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Zeiss 28-70mm f3.5-4.5

G

Guest

It seems there is very little said about this newer lens... Mostly talked about are the 35-70 (no longer available) and the 28-85 (too large and expensive).

The 28-70 is a very useful zoom range, a decent aperture, and is available at a very attractive price.

So what are the opinions of this lens? Does it live up to the Carl Zeiss quality reputation?
 
> > Depends on what you consider as Zeiss Quality. - It uses plastics, so it's wonderfully lightweight and pretty hit-resistent, but of course for some people plastics would be a minus. - It is a two-ring design instead of a Push-pull type. I personally like two-ring MUCH more. - It is reasonably sharp, and has the wonderfull colour-rendition and "Live" Picture effect which make Zeiss lenses such a pleasure to use - it has pretty (IMHO) extreme barrel distortion on the short end, which made me finally consider also buying a D25. And it's less sharp than his big brother - I really sometimes miss the additional 15mm on the long end compared to his big brother. - It's clearly a compromise of price vs. performance/weight/size. - I would always buy and use it again. It's simply an excellent very low-weight&cost travel-combination with a FX3-Super2000 which nobody would steal and which survives even roughest handling.

Mike
 
BTW, I´m willing to sell a VS 28-70 in excellent condition............

Dieter
 
The 28-70 gets a very low rating (2.8) on Photodo.com, for what it is worth.
 
I have the 28-70 CZ Zoom and I love it! I also own the 35-135 CZVS and four Zeiss Primes. Certainly the 35-135 is a better lens, but the 35-135 is better than most lenses. The 28-70 is great for events such as protest marches and parades. I especially like this lens for its light weight, which when it gets very humid in NYC is a boone. I think the lens is quite sharp and I was surprised at how much I use the 28 in order to take in more. I have experienced no ditortion with this lens. I am, despite photodo, very happy with this lens.
 
Does anyone else have any more comments about this lens? The versatilty of it is so appealling that I am prepared to fork out some money for one, but is it worth the while and should I even be concerned, considering that I have been spoilt by some the best C/Y primes, the G lenses and even the T3?
 
This lens has the lowest rating of any 35mm Contax lens on the www.photodo.com list. The score is 2.80, which puts it among the cheapest Canon and Nikon consumer lenses. Even Kyocera markets it as something for taking family snapshots. My lowly Yashica 35-70/3.5-4.5 has a better rating than the Contax (3.20), and I got it attached to a like-new Yashica body on ebay for about $200. I think it is intended purely as a snapshooter.
 
I have this strange feeling that the bad publicity that this lens gets comes primarily from photodo. There is actually another site that suggests the MTFs to be much better that what photodo claims www.geocities.com/ilprode/VarioS_28-70f35_45.htm, which partially explains my renewed interest in this lens, and the possibility that photodo has given this lens a score that is far worse that what it deserves.
 
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