Showcase Sony 35mm F1.4 Zeiss Distagon FE ZA

[tomO2013]

Bit the bullet and picked this puppy up last week.
Due to family commitments I was unable to properly take it out since I bought it.

F5.6 under fluorescent lighting in a shopping mall - this is the second shot that I took with the lens!
View attachment 59138
Apples and Pears! by tom.ohle, on Flickr

Unfortunately I noticed that I had set the aperture (unintentionally to F5.6).

Sharing anyway to get the ball rolling.

What I'm sure we all really want to see is wide open performance. With this image I've done small tweaks to the white balance. It is tack sharp to the corners.

Possibly this is the sharpest lens that I have shot yet on a 35mm camera at the focus point. Sharper than the Sonnar 55 1.8.

 

[WoodWorks]

Sharper than the Sonnar 55 1.8.

That's saying something!

 

[fractal]

Wowzer! Keep 'em coming!

 

[tomO2013]

Took it out for a proper test run yesterday. This is a quick snap of a friends new baby.

Close focus is ridiculously short - probably the closest I've experienced from any lens yet on the FE platform. It allows for very creative uses. You will be surprised how close to the lens hood you can get when focussing on a subject! For creative types this opens up a lot of options.

In terms of distortion correction and enabling profile corrections in camera VS disabling corrections - this looks to do nothing to fix distortion. It doesn't exist to begin with so there is no difference to the output image that I have been able to tell so far. Only difference it makes is to remove vignetting by gaining the corners. Corner sharpness wide open is very good.

On the vignetting wide open, I feel that it isn't too strong and easily removed in post. But it really gives the glass a character and makes it really suited for portraiture where subjects just pop in a very medium format way. Like the loxia line there is a very quick fall off from in focus to out of focus but this it's very linear across the frame.
Saturation levels, colour and sharpness wide open are great to the point that if you have ever shot a lens like the Nocticron, Otus etc.. where you get this very sharp wide open look, for some subject matter you may need to soften it a little to suit your subject.

For this shot, I've deliberately softened the image a little, desaturated somewhat and played with colour levels to get an old school look that I like.

View attachment 59247
Junior by tom.ohle, on Flickr

 

[tomO2013]

At 1.4 the DOF is very shallow. For portraiture it has a lot more 'pop' from wide open relative to the Voigtlander 35 1.2 II which I'm also familiar with.
There is no 'glow' or coma that I've come across yet.
Bokeh as you can see fades off very quick but also very smoothly.

In this shot the left eye is ever so slightly out of focus relative to the right... that's my fault if I'm going to get nit picky. That said, this is wide open at 1.4.

That said I like the image and I love the girl

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Howdy! by tom.ohle, on Flickr

 

[Jman13]

While I disagree that it's sharper than the 55/1.8, it is very, very good. My daughter got an aquarium for her birthday:

ILCE-7M2    FE 35mm F1.4 ZA    35mm    f/1.4    1/400s    ISO 640

 

[christilou]

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It looks like a nice lens, if rather expensive but I'm not seeing that it's better than the 35mm 2 on the RX1.

 

[tomO2013]

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murder mystery by tom.ohle, on Flickr

 

[tomO2013]

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May I kiss you? by tom.ohle, on Flickr

 

[tomO2013]

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Car Cubana by tom.ohle, on Flickr

 

[Amin]

@christilou @tomO2013 @Jman13

Please post some more photos with this lens. I am this close to buying one, but I need a little more persuading!

 

[christilou]

Mine pic is from the RX1 Zeiss 35mm 2. I'll be hanging on to this combo because I've yet to see anything that can touch it

 

[Amin]

This is shaping up to be one of my favorite lenses of all time.

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DSC01519 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

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DSC01608 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

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DSC01480 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

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DSC01556 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

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DSC01716 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

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DSC01803 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

 

[stripedrex]

This is shaping up to be one of my favorite lenses of all time.

DSC01716 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

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DSC01803 by Amin Sabet, on Flickr

Do you remember if this was with eye autofocus or did you pull that manual? I have kids of my own and I heavily count on my E-M1 to catch the eye in moments like this (kids are too fast!). Olympus usually nails it which to this day still surprises me. I struggle to get similar results with the A7II + 55 1.8 (eye detect is clunkier) so I just deal with more missed shots (dof not helping either when I want to shoot wide open). I keep thinking the A7RII can finally have me commit to 1 system and ditch the E-M1. That now has continuous eye detect autofocus?! That and maybe the 35 1.4 autofocuses faster?

 

[Amin]

This was autofocus on the A7 II. It's not as good as the E-M1 for this application, and I doubt the A7R II will be either, but I find it (A7 II) just good enough for my purposes.

 

[robbie36]

@christilou @tomO2013 @Jman13

Please post some more photos with this lens. I am this close to buying one, but I need a little more persuading!

There speaks a man who has already decided to buy a lens....

 

[cvt01]

Wide open. Fullsize is available on my flickr:

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Sony A7 + Fe 35 1.4 by cvt01, on Flickr

 

[cvt01]

This lens is just beyond words. The sun is in the picture and still it maintains contrast my Canon 35 1.4 did not even come close to...

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Sony FE 35 1.4 by cvt01, on Flickr

 

[Mus Aziz]

A dealer let me have a few hours with the 35/1.4 yesterday....and it was sheer "poison". It's killing me!

Shy Lady

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[cvt01]

A dealer let me have a few hours with the 35/1.4 yesterday....and it was sheer "poison". It's killing me!

Shy Lady

...

Your dealer is smart