Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35

• Pros

  Very fast aperture. Sharp optics. Excellent build quality.

• Cons Expensive. Heavy. Manual focus only.
• Bottom Line

  The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 lens is optically superb, but is expensive and doesn't support autofocus.

By Jim Fisher

The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 ($1,843 list) ?is a fast wide-angle optic, available for Nikon and Canon D-SLR cameras. The full-frame lens is priced at a premium?it sells for more than equivalent autofocus lenses from Canon and Nikon, but is extremely sharp throughout its aperture range and displays very little barrel distortion. It is heavy at 1.9 pounds and fairly large for a prime lens at 4.8 by 3.1 inches (HD). ?It supports 72mm filters.

The lens can focus on objects as close to 11.8 inches. This lets you work pretty close to your subject. You can fill the frame with a smaller object, or if you shoot at a wider aperture like f/1.4 you can seriously blur the background behind your subject. There are nine aperture blades, which create smooth out of focus highlights when the lens is stopped down just a little bit.

I used Imatest to measure the lens's sharpness when paired with the Nikon D600. Its resolution is impressive, even at f/1.4, where it exceeds the 1,800 lines per picture height?scoring 2,243 lines. Stopping the lens down improves the resolution?by f/2.8 it hits 2,700 lines, it nears the 3,000-line mark at f/5.6 and exceeds it at f/8. The lens does exhibit 1.4 percent barrel distortion, which gives a slight curve to straight lines. This amount of distortion is fairly easy to correct in Photoshop or Lightroom.

If you're willing?or prefer to?focus manually, the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 will reward you with some compelling images. It's extremely sharp, even at its widest aperture. Opening it up all the way makes it possible to shoot in very low light, and to separate your subject from the background. The lens isn't inexpensive, but if you've got the money, you won't be disappointed with its image quality.

More Digital Camera Reviews:
??? Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/50
??? Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35
??? Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15
??? Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25
??? Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28mm f/1.8G
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By Jim Fisher Analyst, Digital Cameras

Jim Fisher is the digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team. He is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really...

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