{"id":1477,"date":"2010-12-07T03:47:27","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T03:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1477"},"modified":"2010-12-07T03:47:27","modified_gmt":"2010-12-07T03:47:27","slug":"distagonal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1477","title":{"rendered":"Distagonal"},"content":{"rendered":"

And now for prime time – the one lens I intended to buy in 2010!<\/p>\n


\nMeet the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 SSM ZA.<\/p>\n


\nIt’s a lightweight companion to the A900, perfect for street shooting.<\/p>\n

Well, okay, maybe the Sony NEX-5 with Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake is better… I have to admit, I am a lot more comfortable doing thorough street photography with it. I have to get back in tune with street photography using much more noticeable cameras.<\/p>\n


\nHere it is, on the Sony SLT-A55. Because its SSM in-lens focusing motor is silent, it makes for great normal video in low light.<\/p>\n

So what is the point of it being just F2.0 when Canon and Nikon have 24mm F1.4 lenses?<\/p>\n

Optical quality. Zeiss makes very little compromise on contrast and detail. The lens is already great wide open – stopping down just increases depth of field. The lens is not less contrasty wide open, like my Minolta 50mm F1.4!<\/p>\n


\nOh, and of course, one very cool thing – being a F2.0 design, it is much more affordable compared to the Canon\/Nikon counterparts, and it can focus a lot closer.<\/p>\n


\nThis is 19cm away from the sensor! (Shot with the SLT-A55, as per the setup above.)<\/p>\n


\nThis is pretty darn close, too. Note that it is a wide-angle macro<\/b>!<\/p>\n


\nIt is nicely paired with the SLT-A55 because it gives the angle of view of 36mm on full-frame – which is the same as your phone’s camera angle of view<\/b>! This makes it a very handy focal length.<\/p>\n

I know, I used to say I hated this focal length because it was so common, but it is indeed practical.<\/p>\n


\nAnyway, here are some other primes I saw at Sony Style KLCC.<\/p>\n

From left to right<\/b>: Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 SSM ZA, Opteka 85mm F1.4, Sony 35mm F1.8 DT SAM, Sony 85mm F2.8 SAM, Minolta 50mm F1.4 (Original), Sony LA-EA1 A-mount to E-mount adapter.<\/p>\n


\nThis is the Sony 35mm F1.8 DT SAM on the A55. Very, very nice focal length, and very detailed wide open. This lens made a far better impression than the online samples I’ve seen of plain stuffed toys and doorknobs and bottles and batteries that people have been using this lens to take pictures of!<\/p>\n


\nMeanwhile, here is the A900 with the Sony 85mm F2.8 SAM. Pretty portraity, I’d say, while retaining that detail.<\/p>\n


\nWhat about the Sony 35mm F1.8 DT SAM on full-frame? I pressed the lens release button on the A900 to disable the lens checking, so it would not automatically switch to APS-C mode. When focused at infinity, you can see vignetting.<\/p>\n


\nSo I went home and took a family picture.<\/p>\n

Left to right, back row<\/b>: Minolta 50mm F1.4 (Original), Sigma 70-210mm F4-5.6, Minolta 70-210mm F4 “beercan”, Cosina 70-210mm F2.8-4 1:2.5x Macro, Opteka 85mm F1.4, Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, Tamron 200-400mm F5.6.<\/p>\n

Left to right, middle row<\/b>: Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye in M42 mount with A-mount adapter, Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG, Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX, Sony 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 DT (gear-stripped and disassembled donation to science), Vivitar 24mm F2.0 adapted to A-mount, Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 SSM ZA, Minolta 24-50mm F4 (Original), Minolta 24-105mm F3.5-4.5(D).<\/p>\n

Left to right, front row<\/b>: Sony LA-EA1 A-mount to E-mount lens adapter, Teleplus MC4 1.5x teleconverter, Teleplus MC4 2.0x teleconverter.<\/p>\n


\nAnd now, just the primes.<\/p>\n

Left to right, back row<\/b>: Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 SSM ZA, Opteka 85mm F1.4, Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA.<\/p>\n

Left to right, middle row<\/b>: Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye in M42 mount with A-mount adapter, Minolta 50mm F1.4 (Original), Vivitar 24mm F2.0 adapted to A-mount.<\/p>\n

Left to right, front row<\/b>: Sony LA-EA1 A-mount to E-mount lens adapter, Teleplus MC4 1.5x teleconverter, Teleplus MC4 2.0x teleconverter.<\/p>\n


\nMoving on…<\/p>\n


\nYes I did take pictures. The close focus really helped with this shot.<\/p>\n


\nIt also makes a cool toy-shooting lens.<\/p>\n


\nOf course, I did go out with this lens…<\/p>\n


\nHere’s geekster<\/b>! The lens goes much closer but I’ll leave those shots out.<\/p>\n


\nAnd so I went to the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show 2010 at Putra World Trade Center.<\/p>\n


\nShot with the A55 and Zeiss 24mm F2.0. Great for the grab shot.<\/p>\n


\nShot with the A900 and Zeiss 24mm F2.0. All shots from this one onwards were with this combo, at F2.0.<\/p>\n


\nI love how this lens makes you get close, and they pose differently as a result.<\/p>\n


\nIt’s like they know – aha! Portrait orientation! Turn to the side!<\/p>\n


\nShe didn’t get that memo, but it’s okay, because she looks good.<\/p>\n


\nYou do get an exaggerated perspective sometimes. DxO Optics Pro had not come out with the Zeiss 24mm F2.0 lens correction module yet unfortunately (though, I can’t spot barrel distortion, if any, to be honest.)<\/p>\n


\nAnd that is all for today.<\/p>\n


\nAlright, maybe a 50% crop. (100% crop, resized down to 50%.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And now for prime time – the one lens I intended to buy in 2010! Meet the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 SSM ZA. It’s a lightweight companion to the A900, perfect for street shooting. Well, okay, maybe the Sony NEX-5 with Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake is better… I have to admit, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geek","category-pictures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}