dpreview.com Nikon SLR Lens forum
- Chinese "Nikon Club" sample photos
- Two quick shots with Zeiss ZF lens taken by Jono Slack.
- Limited photo tests of Nikon and Zeiss 50mm and 85mm lenses on the Japanese site http://digitalcamera.impress.co.jp . Discussion of this test at dpreview.com.
- Links to info on Nikon AI and AI-S
- Carl Zeiss lens nomenclature explained in the wikipedia.
Lens to camera interface:
- Best
- Professional model Nikon film and digital SLRs support AI and AI-S lens for open aperture metering. Aperture setting is communicated to the camera body via a mechanical coupling. On some cameras by manually entering the maximum aperture and focal length, Nikon's more sophisticated metering systems can be used. Aperture information is stored in the EXIF data on digital SLRs. Examples include the D2X, D200, and D2HS in digital and numerous Nikon film bodies including the F6, F5, F100, FM3A. See detailed charts here and here.
- Good
- Canon film and digital SLRs do not support a mechanical coupling for aperture setting. However, they can use stop down metering with lens mount adapters. With stop down metering the light is measured at the picture-taking aperture. In my experience this works OK for large aperture settings. The camera does not know the lens aperture, so it is not recorded in the EXIF data or displayed in the viewfinder.
- Poor
- Low end Nikon film and digital SLRs have no mechanical coupling for aperture setting and can not support stop down metering. Hence, these bodies can not use the camera exposure meter with these lenses mounted. Nikon D50, D70, D70s with i-TTL flash will not flash meter with these lenses mounted. Camera's supporting the older TTL and d-TTL flash metering, such as the D100 will be able to use TTL flash metering. Of course, with an external light meter or some trial and histogram review one can work around these limitations. Examples include the D50, D70, D70s, D100, N80, N75, N65, N60, N55, and N50.
Official Zeiss links:
