Zeiss 35, Meet Zeiss 85

If you like smooth, sexy, creamy, rich bokeh (and hell, who doesn’t) then you really need to look into some good glass.

Bokeh, from the Japanese – which means “blur” or “haze”

A great camera helps, but is not necessary.  Wether your shooting from a Sony α A900, a Canon 1Ds Mark III, a Nikon D3x (or D700s/ D700x – should bring some hits to the site) or even a Nikon n60, there is a Zeiss lens for you.  Yeah, I know the story.  It’s not the gear, it’s the photographer.

Bull hockey.

There are just some things the best photographer in the world can’t do without the right gear.  And a creamy depth of field is one of them.  Sure, you can shoot a shallow depth with a crappy camera and ok lens, but you can not get milky smooth bokeh with it.  Not without photoshop, ya liar.

You don’t need to spend a fortune either – but with Zeiss glass, you really do get what you pay for.  Yes, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 has about the best bang for the buck out there, but the bokeh is really lacking.  It isn’t bad, mind you.  But it isn’t as sexy as Kate Beckinsale in tight leather.  (See, Zeiss is just that).

Damn, I sound like a product ad.  I wanted to talk about bokeh, but I got all derailed when I mentioned Kate.  I need to get back to this later!

Top of the World

I knew I was not in the most categorical perfect shape.  Hell, even Buddha looks quite the athletic champion compared to me.  But I didn’t realize how horrible of a shape I was in until last Friday.  That’s when I hiked to the top of Mt Washington with my son, Nikon D700 and my Carl Zeiss 35mm.  The view was spectacular, the air was fresh, and the hike was quite daunting and vigorous; to say the least.

I wish I purchased a backpack for my camera.

Trail to the Summit

Having the camera swing around my neck while navigating the steep inclines on the headwall put a serious amount of strain on my back, shoulders and neck.  Note for next time, pack the damn camera in a bag!

But it was so well worth the pain and torture to be out in the beauty with my boy, sharing time together and bonding on the side of a mountain, albeit on the edge of insanity.  We took our time getting up there to breathe in nature and photograph her beauty.  About 6 hours to reach the summit from the base in Pinkham Notch.  It was really breathtaking.

Post Trip – Get My Ass in Shape

Even though this was my 15 ascent of the mountain, I realized that I was not in the same shape I was in my 20′s and early 30′s.  I was winded, tired, exhausted and half thinking about Nick leaving me on the mountain to let the eagles eat me for dinner.  Yeah, I was hurting.

I needed to do something about it.

So, I decided I am whipping my ass into shape so I can get to the top of Mt Washington with greater ease in the spring, hauling all my camera gear and having the motivation to take a lot more shots.  How am I going to do this?  With that annoying Tony the Trainer – or is that terror – on the P90X videos.  I bought the video system and started the diet.  I plan to drop from my hefty 215 lbs to a more healthy 165 lbs before winter.  You can follow my progress on a different blog, as this should be all about photos.

Back to the 85mm

As an aside, I plan to get back on my Zeiss 85mm this week.  I have only done a few shots with it and need to give it a fair evaluation.  It’s a tough lens to shoot with and I want it to become my bitch.  But, like the workout and diet, it won’t come without effort.  You should see some more shots coming soon.

Zeiss @ 35mm

I’ve been shooting sunsets and landscapes for the last couple years and it’s really a comfort zone.  It was a pretty easy mode to wander down to the lake and point it at the warm golden skies and get a perfect sunset.  But one of my good friends, Mikeal, told me, Ray, sunsets are a dime a dozen.  Use your eye and shoot something unique. I am paraphrasing, but you get the point.  I looked at my stream and it did seem to be one sunset shot after another, broken up by still water lake shots.  I was in a rut.

Sunflower - Never Surrender

So, since he said that, I have been looking for a new angle; new things to shoot that are not overdone or cliche.  Through a series of inspirations from various shooters on the web, I’ve began to look at the world right in front of me, rather than the vast expanding landscapes that can be found on every photostream on the net.

And that world was found in the ordinary.  Things I walked past everyday.  A rock on the ground.  A root sticking up from the dirt.  A drooping sunflower.  By using depth of field and focus to draw your attention to the story this tiny world suddenly became quite vast.  And I knew this new style would take quite a bit of work to make it emerge.

To change my style, one of the first things I wanted to change was the way I shoot.  I bought myself a Carl Zeiss 35mm lens and went to full manual.  Manual focus, manual settings.  With that, landscapes became boring and I started to look at unique ways to focus in on objects, such as the off-center sunflower shot.

Depth of Field

And I fell in love with Zeiss.

This was no fling, this was true love too.  Everything about my shooting was changing – and it wasn’t just because of the D700.  It was that this lens was like nothing I have ever held before.

After about a month, I sold all my gear and picked up the Zeiss 18mm and began to open up the world around me.  Now, I am picking up the Zeiss 85mm today, and will open up that world even more.  Sure, I’ve laid down over $3,000 in lenses in the past 2 months, but it is helping me to expand my passion.  So glad I never waited for the fabled D700s or D700x!

No, better lenses do not make you a better photographer, but they make enjoying the road to better photography so much better.

Carl Zeiss 35mm Goodness

Hopefully you are not tired about me carrying on about Zeiss lenses like a school girl in love with a doe-eyed rock star.  But this lens is like a rock star.  It’s a professional, it’s sexy, and my Zeiss 35mm is on tour in my neighborhood with it’s warm-up lens, the Zeiss 18mm.

It’s also making me a better photographer.  Not because of the clarity and amazing smooth bokeh of the lens, but because it forced me to turn off that crippling auto focus and put the control in my hands. And not only for focus, but it encouraged me to turn everything to manual and I am finding out that I can really master the light now – not let the light master me.

The shot above was taken with the sun at its apex and not a cloud obscuring the light.  But through the use of manual control, I was able to get great dark tones without the aid of filters or Photoshop.

Manual is your friend.

I plan to do a little traveling to the mid-west and give it a workout – really need a change of scenery from the lake here!  Look for more experiments with the Zeiss class to come!

The Carl Zeiss ZF.2 Family

My somewhat disturbing fondness for my latest piece of glass – the Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2 – was so strong, and frankly quite fervent, that I decided to throw caution into the wind, damn my low bank account and upgrade ALL my gear to Zeiss.  Today, having successfully sold my ultra-wide Sigma and my Nikon Fisheye lenses, I was able to purchase the drool-inspiring Carl Zeiss 18mm f/3.5.

21mm Versus 18mm

So, you ask, “Ray, why the 18mm f/3.5 instead of the 21mm f/2.8?”  Good question.

The $300 difference in cost had nothing to do with it.  When you’re dropping $1500 on a lens, the price isn’t a factor anymore.  It’s about my style.  If you look at my stream from the days I was shooting on my D80 – it was 90% shot with my Sigma 10-20mm glass.  I love the incredibly obnoxious wide shots of landscapes.  And though the difference from 18 to 21 mm isn’t mind shatteringly huge, it’s enough.  I like to go as extreme as I can and since Mr. Zeiss isn’t offering up that sexy 16-35mm lens for Nikon yet, 18 is as wide as it gets for me.

Can I deal with f/3.5?

As for F-stop, the 3.5 and 2.8 are irrelevant for my shooting.  I do long exposure in low light for most of my nature shots.  Being on a tripod is my key.  I tend to keep the shutter open from a second to 30 minutes.  Though I do love lenses that hover below f/2.8 – in landscape photography, they are not a must.

So, What’s Next?

Well, I’ll be in poverty for quite some time now.  But that’s OK – it’s very much worth it.  I will now begin saving for the CZ 50mm ZF.2 Makro and the CZ 100mm ZF.2 Makro.  It’ll be at least a year before I can afford to do that.  I do have 2 more pieces of glass to sell off, but that’ll get me only $500 or so.

Perhaps the kind folks at CZ would like to donate one for me to promote?

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

And I just can’t sleep.  I am head over heels in love with my Zeiss.  Been shooting a variety of things to get used to it and it is just amazing.  The performance on my D700 has been flawless and I am now saving to revise my entire line of lenses.  I plan to get the Zeiss 18, (have the 35), 50, 85 and 100 and do away with everything else I have.  All that will be left to buy is the ever so elusive D700x or D700s, then my dreams will be complete!

But I digress.

So, for some samples of my Zeiss shots to date, have a look at what I have been posting on my Flickr stream.  Trying to capture color, depth and detail with the different exposures here. There is much more to come, but this is a teaser sample:

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

And one last one in HDR:

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1.4

My newest debate is what will be the perfect portrait lens.  I loved the 50mm on the D80 – but it’s a much more wide lens on the D700.  So, I am digging for a great, sharp lens that will be the golden lens for me.  I’ve narrowed my hunt to the 85mm prime.  Now, for the maker…

Carl Zeiss

One of the ultimate names as far as lenses go.  My research is showing that this is an exceptional lens on the D700 (and I assume on the D3 / D3x / D700x / etc).  I’ve read on a dozen sites that the bokeh isn’t great on this one  - but have read on a dozen more sites that it has the best bokeh.  I’ve also read that this lens is exceptionally sharp, but wide-open tends to be a little soft.  Shooting portraits from a tri-pod, no brainer – bring it to f/2 and be crisp and sharp.

Why a tripod?  Because this baby is manual focus.  That’s not a big deal to me as I love using manual focus and really enjoy that challenge.  For some people, it’s a show-stopper.  Having to do something manually on their $3000?  How uncivilized! For me, it’s a nice retro throwback.

I have read some amazing things on this lens and very happy with what I have found.  But there is a lens that may be as good, and some claim better due to AF qualities.

Nikon 85mm f/1.4

Nikon

Here’s the dilemma.  Nikon makes a superb 85mm f/1.4 prime.  It has the added benefit of AF and is also built solid like a tank.  These lenses are within $100 of each other so it’s a matter of which ones shoots better.  People who have shot both say there is a much higher percentage of keepers from the Nikon – due to the AF.  But that’s no fault of the lens.

What I need to figure out is what lens is tack-sharp in the greatest range of shots (indoor / outdoor / street / portrait)?  I’ve found a few sites that rent them both, so that may be my next step.

If you have feedback on either of these, please share!