Olympus Zuiko 14-35 f/2.0 against Sony Carl Zeiss Zooms Line

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Member
Hello everyone. I am new to this site so i introduce myself.
My name is Victor Hugo and I'm from Portugal, I am a young graduate in film school and I have an immoderate passion for video/cinema.

In November I bought the Panasonic AF-101, and the Barry Green's book.
We are in February right now and i still have no lens. I´m saving money because i want to buy the best lens for this camera. My budget is 2500 €.
From what I read in many forums the obvious choice is the Olympus Zuiko 14-35 f/2.0, but in the future i would like to buy some Zeiss ZF.2 glass, and I am afraid that in terms of color they are very different to match.

My primary requirement is that the lens has to be very, very, very sharp, i don´t care much about the construction of the lens. I want to make documentaries, corporate videos, weddings, short films, music videos, etc.

The models of the Olympus Zuiko are very tempting: 7-14; 14-35 and 35-100. The problem is the 35-100, I'm not to do with it, is huge and it´s out of question, it seems the trunk of an elephant.

And behold, out of nowhere I saw the Sony Zeiss 16-35 f/2.8 and his twin brother 24-70 f/2.8, this is what i really needed, first of all it´s beautiful, and if as I think it may be a good match with the Zeiss ZF.2 for the future. I also see a Sony SAL-1680Z 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* DT Autofocus Lens, this lens have all the requirements but I'm afraid that is not very sharp, besides being very dark. If you tell me that the 16-80mm in terms of image quality was not inferior to any of the lenses mentioned this was permanently the chosen one, and always as left money for spend in two Zeiss ZF.2 glass.

After 1 year of research for the purchase of lenses my dream come true, everything seemed to be perfect until, I saw the bad reviews of these Zeiss/Sony zoom lenses.
The easiest way is to try the lenses, but in Portugal it is impossible, they don´t let you to experience lenses, regarding to audiovisual, Portugal is a third world country.

I look in your wisdom a way to find out what will make me happy.

For the first lens which do you advise to buy:

- Olympus Zuiko 14-35 f/2.0
- Sony Zeiss 16-35 f/2.8
- Sony Zeiss 24-70 f/2.8
- Sony SAL-1680Z 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* DT Autofocus

Thank you for your help, and thank you for being part of this huge community.

Graciously
Victor Hugo BECAUSE WE ARE ALL THE REAL HUMAN EYE
 

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While you're saving your money for some really great lenses you might consider dropping a few bucks on some old Nikon glass, that way you could screw on an adapter/put it on your camera and start shooting . . . learning a bit about the AF-101.
Some of those old pieces of glass will amaze you.
I shoot docs and make good use out the the Nikons (and Voigtlander).

Best.
 
You should check out the thread, 'Zeiss ZF Question' on this page. There's an interesting conversation there about the Nikon mount ZF line of Zeiss lenses. Haven't heard much talk here about the Sony line.

Regards,
Scott
 
I love Zeiss lenses, a lot. The Olympus 14-35/2.0 zoom is pretty incredibutt, though. The 35-100/2 as well.

BUT... they are heavy lenses, both of them, and large. Also, the focus throw is insanely long and insanely loud. So mechanically it's not my first choice, if the focus was at least fixed/adjusted then I would vote for the Oly Zs.

I've wanted to try the old Zeiss 16-35 and 24-70 for a while now, just didn't have the money.

One of my favorite pieces of glass was the 28-70/2.8~4.5 (I think that's what it was). Such a fun little zoom and it had an interesting look.
 
Is there an adapter to control the Zeiss' aperture?

While the 14-35/2 make a little click during zooming, I've never thought of it's focus ring as particularly noisy. Perhaps it's our different uses.

And while I wish it had more reach on the long end, if I were to have just one lens it would be the 14-35mm (though I am interested in Panasonic's concept version).
 
As a Zeiss fan, I made a trip to the Sony Store to check out the Alpha mount zooms, as I thought they'd be an ideal companion to the AF100 and to my CP's and ZF's.

Short answer: forget the 16-80. It's not in the same class, league, zip code, or hemisphere as a real professional lens, it's a clunky piece of consumer junk.

As for the 16-35 and 24-70: pretty nice. Sharp glass, real Zeiss quality images. Problem is the focus ring is a super-short-throw, and there's no iris ring. You can get around that by using an adapter that has its own iris lever, this is far from ideal but hey, it's the same thing people with Nikon G lenses have to do.

Chris Clifton bought one or two of these lenses to use with her AF100:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...24-70-for-Sony-Alpha-adapted-to-M43&highlight

I think the Olympus lenses are great optically, and very fast, and I've used them, and IMO they're not really a great match to the AF100, as Kholi said: too loud, too big, and too expensive.

The forthcoming Lumix X lenses are probably going to be "the" default lenses for the AF100, the Lumix X 12-35 f/2.8 and 35-100 f/2.8. But no idea on when those will be released or what they'll cost.
 
the Olympus 14-35mm is a wonderful lens. Fast and incredibly sharp (even at 2.0). I don't zoom for the work I do, basically use it as a variable prime. I recommend this lens.

Also consider:

Nikkor 28-70mm 2.8 with a Novoflex adapter -- love this lens too - fast and sharp (you can find this used $1,100.00);

Nikkor 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 with a Novoflex adapter -- I really wanted to hate this lens but it performs wonderfully -- sharp and covers a huge range. If I am outside and need to move fast, this lens (I hate to admit) is my default (you can buy one used for around $500).

Good luck!

Mark
 
I just bought the Olympus 14-35mm f/2, it's a wonderful lens but
too big for me... so I'm waiting to see the forthcoming Lumix X lenses 12-35 f/2.8 and 35-100 f/2.8.
I hope the quality will be similar
 
Thank you all for your willingness to answer me and enlighten me of so many issues.

Mr. Barry Green, I´am glad to know that you like the 16-35 and 24-70 from Zeiss/Sony, opinions coming from someone respected as you is a blessing.
Do you put this two lenses at the same league that the Olympus 14-35 in terms of image quality? Do you think the Zeiss/Sony Zooms are a safe bet for later use with the Zeiss ZF.2 primes

Another thing Mr. Green, when you said "Problem is the focus ring is a super-short-throw" I am Portuguese and i did not understand this definition "super-short-throw", sorry!!!

As i say, if the quality image of the Two Zoom lenses from Zeiss/Sony are identical to the Olympus 14-35 f/2.0, I would definitely buy the first two.

Thank you all, and excuse me my bad english.
Regards
 
I haven't compared them to the Olympus so I don't know how to answer that. I do think that optically, they will be the zooms that are most likely to match the ZF's.

As for focus throw, I'm referring to the rotation of the focus ring. The ZF's have about a 300-degree rotation, whereas the Sony zooms are only about 90 degrees or so. It's been quite a while since I've seen them so I don't remember exactly. They're supposed to be autofocus lenses, they're not built like the manual focus ZF's. On an Alpha-mount camera they autofocus, so their manual focusing is not nearly as smooth or generous as the ZF's.
 
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