Ray Sachs
Legend
- Location
- Not too far from Philly
- Name
- you should be able to figure it out...
Hi all,
I bought a used Zeiss 21mm f2.8 for the Df a while back from B&H, but well within the return period, Nikon announced it's 20mm f1.8 which seemed like a better fit for me for a number of reasons, despite the Zeiss' AMAZING clarity and IQ. So I returned the Zeiss and bought the Nikon and while I can't say I regret it - the Nikon is a great lens and really IS a better fit for how I'll mostly use it, and less than 1/2 of what I paid for the Zeiss - there's just something about Zeiss glass that's indescribably wonderful and I do miss it. I have it in the RX1 and had it with the 21, but the 21 no more. So I started looking into Zeiss options at the wide end, where I figured I'd get by just fine without auto-focus and found a used 25mm f2.8 for a "normal" lens price (ie, around $600). So I bought one and got it on Wednesday and, long story short, it may be on my Df about 90% of the time. According to Lloyd Chambers, the lens is actually 25.7mm, so roughly half-way between 24 and 28mm, which I often have trouble deciding between as an all-day prime lens. So with this, I'm sort of in a sweet spot that I can just stick this on and forget it. It's also got wonderful close focus capabilities so it can actually serve pretty much any of my very limited macro needs (although I have a Tamron 90mm macro/portrait lens for when I want to get crazy-close).
So I stuck this on the Df and early on Thursday awoke to dense fog, so I took the short drive out to my favorite ag preserve and shot a foggy sunrise. And realized it was gonna be such a nice day, I got home and immediately drove to the train and spent most of the day shooting in Philly. I took my 135mm AI lens along and did about five minutes of compressed perspective shooting with it on Philly's new walkway over the Schuylkill River, but basically I shot for many hours just with the Zeiss 25mm. I've never spent a day shooting in such wildly different contexts as what I had first thing in the morning and then the rest of the day in Philly and really it was kind of an exhilarating day of "pure" photography with basically one lens. The new lens was part of it, but it was also just a great day to shoot. I've been enjoying shooting mostly with the G7X for the last couple of weeks, but I was really ready to pick up the DF and do some REAL shooting. And I have to say, I can pretty much LIVE in this lens. It's manual focus but very easy to focus critically and very easy to use for zone focus - I never miss AF with lenses of this focal length. I think for anything longer than about 50mm, I'd really prefer AF (although the MF 135 works for landscape and other static subjects and it's nice and small and light to stick in the bag). But for wider focal lengths, I seem to be fine with a good MF lens. And this is a VERY good MF lens. It's not quite as magical as the 21, which had a clarity I can't quite describe, sort of like the 35 Sonnar on the RX1, but even a bit punchier. But it's CLOSE to that magic, and it's still the best 24-28 lens I've ever shot with and something I felt immediately at home with in my favorite focal length neighborhood. Who knows, maybe 25.7 will end up being my "goldilocks" focal length...
So anyway, here's a pretty good sample, first of the moody foggy morning shots, then of the bustling city shots, with a mx of street and non-street...
Country:
Stroud in Fog by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Stroud in Fog by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Stroud in the Fog by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Stroud in the Fog by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Stroud in the Fog by ramboorider1, on Flickr
City:
Rittenhouse Square by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Schuylkill Walkway by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Philly Zeiss-166-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Philly Zeiss-146-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Philly Zeiss-75-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr
And some street stuff, so those who are sick of street stuff can tune out now...
Philly Zeiss-466-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr
A brief commentary on the state of race and communication in the US in 2014 - I even like how the white guy has the black phone and the black guy has the white phone:
Communication in 2014 by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Philly Zeiss-200-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Philly Zeiss-391-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Philly Zeiss-426-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr
-Ray
I bought a used Zeiss 21mm f2.8 for the Df a while back from B&H, but well within the return period, Nikon announced it's 20mm f1.8 which seemed like a better fit for me for a number of reasons, despite the Zeiss' AMAZING clarity and IQ. So I returned the Zeiss and bought the Nikon and while I can't say I regret it - the Nikon is a great lens and really IS a better fit for how I'll mostly use it, and less than 1/2 of what I paid for the Zeiss - there's just something about Zeiss glass that's indescribably wonderful and I do miss it. I have it in the RX1 and had it with the 21, but the 21 no more. So I started looking into Zeiss options at the wide end, where I figured I'd get by just fine without auto-focus and found a used 25mm f2.8 for a "normal" lens price (ie, around $600). So I bought one and got it on Wednesday and, long story short, it may be on my Df about 90% of the time. According to Lloyd Chambers, the lens is actually 25.7mm, so roughly half-way between 24 and 28mm, which I often have trouble deciding between as an all-day prime lens. So with this, I'm sort of in a sweet spot that I can just stick this on and forget it. It's also got wonderful close focus capabilities so it can actually serve pretty much any of my very limited macro needs (although I have a Tamron 90mm macro/portrait lens for when I want to get crazy-close).
So I stuck this on the Df and early on Thursday awoke to dense fog, so I took the short drive out to my favorite ag preserve and shot a foggy sunrise. And realized it was gonna be such a nice day, I got home and immediately drove to the train and spent most of the day shooting in Philly. I took my 135mm AI lens along and did about five minutes of compressed perspective shooting with it on Philly's new walkway over the Schuylkill River, but basically I shot for many hours just with the Zeiss 25mm. I've never spent a day shooting in such wildly different contexts as what I had first thing in the morning and then the rest of the day in Philly and really it was kind of an exhilarating day of "pure" photography with basically one lens. The new lens was part of it, but it was also just a great day to shoot. I've been enjoying shooting mostly with the G7X for the last couple of weeks, but I was really ready to pick up the DF and do some REAL shooting. And I have to say, I can pretty much LIVE in this lens. It's manual focus but very easy to focus critically and very easy to use for zone focus - I never miss AF with lenses of this focal length. I think for anything longer than about 50mm, I'd really prefer AF (although the MF 135 works for landscape and other static subjects and it's nice and small and light to stick in the bag). But for wider focal lengths, I seem to be fine with a good MF lens. And this is a VERY good MF lens. It's not quite as magical as the 21, which had a clarity I can't quite describe, sort of like the 35 Sonnar on the RX1, but even a bit punchier. But it's CLOSE to that magic, and it's still the best 24-28 lens I've ever shot with and something I felt immediately at home with in my favorite focal length neighborhood. Who knows, maybe 25.7 will end up being my "goldilocks" focal length...
So anyway, here's a pretty good sample, first of the moody foggy morning shots, then of the bustling city shots, with a mx of street and non-street...
Country:
City:
And some street stuff, so those who are sick of street stuff can tune out now...
A brief commentary on the state of race and communication in the US in 2014 - I even like how the white guy has the black phone and the black guy has the white phone:
-Ray