The lens that I’ve been waiting for, the Zeiss 100mm f/2 MAKRO PLANAR ZE, is now in stock at Amazon.com for $1,843! (BUY IT HERE). The price is cringeworthy. Quality? 2nd to none!
According to what I’ve read online, this baby offers high resistance to flare and is a very strong performer at infinity, even though it is a macro lens.
What are your thoughts on this piece of glass? How do you think it will stand up to the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens which is available for $959.00 at B&H or for $943 at Amazon.com.
The Canon has built in ‘Image Stabilization’ and autofocus which might make a difference to those who depend on those functions. The Zeiss is manual focus only… but keep in mind when shooting video there is no autofocus.
This lens might be hot but it’s so expensive. You can buy 4 or 5 lenses for this price dude! This is only 1 macro lens. Think about it.
It is an exceptional lens that will delight you for years with whatever Canon camera you may be shooting in the future. Those 4 or 5 lenses you could buy for the same price will be long forgotten while you are still enjoying the Zeiss 100mm f/2.
@Martha
I do agree it’s a great lens… but I’d like to do a comparison vs. the Canon to see how much better it really is. Have you been able to use the Zeiss 100mm already?
Hi Billy
I use my Zeiss 100mm as much as I can. Here’s a mini review by Lloyd Chambers.
http://diglloyd.com/articles/ZeissZ/ZeissZ-100f2.html
And another.
http://slrlensreview.com/web/carl-zeiss-slr-lenses-51/macro-slr-lenses-96/287-carl-zeiss-makro-planar-t-100mm-f20-zf-lens-review.html
I don’t have a side by side comparison with the Canon for you. Google around, search the forums at
http://www.fredmiranda.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://photo.net/
Somebody has probably put them together by now.
Looking further, I see Lloyd Chambers offers some comparisons of these two lenses in his subscriber-only pages. He appreciates the quality of the Canon but says it lacks character compared to the Zeiss. Read all of his analyses to understand if his judgments would match yours. His priorities might be very different from what you value. http://diglloyd.com
Thanks for the info. If I’m not mistaken, the Zeiss 100mm ZF model for Nikon has an aperture ring and the ZE model for Canon does not. Based on the build differences do you think the reviews for the ZF hold true for ZE?
Yes.