Contax Distagon T* 28mm f2.8

I have owned this lens for about a year and am using it on my Canon 1DsMk1 with a cameraquest adapter. The lens is sharp from corner to corner and is my favorite wide angle prime lens. It's not as fast as its 'Hollywood' variation (also 28mm), but since I primarily use it for landscape, it does not bother me. The build quality of the lens is one of the best - I owned quite a few different lenses and Zeiss quality is top notch. The lens is quite small and light, probably hald the size of Canon's 20mm prime. Color reproduction is amazing - reds are red not smushy, pinkish magentas like with some other lenses. There are a couple of sites that have in-depth reviews that users might find useful: www.fredmiranda.com and www.slrlensreview.com

sharp, build quality, light, color reproduction

not as fast as some might desire

Prior to owning this lens, I have never liked wide angle lenses. Perhaps this is due to bad impressions from cheap consumer 28-300mm zoom lenses. In my (old) opinion, wide angle lenses make people's faces look funny, and they are not as fast as normal and short telephoto lenses. But the requirement of having to cramp more people into a group photo, and after having read the reviews here about this lens, I decided to give this Carl Zeiss Distagon 28/2.8 a try. The lens is solidly built. I put it on my Aria body and it is not much bigger than the 50/1.7 I have. Upon looking into the viewfinder, I am stunned. No distortion! People's faces don't look funny with a big nose at all! I shot a few rolls with this lens and anxiously wait for the prints to come back. The prints came back and I was stunned even more. It is every bit as sharp as my 50/1.7, color rendition is superb and it seems like you were just there, looking at the real thing. And no distortion! I am a new convert! I keep this lens on the camera all the time now! One bonus with the extra depth of field of the 28mm focal length is that when you set the aperture at f/8, keep the manual focus somewhere between 1m and 2m, and you can just shoot like a P&S camera without having to fine tune focus every time. Great for tracking 2 year old kids. Love this lens.

sharpness, color, build quality, and no distortion! And even it is affordable for Carl Zeiss lenses. One of the great bargains of the MM-line.

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Carl Zeiss T* MM 50/1.7 Carl Zeiss T* MM 85/1.4

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I've come late to the world of Contax. I always wanted one,, but could never afford it. At the moment, used Contax gear is the bargain of the century. Why? because you just can't get better SLR lenses. And this one is a peach. This is a six star lens.

Sharp, well-made, no distortion - just a beautiful lens. And CHEAP!

Are you joking?

Carl Zeiss Jena 28mm f2.8 (actually pretty good!) Canon EF 28mm f2.8 Pentax SMC-M 28mm f2.8

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This is an excellent lens for landscape, architectual and candid photography. It is very sharp with hardly noticetable vignetting at the edges. It has becomes my "standard lens"; almost permanently attached to my Aria and AX when I travel abroad. One has to be careful not to stack more than one filter at the same time, otherwise vignetting might occur. Also it is not a good idea to use the 55mm rubber hood with the UV filter (unless a step-up ring adapter is used with larger filters/hood or slim filters). The use of hood is essential as noticetable flare can be observed if it is pointed at strong backlight or the sun. Therefore I often only use the lens with the hood, without any UV filter.

Outstanding performance. Excellent value for money. Compact and light weight.

Zeiss 50/1.7, 85/1.4, 135/2.8, 180/2.8 and 500/8.

This is a great lens, and very reasonably priced considering it is a Zeiss wide-angle. Very nice out of focus rendition.

Sharp, great color saturation, nice out of focus rendition

some barrel distortion, slight vignetting when wide-open

Nikkor 24-50 AF

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