Every camera manufacturer has a few lenses in their line up that have that little extra to set them apart from the competition, often reason enough for a photographer to switch or add that particular outfit to his tool collection. Of course this is very subjective and largely depends on the type of photography one specializes in. The sports and wildlife photographer will choose a brand known for their high speed tele lenses, whereas the portrait/wedding/fashion photographer will go with a brand famous for their large aperture lenses. The Zeiss Distagon 24mm f2 SSM is one of those lenses. It stands out in the Sony line up and has a slight edge over its main competitors. more after the break
A full stop slower then the direct competition from Canon and Nikon, this lens outsmarts them both with a simpler design yielding better image quality right from the start @f2 and as a bonus, it is also a bit cheaper!
This is a full format lens, usable on both, FF and APSC sized sensors. I used this lens on the A77 resulting in a field of view equivalent to 36mm (24mm*1.5 crop factor), the classical focal length for street photography. This lens is a joy to use on the A77, very well balanced and the build quality is outstanding, full metal body and such a well dampened focusing ring that it rivals the best MF lenses out there! AF is lightening fast, absolutely silent and very precise. There is no need to stop this lens down, already very sharp at f2 I found myself shooting in the range btw f2 to f6.3. This lens is pure awesomeness!
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Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm f/2 ZA SSM and the Sony SLT A77
- Standing in line for sugar & rice: you can see it in their eyes: shot with the Sony SLT A77
- Sony Nex E-mount Tamron 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS Di III VC AF comparison to Sony 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens
Thank you for the clear expose of Zeiss Distagon 24mm f2 SSM.
This is one great camera. I’ll buy it soon as it posible
Thanks Armanius, I am getting one this week to test!
Mike, first of all, great site! Love your photos! Have you used the Zeiss 24/1.8 on the E-mount yet? If yes, how does it compare to the A-mount 24/2? I owned an A55 for a couple of weeks early last year for the sole purpose of Zeiss 24/2. But I could never find a 24/2 at that time, and ended up selling the A55. Considering getting a NEX now, which now also has its own version of the 24. I suppose I could have the best of both of worlds by getting the NEX and getting the LA2 adapter. But I suppose that if the 24/2 is really better than the 24/1.8, I might as well use it on a SLR/SLT instead of a NEX, and have a better balanced kit. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Interesting practice! I’ll maybe try to put it to practice the next time I go out. Keep on inspiring Mike!
Thanks Francisco! it is a street photography thing, I believe RCB started it in his early days shooting with the silver Leica, covering it up with black tape and wrapping it in scarfs….
you might have also noticed the latest Leica M9-P has no logos/type or even the red dot on the front side, same for the new Fuji x pro 1, no type, numbers and logo on the front side
Hey Kobal, your shots & the lens looks amazing and I can see from your images that this is worth every penny. I have a non-lens related question though. Why did you put that black tape on several parts of your A77 (like the logo area for example?
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