DPR Forum

Welcome to the Friendly Aisles!
DPRF is a photography forum with people from all over the world freely sharing their knowledge and love of photography. Everybody is welcome, from beginners to the experienced professional. Whether it is Medium Format, fullframe, APS-C, MFT or smaller formats. Digital or film. DPRF is a forum for everybody and for every format.
Enjoy this modern, easy to use software. Look also at our Reviews & Gallery!

Zeiss 25mm f2.8 Distagon discontinued

CZ Distagon 25mm f2.8 and vignetting

Could I ask those of you who have any experience with this lens how you've managed to bypass the problem of vignetting?

With a standard Hoya filter, at open and mid-apertures, I've noticed a light-fall out which is more appreciable at the fastest aperture. I've abandoned using a 67mm Cokin system which gets included in the photograph and tried the 82mm step up. The vignetting is still there.

At open aperture, I've not been able to work the lens to produce pristine eagle-eyed images either. This doesn't seem to creep in until f5.6 - f8, noticeable on projection. I've been wondering why I bother with a lens which has three usable apertures, and has a tremendous light-trade-off at the corners.


Joe Tweed
 
Hi Joe,

I used to use this lens a lot for landscapes, and must confess I don't recall vignetting/light fall-off problems. But to be honest, I also don't recall being terribly vigilant either, just never noticed it (except when stacking filters). I frequently used a polarizing filter and rubber lens shade combination, both 55mm, with success. However, I seldom shot wide open, usually going for max DOF.

I understand that in general, the Distagons have pretty good light fall-off characteristics, less prone than, say, the Biogons.

--Rick
 
> Hi, I use the distagon very often and do not have the problem you mention. I use a 67mm-Polarizer with an 55to67-adapter and the vignetting is no more than without the filter. Also without the filter vignetting is not a great problem. I often use the lens at f4 and never worried about vignetting.

that won't help you very much ? matthias
 
>Z Distagon 25mm f2.8 and vignetting

>Could I ask those of you who have any experience with this lens how >you've managed to bypass the problem of vignetting?

>With a standard Hoya filter, at open and mid-apertures, I've noticed a >light-fall out which is more appreciable at the fastest aperture. I've >abandoned using a 67mm Cokin system which gets included in the >photograph and tried the 82mm step up. The vignetting is still there.

I have not yet tried this lens, I just bought one. However I have been using a CZJ 28mm lens for some time and I use the Lee filter system with a wide angle adapter. The wide angle adapter attatches the filter holder very close to the front of the lens, the Lee Filters are also much wider than the Cokin Filters so vignetting should not be a problem. If we dont have more filthy grey weather this weekend I'll try out the Lee Filters on the D25/2.8.

>At open aperture, I've not been able to work the lens to produce >pristine eagle-eyed images either. This doesn't seem to creep in until >f5.6 - f8, noticeable on projection. I've been wondering why I bother >with a lens which has three usable apertures, and has a tremendous >light-trade-off at the corners.

This sounds quite bad! I wonder if the Yashica ML 24/2.8 is any better, they seem to fetch very high prices on ebay. I have heard that the D25/2.8 is a bit soft wide open, but I figured as long as I can get sharp results in the F5.6 - F16 range then it will do until I can get my mitts on a D21/2.8!! Light fall off in the corners though will upset me if this occurs at the middle to small apertures!

Anyway, I will let you know of my experiences with this lens once I get some slides back.

Cheers,

Art.
 
I inhereted this lens from my father 13 years ago. He had it at least since the late 70'<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">•<font color="ff0000">• a very fine lens. I have experienced vignetting only once when I put a lens hood made for my 50mm on it. other than that one occasion I have never had a vignetting problem --and I use filters with this and all my lenses. I never heard my father complain about this problem either. He, like me, loved this lens. It is tack sharp & gives great color rendition. So in short I have never had a problem with this lens.
 
Thanks for commenting on the lens.

I was impressed (on paper) by the luminance characteristics, however my MTF skills may make me think twice about buying a lens on that criterion alone, or on the basis of the focal length.

The kind of vignetting which i experience is a little like a Black & White photographer, trying to do a partial burning-in of a bland sky, and achieving a subtle vignette. The fall-out looks dreadful in contrasty situations. It was at its worse using a square Cokin A with a black inset to hold the coloured resin. This fall-out is apparent in most of my 25mm slides projected on the wall. I thought it might be the projector, but I don't have a lupe to know the difference.

Mathias, I guess you're using a circular polariser, whereas my Cokin square holder gets in the corners, especially the third filter slot. It's really annoying because I have a wonderful yellow-blue polariser which only comes in square format; my circular polariser is just a plain ol' polariser.
 
Yes, you are right; my polarizer is a circular one. But I also sometimes use Cokin P (!!) filters, where I don´t see any unexpected vignetting. Cokin A seems to be too small; I bought the Cokin P instead of the Cokin A because I was afraid of vignetting with the 25mm !
 
Interesting posts here that actually fit to what my experiences with the 25/2,8 are. I found one in very good condition for a reasonable price but I was dissapointed to have vignetting wide open. I sold the lens some months later again and got back what I invested. Dont know why the reputation of the lens is good. IMO there are some bad and some good pieces out there as some of you are satisfied with this lens.
 
S=F8ren

You wrote: "Dont know why the reputation of the [C/Y Distagon 25mm/2.8] len= s is good. IMO there are some bad and some good pieces out there as some of= you are satisfied with this lens."

Maybe the Contax lenses, being the result of modern German and/or Japanese = production technology, are somewhat consistent and uniform in all aspects, = wheras the photographers that use them might have differing views and opini= ons about what they see through the lenses. And how they use them.
 
Back
Top