Are there any Zeiss ZF vs. Canon FD side by side comparisons?

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Drcoffee

Well-known member
Can someone point me to a zeiss zf vs. fd comparison. Sharpness, colour rendition, contrast etc. I've had a look but can't find one, Cheers.
 
As far as I know there isn't one, although I was thinking of organizing one since I have a decent collection of FD lenses. Any local DVXuser with ZF glass wants to give it a shot?
 
I think it would be a good comparison, I'm possibly looking to upgrade from Canon fd's. I've been doing some tests with my FD's, sigmas, lumix zoom. and the sharpness, contrast and colour is quite different throughout.
 
Ryan and djkarn105, I don't have access to a RED, I was thinking just putting them on a camera + 35 adapter (I suggest Letus EX), then shoot a res chart and some side by side real world example. Let me know if you want to do it differently.

Practically speaking I would like to compare the ZF 85mm f1.4 vs. the Canon 85mm f1.2L, the ZF 50mm f1.4 versus the 50mm f1.4 nFD since these two Canon lenses are renowned for their high quality so it'll be a more even match. It would be ideal if I can get a FD 50mm f1.2L to test again the Zeiss 50mm, but I don't have this lens. Canon also has a 35mm f2 which we can put up against the Zeiss 35mm f2, but the Canon is a fairly unremarkable lense in most regard.

I would like to organize the test locally. djkarn105 I'll shoot you a PM later to work out the logistics. You think you can make it up here Ryan?
 
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In my experience the zf 35mm and 85mm are my favorites. Super crisp and clean. The 50mm isn't all that special (compared to nice regular nikon 50mm) in my opinion. The 25mm is also great because of it's lack of distortion.

I like the idea of testing it on the exact same camera, but shudder when thinking about evaluating a lens with an adapter. Yes, you could draw comparisons, but you are limiting the lens with the ground glass. It's like comparing two medium sports cars but not allowing them to go over 60mph. It can be done, but I'd like to see maximum sharpness from both and compare that way.

It's just me being picky.

Wanna come to LA? :P
 
Ryan, I do agree about the limitation on the adapter. I suspect however that the majority of users (discounting the RED crowd) will be looking to use these lenses on adapters anyway and it would be good to impose that restriction and see how these two brands perform. After all it might not be worth it for you to pay $1000 for a lens when that extra edge isn't going to shown through.

The ideal way to do this would be to put the lenses on a DSLR like a 5d and do comparison that way, unfortunately FD lenses are designed in such a way that you can't mount them on the new EF mount. We can try it on a GH1 but I don't think the video mode on that camera is quite good enough for critical comparison.
 
ive got both. I will see if i can get a comparison up soon...

but it will have to be from an SGpro.
 
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