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Roger Cicala gives first impressions of new Zeiss Touit 32mm F1.8

Jun 3, 2013 at 20:46:34 GMT

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Roger Cicala of Lensrentals has published a blog post in which he gives his first impressions of the new Carl Zeiss 32mm F1.8 'Touit' lens, in Sony E-mount. Cicala has described the NEX system (fairly in our opinion) as 'great cameras with generally poor lenses' and looked at the 32mm F1.8 Touit alongside Sony's 35mm F1.8 OSS and Sigma's 30mm F2.8 prime for the E-mount.

Unlike the usual approach that lensrentals takes - exhaustively testing multiple samples of the same lens, Cicala was only able to look at a single example of the 32mm F1.8 on the Sony NEX-7. Click the links below to read his preliminary findings.

Click here to read Roger Cicala's blog post 'Finally Got Around Touit'

LENS NEWS LENSES ZEISS

Comments

Total comments: 37

I noticed, like the zeiss 24, this also sharpens right out at f2.2. I've been very happy with the f1.8 performance of the 24mm - if I had the cash, I'd spring for this tuoit.

0 upvotes

They should at least have done a little name research before choosing a new name for their lineup. A twit lens... HOW can you miss that????

0 upvotes

...better twit than 7w@7... :-D

0 upvotes

I would love to seen how it compares to the 24/1.8 on Nex, its currently my only native lens as the rest is not quite up to spec of the 7 potential yet. Good news about the CZ 50 macro coming, that will be an interesting lens, the current 32 is a bit too close to the existing 24 for me

1 upvote

At last, NEX has a comparable lens to the f2 30mm I've been using on my Samsung NX for years. And for only four times the price! ;)

0 upvotes

Part you pay for the quality, part for the construction and internals, part for the expertize at Zeiss (cheap for a Zeiss lens) and part for the brand badge on the lens :)

0 upvotes

Yeah... My only concern for NX 30/2 is its very harsh rendering of OOF highlights. Pehaps Touit is better in this respect.

0 upvotes

Sony 35/1.8 OSS is quite comparable.

1 upvote

Amazingly sharp, why no for 4/3?

0 upvotes

PanaLeica 25/1.4 takes care about that EFL for half the price. And with fast AF.

Comment edited 14 seconds after posting

1 upvote

I'd really like zeiss to make a native m4/3 lense. I have the leica 25 and I think it's superb but character-wise, I've been more partial to the way Zeiss glass renders.

0 upvotes

From the review it was very clear AF is not Zeiss' strong point. And I think Zeiss should have put more brains behind that or licenced some of the technology from someone who knows this business. The AF noise bothers me meaning I won't (in future) be able to use this lens for video, an option I like to know I have. I came away thinking the Sigma equivalent actually would be a much much better choice.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

1 upvote

> The Touit lenses are going to be slightly different in Sony and Fuji mounts. The Sony’s have electronic apertures, the Fuji’s mechanical. The optics may vary a bit, too. Differences in flange-to-sensor distance and Fuji’s raw manipulation account for that

I don't think either of those predictions are correct. For a start the earlier DPR news article shows the Fuji lens with an Auto setting for aperture, so the aperture must still be electronic on the Fuji version. Then there's the flange distance, all you need to do is shift the lens groups to the same distance, you don't need different optics just to support different flange distances.

1 upvote

Roger knows his stuff...his word is better than your unschooled speculation?

2 upvotes

Fuji mount version has aperture ring, that's good.

0 upvotes

I'd speculate that Fuji version has both electronic and physical aperture. There's not many manual-aperture only lenses nowadays.

0 upvotes

corner = 1/2 center. Is it Nex-7 or lenses characteristic?

0 upvotes

Wrong comment

Comment edited 27 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Leica should take notes from Zeiss on how to survive in a digital age :)

5 upvotes

Last I heard, Leica is more than just surviving. Quite a bit more, in fact.

5 upvotes

Heh not really. Zeiss lately killed his film Ikon due lack of interest. Some time ago ZK line of lens (for same reason, but they are identical with ZF/ZE so no biggie unless you shoot Pentax).

And Leica still makes their M7..

0 upvotes

It's not like Leica partnered up with Panasonic yeah? And they do make digital cameras. It's Zeiss that needs to up their game, although Leica could do better, especially when Fuji is just so much better with the rangefinders, even if they're not full frame sensors at least they have a sane price

0 upvotes

Leica should take a leaf out of Zeiss book and maybe start to put the Leica name on COSINA lenses then sell them for stupid amounts of money ;-)
Zeiss have gone the way of Hassleblad and are just a name on lenses made by other people (A modern day Vivitar)

0 upvotes

Not full truth. There is few (two) lens from Zeiss which are made in Germany, due being bit too complex for Cosina.

They design lens, like Leica designed lens for Panasonic. Except Cosina or Sony made lens with Zeiss design are bit better than most from Panasonic (tho 25/1.4 is nice lens and old 14-50/2.8-3.5 was exquisite .. and expensive).

Hasselblad makes only very good MF system. Their "Lunatic" was serious step in wrong direction..

That said, H5D is nice camera.

0 upvotes

@mescalamba, really? Which 2 made in Oberkohen?

0 upvotes

@Vadimka: Oberkochen

@Mescalamba: Hasselblad is made by Fuji.

0 upvotes

@LJ: thanks, now I totally found it on globe of Germany.

0 upvotes

$900.00!?! For that price it should be an f1.0! I could git the Sony lens and 9 K-1000 bodies on ebay! Or three new tires for my pickup truck!

0 upvotes

OK, this lens is not for you.

10 upvotes

You should not be shopping Zeiss or the other premium brands if you want to quack price.

Comment edited 14 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Quite cheap for Zeiss lens.

1 upvote

Dont look up Michelin tires, You could buy a zeiss lens for the same price.

0 upvotes

rb59020:

Do you own a Fuji X camera? Are the lenses for it inexpensive? (Note I don't care if you own a Sony Nex camera--the good lenses for that system--one by Zeiss--are already plenty expensive.)

0 upvotes

It's a Zeiss, not Samyang. Owh, and it's an autofocus Zeiss.

1 upvote

The Fuji X 35mm f/1.4 is an excellent lens and $600 US, or 2/3 the price of the Zeiss and half a stop larger aperture. Build quality is excellent too.

1 upvote

Zeiss lenses are for those who appreciate the output of finer optics and willing to pay for it.

Like gourmet food and fine wine, if you can't tell the difference, its better to stick to some fast food. Its still OK to live on.

Great to have choices in life.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

"Quite cheap for Zeiss lens."
BUt very expensive for a COSINA lens

0 upvotes

Total comments: 37

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