# is zeiss ZE Lenses worth to buy for 5d Mark 3 ???



## khansvision (Apr 25, 2013)

hi friends,
planning to purchase Zeiss ZE Lenses 18mm T 3.5, 35MM T2, 50mm T 1.4, 85mm T 1.4 ranges to fulfill my primes for 5D Mark 3 i have following lenses 
14mm(f2.8), 50mm(f1.8),24-105(f4L),70-200(f2.8L), 
vintage lenses :
Promura MC 135mm f/2.8, Bell & Howell macro zoom lens 70-150mm 1:3.8 (using with adopter)

looking for your valuable suggestions.

ms khan


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## Menace (Apr 25, 2013)

If you have used these Zeiss lenses before and are familiar with them than b all means go for it and enjoy


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## yogi (Apr 27, 2013)

I assume you are aware that Zeiss Lenses for Canon are manual focus lenses. Not generally good for action photography stills, though i am sure there are experienced photographers good at manual photography. Also good for videography. As you can see from my gear list, i dont own a 5dmklll, but the 5dmkll. But i do own several Zeiss lenses and like the Zeiss "look". I suggest you look at previous posts conerning Zeiss lenses on Cr , most @ Third Party Manufacturers. There are a few Zeiss websites you might want to visit, some of which i listed on the Thoughts on the canon 5 lenskit post. I dont think you can swap out the focus screen on the 5dlll to one that is better for manual focusing, though i could be wrong about this. Anyway, some things to think about before you spend a lot of money. Hope you make a wise decision.


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## hamada (Apr 28, 2013)

khansvision said:


> hi friends,
> planning to purchase Zeiss ZE Lenses 18mm T 3.5, 35MM T2, 50mm T 1.4, 85mm T 1.4 ranges to fulfill my primes for 5D Mark 3 i have following lenses
> 14mm(f2.8), 50mm(f1.8),24-105(f4L),70-200(f2.8L),
> vintage lenses :
> ...



how should we know?

if you are a person that shoots sport or hate to manual focus... i guess it´s not worth it.


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## RGomezPhotos (Apr 28, 2013)

So what is your question? Why don't you rent them and find out if you like them?


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## noisejammer (May 2, 2013)

I suggest that before you spend a penny, you take out a subscription at www.zeissguide.com and study it. Each of the lenses in the ZE / ZF range are reviewed in detail.

I use several of the ZE lenses. The best are 15/2.8, 21/2.8, 25/2, 35/1.4, 50/2 MP, 100/2 MP and 135/2. I own 5 of these and the 28/2.

The 18/3.5 has severe vignetting when it is wide open. It is already optically slow, so manual focus can be difficult. The 50/1.4 exhibits quite a lot of focus shift as you stop it down which makes it fine for wide open portraits but something of a problem child for more general photography. The 85/1.4 has similar behaviour.

If I was buying my first ZE lens, I would probably recommend the 35/2. It is (with the exception of the 135/2) bar far the easiest to focus.

I find that the only way to achieve critical focus with these lenses is using live view and a permanently mounted Zacuto 3x Z-Finder Pro loupe. This is particularly true for the 35/1.4.


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## woodywup (May 2, 2013)

if you use vintage lenses, why not use Contax Zeiss C/Y lens?
this is same Zeiss lens as ZE lens, and in some point may better. but price may only half or less.
attached on the adapter with Auto focus confirm chip it works fine.


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## yogi (May 2, 2013)

Noisejammer, I believe the op might not be returning, or they are waiting for more responses. You might could help me though. How do you like the Zacuto 3x Z-Finder Pro loupe? I have the egs for my 5dmkll, but have not installed it yet. Currently use live view & zoom in when needed. Would be nice to have something better. I like your acronym FART ;D


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## noisejammer (May 2, 2013)

yogi said:


> ....How do you like the Zacuto 3x Z-Finder Pro loupe? I have the egs for my 5dmkll, but have not installed it yet. Currently use live view & zoom in when needed. Would be nice to have something better.


Yogi, to be honest, I think the Zacuto Z-finder and magnified live view is probably the _only_ way to obtain a reliable critical focus with _any_ DSLR. Of course, some cameras have better autofocus capabilities than others but I think I have tried all the alternatives, on pretty much all my cameras.

So - to enumerate - Eg-S is ok, a Brightscreen with prism is considerably better, a modest loupe like the Hoodman is better still and the Zacuto is where I stopped looking for improvement. If you install the Z-FRM to the screen, it clips on and off seamlessly.

I have read that it is slightly less effective on the 5D3 and D800. I haven't tried on either but it can't be worse than guessing through the vf.


> I like your acronym FART ;D


For those who don't know the acronym - it's 

FIND - something that catches your eye
ANALYSE - what is was that got your attention
REFINE - figure out how to exclude clutter from the image.
TRIP - push the button and make a clunk sound.

I can't claim originality though - I shamelessly stole the idea from Ken Rockwell's site. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fart.htm


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## yogi (May 2, 2013)

Thanks noisejammer. I will have to check it out. First time i have heard of it. I find physics fascinating. If i were younger and starting over I might consider it as a career choice. Finding answers to the mysteries of the universe is a fun challenge. Is it all mindstuff? :-\


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## khansvision (May 3, 2013)

Thank you very much for suggestions finally i got Zeiss ZE set 21mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm for 5d mark 3 and i am enjoying the zeiss quality.

regards

ms khan


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## Alrik89 (May 3, 2013)

Thanks for wasting my time reading this nonsense.


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## Sporgon (May 3, 2013)

I maybe shouldn't mention it, but if the translucent LCD screen of the MK3 is anything like the Nikon version it may not take well to manual only focus. One of the (many) reasons I changed from Nikon was that I couldn't get on with manual focus on their screen system - the one where if you take the battery out of the camera the screen goes dark as the LCD is not 'stimulated'. Not sure if the screen system used on the 7D and mk3 is the same as this. 

Maybe Canon felt that by putting the top end AF system in the mk3 there was no call for manual focus among the targeted customers for this camera.

So if my observations are right and you're not intending to use live view focus you're probably better off with a 6D if you really want to use manual focus only lenses.

Or a 5D classic if you're on a budget - which I don't think the OP is


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## noisejammer (May 3, 2013)

Sporgon said:


> I maybe shouldn't mention it, but if the translucent LCD screen of the MK3 is anything like the Nikon version it may not take well to manual only focus.


After-market focus screens are available for the 5D3 however Canon did not design the camera with this in mind and they are a little fiddly to install.

A couple of years ago, I swopped the screen of my 7D with one from Katzeye - the procedure is similar. It made a considerable improvement to using manual focus (but at the expense of inaccurate light metering.)


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## yogi (May 4, 2013)

Not as sorry as i am reading your post : What is the point? Maybe it is nonsense to you because you dont understand what it means  And if it is such nonsense to you, why did you get this far into it before you decided it was nonsense? What an Ahole.


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## yogi (May 4, 2013)

Alrik89 said:


> Thanks for wasting my time reading this nonsense.


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