Zeiss ZF tests?

[Alexander Black]

Hey Evin,

Saw a post on CML about these and looked them up:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?shs=zeiss+ZF&ci=0&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=productlist.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t

The Zeiss ZF series primes, nikon mount.

Have you (or anyone here) used any of these? Do they breathe? As Tim pointed out, a prime set could be had for about $3600. Verrry nice glass.

Good to meet (er and argue a bit with) you @ NAB :)

_a

[PaulClements]

Apparently there is not much difference between the Nikons and Zeiss ZF. Sanjin aka The Third Man did a bit about the 50mm (I think it was this lens), try a search of the forums.

The lenses are made in china by Cosina, so strictly speaking they are not Zeiss glass entirely.

They are also for still lens cameras so you don't get the benefit of the Zeiss cine lenses. You might just be better off going with Nikon, there is a far larger scope for different lenses to use and they are cheaper.

[Alexander Black]

Ah, heh, in which case the PS+ primes might be much better. Looking around for a middle ground: I don't particularly want to spent $20k on a prime set but there's a "hole" at the top end of the red offering if you buy the 18-50.

_a

[Stephen Williams]

Ah, heh, in which case the PS+ primes might be much better. Looking around for a middle ground: I don't particularly want to spent $20k on a prime set but there's a "hole" at the top end of the red offering if you buy the 18-50.

_a

Hi Alex,

FWIW the P+S are rebuilt Zeiss ZF.

Stephen

[Evin Grant]

I'd be glad to test the ZFs I'm just not going to buy them to do it. If any of you in the LA area have some I'd be totally down to test them.
Most of the reaction I've gotten from various reviews are poitive but not overwehlming. Nikon makes some wicked pieces of glass, especially in these focal lengths, so I would caution against buying based on the Zeiss name alone. Unless you can convince your producer they actually the new Mega Primes:gun:

[Mike Prevette]

I am tempted to say these would outperform modern Nikon glass. I have a lot of faith in Cosina, and own quite a few of their Voigtlander brand Leica M lenses. They perform VERY well, especially when you compare their price to the Leica equivalent.

Nikon is currently all about mass producing AF lenses, I doubt their quality control more than Cosinas. Plus with Zeiss providing the designs based on their master prime series, I think the quality would be superb.

_mike

[Mike Prevette]

They focus backwards. They are set up with Nikon focus barrels which is opposite of all the other cine lenses in the world. AC's will hate you. Or the smart ones will steal reversal gears from 300 f2's.


_mike

[steevo435]

I don't know shit from shinola, but from the Zeiss website:
ZF lenses provide Nikon F-mount cameras with the creative potential and phototechnical performance available so far only in the Contax system. In addition, ZF lenses incorporate new technical advances from the ZEISS Ultra Prime®, Master Prime® and DigiPrime® lenses for motion picture cameras. Results have been seen in feature films like "Lord of the Rings", "Alexander", "King Arthur", "Air Force One", "Collateral", "King Kong" and many commercials and music clips.

Like the ZEISS lenses for motion picture, ZF lenses feature unusually high mechanical quality, fixed focal length, very precise manual focussing, reliability, and exceptional durability. Special attention is paid to guarantee absolute color matching throughout the whole range of lenses resulting in state-of-the-art image quality.

Nobody is looking for "megaprimes", just quality optics.

[Evin Grant]

I like Cosina alot, and I'm not dissing the ZFs but the performance of a Nikkor 85mm 1.4, either the AIS or AFD version is a very high standard to achieve.
I'm not talking about the mass market plastic jobs here. I'm talking about pro optics designed to be used in war torn hot spots and by National Geographic photographers. The reality is these are lenses designed decades ago for the Contax line that have been retooled in china by Cosina and coated using some techniques borrowed from the Digi/Master primes. SO..... they will perform very well. But I doubt there will be any appreciable diffrence (except in price) from a similarly speced Nikkor kit.
NOW the P+S ZFs are more interesting to me, not because they will perform better, but because they are cinema specific, gears and all that.
The bottom line is al these lenses will be awesome on your Red, do really think the Zeiss name on your lenses will get you a better rental rate?
If so, buy them.

Personally I will have my Nikkor kit for lower budget and specialty shooting
and my Red primes/Zoom for the bigger projects. I might pick up one of those P+S ZF Macros though.

[Alexander Black]

If I, uh, stumble on a set I'll fedex 'em down to you :)

Didn't know that the P+S lenses were just rehoused ZFs, vewwy intewwesting.

Anyone have any idea on street price for the P+S set?

And, happily, I could care less about the special name on the lens: I want good performance for the least amount of dosh ;)

_a

[Stephen Williams]

If I, uh, stumble on a set I'll fedex 'em down to you :)

Didn't know that the P+S lenses were just rehoused ZFs, vewwy intewwesting.

Anyone have any idea on street price for the P+S set?

And, happily, I could care less about the special name on the lens: I want good performance for the least amount of dosh ;)

_a

Hi Adam,

http://www.pstechnik.de/en/optics-zeiss.php

There is no price listed but I remember 2250 per lens, probably EURO.

Stephen

[Alexander Black]

On the assumption red won't sell their 85 prime separately, that could be a very nice way of completing a set: 18-50 red zoom and a PS prime. Would have to test them for matching, blah blah, but under $3k ain't bad.

_a

[Stephen Williams]

On the assumption red won't sell their 85 prime separately, that could be a very nice way of completing a set: 18-50 red zoom and a PS prime. Would have to test them for matching, blah blah, but under $3k ain't bad.

_a

Hi Adam,

Except it's in Nikon mount & not PL. IMHO you dont want to be changing mounts if you can avoid it. I guess P+S will realise their error & bring out a PL Version!

Stephen

[Sanjin Jukic]

ZFs are all very good lenses. I owe ZF 50mm f/1.4. An excellent lens. Also I provided a short video shot with M2 adapter on HDV camera but after all the RED recent samples is not making sense to watch it.

Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/50 ZF video test
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=287

I have to wait for my RED camera to continue with the tests. Maybe somebody before can do any test with any Nikon F mount lens and post a short video. Maybe Evin has some plans in that direction!?

[Evin Grant]

Check out his review Sanjin,
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1030&thread=21244546

[LighthouseMEdia]

P&S run about $2,200 a lens

[Emanuel A.]

$2,200 or €2,200?

[Sanjin Jukic]

Check out his review Sanjin,
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1030&thread=21244546

Thanks Evin, a very good review. As we know each lens has good and bad sides. Also every lens has a sweet spot that is a different for each lens. That was my idea about a concept to collect a different brands of still photo lenses and try out to squeeze from them the best as possible. I think I do not need P+S Technik ZF variants. I do have a lot still lenses for enough fun with the RED when it comes.

[marasco ivan]

HI,
THIS IS A GOOD LINK for people who are interested to buy zeiss zf lens.
a very good and complete review of 25-35-50-50 makro-85-100makro zf lens .
only one problem.......you have to pay 40$.
http://diglloyd.com/diglloyd/infos/ZeissZFLenses/index.html

ENJOY
ivan

[Vincent S]

Just incase anyone is on the fence about getting the Zeiss ZF lenses for red, I'll give you my 2 cents.

I found that they cost about the same +or- a few hundred as the same set of 2nd hand nikons on KEH. However you get them brand new with not one spec of dust, they feel really solid with the all metal housing and the focus turns about 300 to 320 degrees and is buttery smooth.

Picture quality wise I don't see any big difference compared to my nikons or sigma but I'm not the type to shoot res charts or care to zoom 400% onto a tree branch. What I do notice is that they all share the exact same color.

[albert rudnicki]

Just incase anyone is on the fence about getting the Zeiss ZF lenses for red, I'll give you my 2 cents.

I found that they cost about the same +or- a few hundred as the same set of 2nd hand nikons on KEH. However you get them brand new with not one spec of dust, they feel really solid with the all metal housing and the focus turns about 300 to 320 degrees and is buttery smooth.

Picture quality wise I don't see any big difference compared to my nikons or sigma but I'm not the type to shoot res charts or care to zoom 400% onto a tree branch. What I do notice is that they all share the exact same color.

I am glad you got it Vincet.
It is a nice set!
They are color matched and they do feel & look like cinema version.

Don't forget that the focus ring turns in the same way as Nikons (opposite to cinema lenses)

[Tico Llaurador]

Anyone have any idea on street price for the P+S set?

_a

The P+S Technik re-housed Zeiss ZF lenses were once quoted to me as listed below:

25mm/T2.8 $2,527
35mm/T2.0 $2,527
50mm/T1.4 $2,527
85mm/T1.4 $2,926

Of course, your mileage may vary.

[Vincent S]

I am glad you got it (opposite to cinema lenses)

Yes I got them and thanks for your advice, it really helped me make a sound decision with all the Red "must buy" madness.

[Billy McCannon]

Does anyone know in what ways the P+S rebuilt lenses differ from the ZFs?

[chuck colburn]

Looks like they use a common filter diameter and have focus gears and I believe expanded rotation of the focus barrel. Though they still focus backwards.

DISCLAIMER
I've been boneheading all day so it would be wise to check on this info.

[Eddie]

Here is a good link for pixelpeepers.

http://www.olegkikin.com/lenstests/zeiss.htm

[Mike Prevette]

Chuck your Correct on all counts about the PS primes. Now whether they really exist is another thing. I don't know anyone that has actually bought any. Few saw them at NAB, but they have been nonexistant since then.


Also I believe they removed the click stops on the iris for a more cine style operation.

IMHO they would only be worth the price if they were PL mount and Focused the correct direction.

[Mark K.]

Guys, you might want to take a look at http://www.photozone.de for some solid reviews of both the ZF lenses and their Nikkor equivalents.

[Mark Pedersen]

I like Cosina alot, and I'm not dissing the ZFs but the performance of a Nikkor 85mm 1.4, either the AIS or AFD version is a very high standard to achieve.
I'm not talking about the mass market plastic jobs here. I'm talking about pro optics designed to be used in war torn hot spots and by National Geographic photographers. The reality is these are lenses designed decades ago for the Contax line that have been retooled in china by Cosina and coated using some techniques borrowed from the Digi/Master primes. SO..... they will perform very well. But I doubt there will be any appreciable diffrence (except in price) from a similarly speced Nikkor kit.
NOW the P+S ZFs are more interesting to me, not because they will perform better, but because they are cinema specific, gears and all that.
The bottom line is al these lenses will be awesome on your Red, do really think the Zeiss name on your lenses will get you a better rental rate?
If so, buy them.

Personally I will have my Nikkor kit for lower budget and specialty shooting
and my Red primes/Zoom for the bigger projects. I might pick up one of those P+S ZF Macros though.

Evin, I have a set of the ZF's that I bought for my mini-35/Canon HLX1 rig.
I had focus rings and step ups to 80mm installed by RP Lens, who sells Nikon still lens with the rings. He put them up on a bench and tested them against the Nikons and was impressed by their sharpness and build. They're solid as hell, with much less barrel play and breathing than standard still lenses, produce beautiful images, have really nice bokah. The other nice thing is that they are all color matched in the set. The backward focus is a pain, but AC's can adapt...(agreed, not ideal).

I'm hanging on to them until I get my Red primes. The PS rehousing looks attractive, but I wish they were in a PL mount and a lot less expensive for what they are. You're paying 3X to have them re-housed.

If anyone has a Red in the Bay Area and wants to test them, I'd love to do it.

Cheers,
M

[Mike Prevette]

All of my Cosina made lenses say "Made in Japan" on them. Not sure if the ZF's are different.

[Tico Llaurador]

I don't know where this whole Cosina "Made in China" thing came from. Cosina lenses have always been made in Japan.

[albert rudnicki]

I don't know where this whole Cosina "Made in China" thing came from. Cosina lenses have always been made in Japan.

If you find one "made in china" you can be sure IT IS NOT ZEISS ZF
Cheers