Reading mode: Light Dark

zeiss 85 vs zeiss 100 on DX

Go to last post
My vote is for 100mm f/2, better lens than the 85mm version, and it doubles as a macro lens too.
 
SmittenHobbyist said:
i only have one lens

nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8

I happily shoot a d7000

landscapes and portraits
I also have a baby on the way
Click to expand...
Terrific colour in the 85 and I even know of some that own both and have since sold their 100Makro. It might be important to you that the MFD on the 85 is 1metre and 0.44m on the zf100 when you mention baby.

Have you asked between these two because of their differences or because they are both long lenses on DX?
 
also, is it tough to manual focus on the d7000?

do I need a Katzeye?
is the optibrite extra worth paying for?

sorry to pepper with questions
but i see zeiss photos and I want to learn how to do that

I'm thrilled with my 17-55 nikkor
so I think the zeiss 85 or 100 is just what I'm looking for
 
SmittenHobbyist said:
also, is it tough to manual focus on the d7000?

do I need a Katzeye?
is the optibrite extra worth paying for?

sorry to pepper with questions
but i see zeiss photos and I want to learn how to do that

I'm thrilled with my 17-55 nikkor
so I think the zeiss 85 or 100 is just what I'm looking for
Click to expand...
The katzeye is worth it but no you don't want the optibrite. Its an option for slow lenses only. I see a lot of 17-55 owners happy with that lens, you likely see them a lot more than I do although I did meet one in the street and he had a grin like yours.

Focus pops in on the longer Zeiss, you will see it happen and will discover why so many prefer manual focus over AF.

The zf100 as you know is very popular but dont dismiss the 85. If your budget lets you buy the 100 then do but don't regard the 85 as something less. Owners talk about it like you do the 17-55, they won't part with it easily. I'll add the 85 to my kit soon but am looking at the D800 first.

I started street photography on a D90 with the zf100 (am on a D700 now).

Have you been to the FredMiranda alt lens forum, zeiss images are nutz there.

Ant.
ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ
 
SmittenHobbyist said:
also, is it tough to manual focus on the d7000?
Click to expand...
No. Use Live view, zoom the view screen in a few notches, and you can get a highly critical view at any aperture.
SmittenHobbyist said:
do I need a Katzeye?
is the optibrite extra worth paying for?
Click to expand...
No. Live View is a better approach.

(1) A Katzeye's split prism is only in the frame center. If you focus in the center and then recompose with either of the Zeiss lenses you're considering, you'll move the focus plane and the image won't be sharp where you want it to be. With Live view, you can focus anywhere in the frame.

(2) A Katzeye needs to be installed, which can screw up focus / viewfinder perspective alignment for all of your lenses.

(3) A Katzeye won't help you with the classic Zeiss focus shift, meaning you'll be shooting wide open or at f/8. Anywhere in between and focus shift will screw you up. (More on this, below.)
SmittenHobbyist said:
sorry to pepper with questions
but i see zeiss photos and I want to learn how to do that

I'm thrilled with my 17-55 nikkor
so I think the zeiss 85 or 100 is just what I'm looking for
Click to expand...
Maybe. Two important things to know about Nikon-mount Zeiss lenses:

(1) They aren't really Zeiss lenses. They're Zeiss-branded designs manufactured under contract by Cosina. Cosina isn't known for exceptionally high-quality products.

(2) The Zeiss 85 planar design exhibits significant aperture focus shift, meaning that the focal plane moves back and forth as you change the lens's aperture. If you're focusing with the viewfinder, this is a big problem. Regardless of your aperture setting, as you look through the viewfinder, you're seeing the lens wide-open; the camera stops the lens to your setting when you actually shoot. This means that whatever focus you hit through the viewfinder will move when you hit the shutter and the camera stops the lens down to your selected aperture. By f/5.6 - f/8, you'll have enough depth of field to cover the shift, but anywhere between f/1.8 - f/4.5 or so, the shift will keep you from ever getting tack focus.

If you focus using live view, you can stop the lens down and actually see the image at your aperture setting--thereby solving the problem.
 
do zf.2 lenses support aperture preview?

I know full well zeiss for Nikon are made by cosina
and my iPad is made by foxconn

design, standards, end results
 
as it's spoken like someone who
1. has never used the lens
or

2. isn't a photographer either by profession or hobby (live view, who uses that anywhere besides in macro???).

I owned both (on FX though) and sold the 2/100. The reason is not one of lesses iq in the 100 (that would be absurd), but of focal length, ease of use, cost, character and last but definitely not least; speed.

Unless you're doing a great deal of macro I'd suggest getting the 85P.
MarkJH said:
SmittenHobbyist said:
also, is it tough to manual focus on the d7000?
Click to expand...
No. Use Live view, zoom the view screen in a few notches, and you can get a highly critical view at any aperture.
Member said:
do I need a Katzeye?
is the optibrite extra worth paying for?
Click to expand...
No. Live View is a better approach.

(1) A Katzeye's split prism is only in the frame center. If you focus in the center and then recompose with either of the Zeiss lenses you're considering, you'll move the focus plane and the image won't be sharp where you want it to be. With Live view, you can focus anywhere in the frame.

(2) A Katzeye needs to be installed, which can screw up focus / viewfinder perspective alignment for all of your lenses.

(3) A Katzeye won't help you with the classic Zeiss focus shift, meaning you'll be shooting wide open or at f/8. Anywhere in between and focus shift will screw you up. (More on this, below.)
Member said:
sorry to pepper with questions
but i see zeiss photos and I want to learn how to do that

I'm thrilled with my 17-55 nikkor
so I think the zeiss 85 or 100 is just what I'm looking for
Click to expand...
Maybe. Two important things to know about Nikon-mount Zeiss lenses:

(1) They aren't really Zeiss lenses. They're Zeiss-branded designs manufactured under contract by Cosina. Cosina isn't known for exceptionally high-quality products.

(2) The Zeiss 85 planar design exhibits significant aperture focus shift, meaning that the focal plane moves back and forth as you change the lens's aperture. If you're focusing with the viewfinder, this is a big problem. Regardless of your aperture setting, as you look through the viewfinder, you're seeing the lens wide-open; the camera stops the lens to your setting when you actually shoot. This means that whatever focus you hit through the viewfinder will move when you hit the shutter and the camera stops the lens down to your selected aperture. By f/5.6 - f/8, you'll have enough depth of field to cover the shift, but anywhere between f/1.8 - f/4.5 or so, the shift will keep you from ever getting tack focus.

If you focus using live view, you can stop the lens down and actually see the image at your aperture setting--thereby solving the problem.
Click to expand...
 
SmittenHobbyist said:
do zf.2 lenses support aperture preview?
Click to expand...
They do. Good luck seeing focus shift through the viewfinder.
SmittenHobbyist said:
I know full well zeiss for Nikon are made by cosina
and my iPad is made by foxconn

design, standards, end results
Click to expand...
Your certainty with this analogy tells me that you aren't aware of the other products Cosina makes. If only they had Foxconn's rep--and I'm saying that fully aware of what else Foxconn makes. Besides, Zeiss does make their own lenses, which are a lot more serious than many of the ZF.2s. The only reason the ZF.2s exist is the excess manufacturing capacity Zeiss licensing had when the Contax system folded.

OK, I'm not being entirely fair. Some of the ZF.2s have a very highly-regarded optical rep. The 21mm f/2.8, the 35 f/2, the new 15. But the 85 definitely isn't in that group.

If you're really into retro manual focus lenses, the current Nikon AI-S line offers far superior build and mechanical quality across the line, which is very important for precise manual focus.

You owe it to yourself to compare them, in person, before spending the $$$$.
 
Ah, you got me, Rod.

I clearly don't know anything about any of this. "Aperture focus shift" is something me and all the other reviewers out there who've used the 85 are just making up. I mean, I could ask why Roger Cicalla at LensRentals.com warns potential users about it (or says, which I agree, that the lens's wide-open IQ is for "emergency use only"), but the answer's obvious--because he's screwing with them, just like me.

And as for worrying about focus-recompose (or said made-up aperture shift) with the stock viewfinder or a Katz-eye? That's clearly terrible advice, too. OP, you're in for gorgeous tack-sharp pictures with ease. Go nuts and have fun!

M.
RodluvanII said:
2. isn't a photographer either by profession or hobby (live view, who uses that anywhere besides in macro???).

I owned both (on FX though) and sold the 2/100. The reason is not one of lesses iq in the 100 (that would be absurd), but of focal length, ease of use, cost, character and last but definitely not least; speed.

Unless you're doing a great deal of macro I'd suggest getting the 85P.
MarkJH said:
SmittenHobbyist said:
also, is it tough to manual focus on the d7000?
Click to expand...
No. Use Live view, zoom the view screen in a few notches, and you can get a highly critical view at any aperture.
RodluvanII said:
do I need a Katzeye?
is the optibrite extra worth paying for?
Click to expand...
No. Live View is a better approach.

(1) A Katzeye's split prism is only in the frame center. If you focus in the center and then recompose with either of the Zeiss lenses you're considering, you'll move the focus plane and the image won't be sharp where you want it to be. With Live view, you can focus anywhere in the frame.

(2) A Katzeye needs to be installed, which can screw up focus / viewfinder perspective alignment for all of your lenses.

(3) A Katzeye won't help you with the classic Zeiss focus shift, meaning you'll be shooting wide open or at f/8. Anywhere in between and focus shift will screw you up. (More on this, below.)
RodluvanII said:
sorry to pepper with questions
but i see zeiss photos and I want to learn how to do that

I'm thrilled with my 17-55 nikkor
so I think the zeiss 85 or 100 is just what I'm looking for
Click to expand...
Maybe. Two important things to know about Nikon-mount Zeiss lenses:

(1) They aren't really Zeiss lenses. They're Zeiss-branded designs manufactured under contract by Cosina. Cosina isn't known for exceptionally high-quality products.

(2) The Zeiss 85 planar design exhibits significant aperture focus shift, meaning that the focal plane moves back and forth as you change the lens's aperture. If you're focusing with the viewfinder, this is a big problem. Regardless of your aperture setting, as you look through the viewfinder, you're seeing the lens wide-open; the camera stops the lens to your setting when you actually shoot. This means that whatever focus you hit through the viewfinder will move when you hit the shutter and the camera stops the lens down to your selected aperture. By f/5.6 - f/8, you'll have enough depth of field to cover the shift, but anywhere between f/1.8 - f/4.5 or so, the shift will keep you from ever getting tack focus.

If you focus using live view, you can stop the lens down and actually see the image at your aperture setting--thereby solving the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I bought the zeiss 85
thanks all

in the end
the proof's in the pudding

zeiss work simply sparkles to my eye
I can't wait for mine to show up!
 
SmittenHobbyist said:
I bought the zeiss 85
thanks all

in the end
the proof's in the pudding

zeiss work simply sparkles to my eye
I can't wait for mine to show up!
Click to expand...
make sure you share a pic ...awesome portrait lens. My favourite ever portrait was taken with one by a member here (oldmiller) and he's one that prefers it over the 100.

Make sure to experiment to find out how it works, window light, early morning, low light, twilight, look for unconventional things, the way light strikes an object, some still life ...just do stuff that you might not have done before. Thats how I'd tackle the 85. Give it a chance to surprise you. And having a baby is an excuse for 1000's more too. Rodluvan also uses it as a street lens to great effect, you should check out his pics. Maybe we will see you in the FM alt forum.

Its a challenging lens no doubt but clever of you to pick it for scapes, later as an FF user it will have a new life as well. Am guessing you saw the same pics I see taken with it. Absolutely is it not a Nikkor.

Mark, I was surprised at your dislike for this lens, your pics are OK but look like your lenses are holding you back, you should try a Zeiss, awesome for studio/location work. The zf85 would fit you like a glove.

Ant.
 
Member said:
Mark, I was surprised at your dislike for this lens, your pics are OK but look like your lenses are holding you back, you should try a Zeiss, awesome for studio/location work. The zf85 would fit you like a glove.

Ant.
Click to expand...
Hi, Ant,

I don't dislike the Zeiss 85 per se. I owned one for 18 months before trading to a Nikkor 85G. I shot 90% of this portfolio with it:

http://issuu.com/markj.hanson/docs/khushboo_fashion?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

Shot all of the telephotos in this portfolio with it:

http://issuu.com/markj.hanson/docs/jesseataltamont?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

I found the focus shift to be a pain, since I did a lot of work at f/2 - f/2.8. I disliked the live linear-extension design. I hated that its 72mm filter thread didn't match my other pro Nikkors. Little things that got increasingly annoying the more I used it, however much I loved the particularity of its rendition.

Mostly, though, I found that I was never able to focus as quickly as my AF Nikkors could, and it slowed my pace with clients. Photography is as much a game of opportunity as it is anything else, and I got tired of watching client poses and expressions get stale as I took that extra second to nail the shot.

Honestly, there's probably more than my lens selection holding me back. I appreciate the suggestion, but I don't think I'd go back to it.

Cheers!

M.
 
MarkJH said:
Member said:
Mark, I was surprised at your dislike for this lens, your pics are OK but look like your lenses are holding you back, you should try a Zeiss, awesome for studio/location work. The zf85 would fit you like a glove.

Ant.
Click to expand...
Hi, Ant,

I don't dislike the Zeiss 85 per se. I owned one for 18 months before trading to a Nikkor 85G. I shot 90% of this portfolio with it:

http://issuu.com/markj.hanson/docs/khushboo_fashion?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

Shot all of the telephotos in this portfolio with it:

http://issuu.com/markj.hanson/docs/jesseataltamont?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

I found the focus shift to be a pain, since I did a lot of work at f/2 - f/2.8. I disliked the live linear-extension design. I hated that its 72mm filter thread didn't match my other pro Nikkors. Little things that got increasingly annoying the more I used it, however much I loved the particularity of its rendition.

Mostly, though, I found that I was never able to focus as quickly as my AF Nikkors could, and it slowed my pace with clients. Photography is as much a game of opportunity as it is anything else, and I got tired of watching client poses and expressions get stale as I took that extra second to nail the shot.

Honestly, there's probably more than my lens selection holding me back. I appreciate the suggestion, but I don't think I'd go back to it.

Cheers!

M.
Click to expand...
I'd likely be blind at the end of a client shoot and I'd have to climb over pews at a wedding and would need to be standing in the nets at the world cup but no Zeiss user here wants to leave their lenses or their heads at work on their weekends. It has parallels elsewhere too, like Landscape togs using field cameras, fashion togs using digital Blads or Leica S ot shooting Yosemite with a a 1988-vintage Canon T90 ...it all depends on what you want to use it for

Already the nikkor 85/1.4D is being referred to as a dog here on dpr ...and yet only yesterday it was the 'cream machine'. And how quiet has it gone on some since they didn't make the list for the D800. Yet the Zeiss owners are still using what they had before. And I'm betting that zf85 of yours would have been nice on a F3.

Some of us really hate the Nikkor 85 as a portrait lens and wish we had something like the 135L, we hate the 50/1.4G and wonder why for a lens so easy to make is it so bloody awful, we think the 14-24 is flat and dull, that the 35/2 is a shocker. ...and there are more but I'll just make more friends.

I dont know if anyone has caught on to it but a lot of forum members here keep asking to the older nikkors, they do it because they might be inexpensive but they want something different than their zooms. Something with a bit of character instead of something that renders teeth perfectly for an orthodontist (I think the word 'sterile' was cleverly avoided here). All of us and some still getting there can say that we have a lens that fits the way that we like to work and gives a result that gives us pleasure ...and for some it comes in a different box.

If Nikon made an 85Planar with AF in a plastic body for whatever an 85G costs does anyone here seriously want the 85G anymore ...of course many will say yes but this forum has never cared much for those that say no. You have to say yes here, its a forum and then when your 85D is a dog ...well you just have to be a little quiet.

Zeiss owners cop heaps on dpr but just quietly between you and me, I think it funny that hobby photographers buy lenses like the best of the zooms that you and I know are commercial lenses that are there to do the job that togs like you need to do. They huff and puff around their gardens and take them to Italy on their holidays and then complain when they get home and trade them (and their D3X) for a Nex.

I'm with smitten, I don't want someone else cutting my lawn, I want to take pics of my own and even the thought of going to a local tog to shoot our family portraits with a Nikkor 85 ...is kinda off-putting.

All said tongue in cheek of course ...

Khushboo ...awesome Mark, 19 is my fav and I love the page folds, 73 was a great page to finish on.

Am looking at everything else, you have a bit of a fan here (grin).

Ant.
 
Ant,

You flatter me, honestly. After all, I'm just cranking out inexpensive glamour portraits on DX--I'm not producing fine art pieces or gallery installations like you and much of the Zeiss line's target user base.

I also think much of my opinion might boil down to the difference between using it on 12-megapixel FX and 16-megapixel DX. The D700 makes the gorgeous most of any lens you mount; the D7000 is . . . different. There's no doubt that the ZF.2's have resolving power to match (or vastly exceed) the 16-megapixel DX density's demands, but that resolving power also needs to be directed with more precision.

I'm thinking that might be why my mention of aperture focus shift (or my suggestion that Live View might offer a more precise focusing approach than the viewfinder) doesn't jive with other users' experience. Maybe those issues aren't really "issues" on a larger sensor with lower pixel density, or on FX cameras with giant, bright viewfinder projections. (I don't have any trouble hitting center tack with the split prism on that 1988-vitnage Canon T90 of mine--but then again, the viewfinder projection is twice as large and quite a bit more brilliant than the D7000's.)

Just thinking off the top of my head, there's no question that the best and most characteristic Zeiss imaging I've seen has been produced with D700s or D3s bodies. I haven't seen much from the D7000. Has anyone else?

Perhaps the OP can add some killer work to the collective library when his copy arrives.

Cheers!

M.
oneANT said:
I'm with smitten, I don't want someone else cutting my lawn, I want to take pics of my own and even the thought of going to a local tog to shoot our family portraits with a Nikkor 85 ...is kinda off-putting.

All said tongue in cheek of course ...

Khushboo ...awesome Mark, 19 is my fav and I love the page folds, 73 was a great page to finish on.

Am looking at everything else, you have a bit of a fan here (grin).

Ant.
Click to expand...
 
to be frank
Im not saying I'm any better
but I think you are admitting you aren't skilled enough for the 85

it also sounds like you are still in shock over it

don't blame the camera
ever.
 
Whatever dude.

I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures.
SmittenHobbyist said:
to be frank
Im not saying I'm any better
but I think you are admitting you aren't skilled enough for the 85

it also sounds like you are still in shock over it

don't blame the camera
ever.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top