SAL135F18Z
4.8
5
18
19
De facto Standard?
Ok, just so you know I?m one picky bas?! Having sold my Leica gear including my Leica super-primes I know a thing or two about quality glass. When I decided to buy the A900 and this wonderful lens I knew I was buying the very best combo for portraits. I can say without any hesitation this is the pinnacle of the lot.
Some will list the size and weight as a ?con? but that?s like saying that gold is too heavy for the shelf in your safe. To be fast, it has to have a large enough surface area to gather light. To produce quality with precision it takes time and raw materials. Please, if you want to list a ?con? then try and come up with something more meaningful.
Personally, I don?t like the fit-up between the lens hood and the lens body. Love the metal hood but the connection is flaky (like all Zeiss lenses) as the hood falls off easily during typical street use.
In the end it?s an excellent choice for low-light venues or stunning portraits. It will increase in value if you ever decide to sell it.
September 2, 2012
Zeiss is the Best
Listen, what makes a lens great? Simple, optic quality that can produce fantastic photos. I'm so tired of people saying dumb things like" It's heavy", It's not a ssm lens", or "it uses 77mm filters".
It is heavy, it's one of the best designed and best built lens on the market. It produces some of the best bokeh you can imagine. Your main subject is sharp, even wide open.
So if you want a lens of legendary quality and preformace, this is it. If you want a lens that produces sharp images with perfect contrast and color. This is it.
Could SSM, weather sealing and even a tripod collar be nice. Sure it would, but all that stuff won't make it a betterr preforming lens, and that's what counts
I've owned the Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 "L" lens and the Nikon 135mm f/2 DC lens. This is better than both of those
January 25, 2009
Best Zeiss Lens
This is my favorite lens!!!! It's built like a tank. When you hold this lens in your hand, you can't help but to notice the weight of it. For a non SSM lens, it's autofocus is very fast on the A77. I've used this lens to do portrait shots, semi-macro shots, and landscapes. In each situation, it produces top quality results. The colors are simply beautiful, and the bokeh is very smooth. It is very rare that this lens is not in my bag. Once you pick it up, you will find it difficult to put down.
April 28, 2013
A great one!
I am using this lens on a55V. This lens generates incurably sharp images and very quiet and fast AF. However, it has a typical problem for a large diameter lens, CA. If it is OK condition, CA can be controlled but under high contrast very bright conditions, it is clearly visible on the images (please see my butterfly pic).
Other than this, it is a great lens. Even this is 135mm focal length, since minimum focus distance is 72cm, my other macro lenses has been replaced by this one. Manual focusing is very smooth but there is a bit of initial "play".
Again, this is a great lens if you can carry it.
July 3, 2012
