Zeiss or Nikkor Primes?

Like to hear opinions on this myself Nikon Vs Zeiss mainly the 85mm for me

glenerrolrd said:

I am set with my D3 and 4 Nikkor zooms but I am considering what direction to go with fast primes. No hurry just something to think about. ISO 25K and f1.4 could do some amazing things with dawn and dusk images. So its it Zeiss and manual focus or the Nikkor 1.4 primes. I am thinking 28,50,85.. Looking for POV s . I could ,of course, just wait for the R10 but..then I wouldn t have anything aquire?

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I am a prime guy, and besides the 14-24 (that just replaced the 17-35) and the 70-200 (very useful for VR for low light concert stuff, especially with my D2X & D2xs, now with the D3 I am not sure I really would need it) I am using primes only: I have the 35 f2, 50 f1.4, 85 f1.4, 105 f2, 180 f2.8 and they are all very good to really great performers; I'd say, the 50 f1.4 is probably a small step below the rest, the others are all great. I never tried the Zeiss, and were (as Guy) interested in the 85mm f1.4, but nothing I have seen on the net made me feel the urge to switch... as far as the 28 f1.4, all I can say is I wish I could find one!

On the 28 1.4 ..me too..one of my good friends has had one since they were introduced and he rubs it in about the low light capabilities.They are about $3500 on eBay if you can find one. if the lenses follow their pedigree the Zeiss will have better color and higher contrast. (which you may or may not want). Either will be sharper than I deserve or need . The other big difference is the manual verse autofocus. I am struggling a bit with the D3 auto focus alternatives for sports so I naturally favor the Zeiss glass. But I suspect that it would be a close call if I used them both. I think I understood that Sean Reid will be doing this test in the near future.

The Zeiss 50/1.4 is marginally better than the Nikon 50/1.4. I do prefer the Zeiss, but if you really want autofocus in a 50 the Nikon is not a bad lens.

In the 28 range, go for the old manual focus Nikon if you can find it and don't mind the high cost.

If you have any interest in a 35mm, that is one of the stars in the Zeiss line-up.

In the 85mm focal length, I had the Zeiss which was a great lens but not easy to focus using the Nikon screens. It was even challenging on my old D200 with the Brightscreen focussing screen. The focus confirmation light accuracy on both the D300 & D3 is much improved over the D200, but still not enough so that I did not have a lot of misses when using the 85 Zeiss at 1.4 or 2.0. The Nikon 85/1.4 is such a superb lens, I think it should be the choice.

Just my $.02.

If a 2.8 max aperture is acceptable to you along with a larger lens, the new 24-70/2.8 Nikon zoom is really a remarkable piece of glass. I sold my Nikon 28/1.4 & Zeiss 35/2.0 due to just how good the new zoom was and its convenience. I did keep the Zeiss 50/1.4 and Zeiss 50/2.0 Macro for primes as I really enjoy the 50mm focal length. The other part of the deciding factor was that if I am going to use primes, I have the M8 and Leica glass - so why double up on that capability with the D3. The D3 is for use with zooms, macro, and telephoto.

The Zeiss 50/2.0 Macro is incredible for macro work (especially with the new live view on the D3) and really blows away the old Nikon 60/2.8 Macro. I do not have any experience with the new Nikon 60 Macro.

Another lens that you really need to consider is the 105/2.8 VR Macro. This is another stunning lens in general portrait work and macro. (surprising that is is so good in the normal range - outside of macro work)

After shooting nikon for so many years before I bought into Leica, the one thing that continues to strike me is the Leica low levels of distortion. It is a pleasure to work with straight lines again.
I value this better than absolute sharpness, better than contrast, better than low vignetting, that is unless you are shooting exclusively curvy subjects, in which case it hardly matters.
Go Zeiss avoid the zooms.
-bob

The zoom for me would be event work which it will not matter to much. The M8 will come to play when i need straight lines , no question there.

Guy Mancuso said:

Like to hear opinions on this myself Nikon Vs Zeiss mainly the 85mm for me

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Hi Guy!
I'm a new member here.
I own all ZF lens for Nikon, except the ZF 50/1.4 (because the ZF 50/2 macro is a much better lens compare to ZF 50/1.4)
I use ZF 85/1.4 a lot for outdoor pictorial.
You can see a lot of samples at my website

http://digitalxd1.multiply.com

Best Regard

Andree

Andree welcome to the forum. Nice to see more Nikon shooters coming aboard. I will check out those images. One reason i did decide to go Nikon was some of those Zeiss lenses.

It does have a nice look to them. Reminds me of my 75 lux look. Very nice work BTW.

Nikon is really behind with AF-S versions in the wide, normal and tele prime departments, as if they at some point decided to make zooms only. Personally I suspect they are forced to change their minds in this regard.
You have to go to the superteles (200+ mm) or the Micros (60 & 105mm) to find an AF-S prime whatsoever.
I have a feeling that we will soon (within a year ?) see new AF-S versions of e.g. 85, 50 and 28mm.
At least that is the development I would like to see.
As for the ZFs I think Ray is right, the 85mm is too difficult to manual focus wide open with the D300 viewfinder with the born matte screen which unfortunately is only interchangeable by surgery.
I also agree with Vieri that we haven't seen all that many convincing ZF 85mm captures on the net so far.
OTOH I think this wide open 85mm on a D3 makes the girl look sweet
http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=154014&highlight=ZF
http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=154856&highlight=ZF
http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=156016&highlight=ZF
Is it the D3 that makes the 85mm sing ? Nahh, probably the photographer.
If I was starting from scratch with the ZFs I would look into the 2/35mm, 2/50mm Macro, and the 2/100mm Macro. I haven't really seen so much yet about the new 2/28mm, it will be interesting to see some more about that one too.

Hi Adree, I just realized that it is actually you who has taken those great ZF 85mm pictures I mentioned in my former post. Really nice work, and good to see you here.
/Steen

Guy, take a close look at the Zeiss 100/2 Macro. Pricey, but in a class of it's own even compared to the other Zeiss ZFs.

Hi Bondo, yes it's me
3 months ago I promised to my self that i will not use any manual lens!
because i hate using manual focus. However, once I tried ZF 85/1.4 i was shocked with the result... It's really 3D
Then about 1,5 months ago, I start collection all ZF lenses for Nikon >,<
Now all my AF-S nikon lenses are sitting nicely on my dry box, including the new 14-24 F2.8 and 24-70 F2.8.
I just don't have the appetite to use Nikon lens for now ^.^
I'm still waiting for my ZF 100/2

Guy: I have a question about Leica M8, is it a good camera? what do you think about the result from Leica M8 compare to Nikon D3
Which one is better?
I'm really thinking to buy Leica M8. However, I need to know whether D3 or M8 result is better...
D3's result both JPG or RAW really impress me a lot

Thx You
Andree

Indeed I forgot to mention the wonderful 105 f2.8 macro VR - a great lens and not only for macro. A couple samples with the D2x:

Wow! Nice pictures Vieri ^^
Here is another one from Nikon D3 + ZF 85/1.4 @F1.4 Wide Open


Andree
I Love the Bokeh and the "3D looks" from this lens

Yes certainly a nice look from the Zeiss 85mm.

The D3 Vs M8 well that is a great question , no doubt. No one i know has ran a formal test against each other. Of course these are two completely different beasts. I can only speak of the M8 since i have yet to shoot the D3 which seems like a great camera from what I have seen. The M8 is great but it has it's shortcomings. File wise hard to touch in many ways and reason I use it. The secret is the glass, leica just makes some amazing glass. What I do recommend very highly is go to a store and try it. RF shooting with inaccurate frame lines from a DSLR shooter may not be what you want to deal with. I think even most of the users with both will say the file is nicer on the M8 but the D3 is right there with it. Really a tough call , i would not replace the D3 but instead get a M8 for other things to shoot with. You really have to go out and try this thing and see if it really truly fits your style. i could go on for days about the M8 as well as many here. But come over to the M8 forum and ask some questions and such.

Whoa Andree - NICE !! And yes, I have noticed the 3-D look in others of your 85mm captures as well.
You really nail it, even at f/1.4 I use to trash nine out of ten when I try to focus my ZF 85 wide open.
And you have the whole bunch of ZF focal lengths. I wish you would at some point do a subjective "review" of your impressions with all these lenses, on the D3 and the D300 as well.
Really impressive. Thanks for sharing.
Btw, I have the M8 as well and I can tell you that it is much easier for my old eyes to manual focus with the rangefinder system than with the built in matte screen in my D300 viewfinder.
You seem to have a very sharp eye, is it easier to manual focus the ZF 85 on your D3 than on your D300 ?

Is Jim at Brightscreen making a better screen for the D300 does anyone know

If you can afford them, the Zeiss lenses are really lovely. If you're on a tighter budget, as I am, the AIS Nikkors may not produce images of quite the same subtle beauty, but they're damned good And, a LOT cheaper, especially used.

Gene

Guy,

I don't know about Brightscreen yet, but Katz Eye has theirs available for the D300.

Ray