Equipment

Zeiss ZE 135mm f/2 vs. Canon 135mm f/2L

Published April 24, 2013

We had a chance a few days ago to look at the first copy of the Zeiss 135mm APO-Sonnar CP.2 lens, but today received several copies of the 135mm APO-Sonnar in ZE (Canon) mount. I’ve been wanting to play with it personally, of course, but more to the point wanted the chance to test multiple copies, which always makes me feel better about out test results. I also wanted to compare its direct competitor, the Canon 135mm f/2L.

Unlike the CP.2 lens, the ZE and ZF mount Zeiss 135mm lenses have normal photography housings. The manual focus throw is not nearly as long as with the cinema lens, but it is very smooth and the lens focuses beautifully. With its solid metal housing, the Zeiss weighs in just over 2 pounds compared to 1.65 pounds for the Canon. The Zeiss has a 77mm front element compared to 72mm for the Canon, and 9 aperture blades compared to the Canon’s 8. There’s a bit of price difference, too, with the Zeiss listing for $2,122 and the Canon $989 at the moment.

 

copyright Roger Cicala, 2013

 

Imatest Results

We had 8 copies of the ZE 135mm f/2 to test today — not enough to give absolute limits of variation but enough to at least give us a good suggestion. I’ve shown the Imatest MTF 50 results (in Line Pairs / Image Height on a Canon 5D Mk II) at f/2.0 below. As you can see this is a nice, tight grouping of results.

 

MTF50 for 8 copies of the Zeiss 135mm f/2 ZE.

 

Compared to the average (mean) MTF50 values for the Canon 135mm f/2L, the Zeiss is better wide open across the frame, as shown in the table below. That’s very impressive as the Canon is one of the sharpest lenses around.

  Center MTF 50 Avg MTF 50 Corner MTF 50
Zeiss 135mm f/2945840745
Canon 135mm f/2800710640

As we stop the aperture down, though, the Canon catches up quite quickly. As shown in the graph below, the Zeiss slowly sharpens up steradily through f/5.6 on the Canon 5D II, with the corners reaching their maximum at f/8.

The Canon lens peaks at around the same aperture, but resolution increases to a greater degree as we stop down. By f/5.6 the lenses are virtually equal in resolution.

 

Summary

The Zeiss 135mm f/2 APO-Sonnar is a superb lens. It has one of the highest resolutions we’ve tested overall and the corners are amazingly good, even wide open. You definitely pay for what you get, though. The Canon 135mm f/2 is a superb lens and while it doesn’t have quite the resolution as the Zeiss wide open, it is less than half the price and autofocuses. (The 135mm f/2 is always on my list of the best value lenses available.)

Possibly in reaction to the Zeiss 135mm hitting the streets, a very widespread rumor has appeared that Sigma will announce a 135mm f/1.8 OS Art Series lens later this year. That’s exciting, but the key word here are ‘rumored’ and ‘announce’. While Sigma is generally fairly quick from announcement to release, that still sounds like a lens that won’t be available until the end of 2013 or early 2014. Assuming the rumors are true.

For video shooters, particularly, this lens is going to be a superb tool. Photographers wanting the very best will be interested, too. The optics are as good as it gets.

 

Roger Cicala

Lensrentals.com

April, 2013

Author: Roger Cicala

I’m Roger and I am the founder of Lensrentals.com. Hailed as one of the optic nerds here, I enjoy shooting collimated light through 30X microscope objectives in my spare time. When I do take real pictures I like using something different: a Medium format, or Pentax K1, or a Sony RX1R.

Posted in Equipment
  • yitzchak

    Bring on the Sigma 135mm f1.8 Art Lens!!!

  • Gid

    Would it be insane to want this coupled with a Metabones Speedbooster for GH4 instead of the native Nocticron 42.5 f1.2? I know there’s no AF however the GH4 has focus peaking.

    The FF 135mm F2 would become 95.8mm F1.0 on the GH4 with speedbooster, would that not be awesome!

  • Roger Cicala

    Oleg, no lens on an adapter can be accurately compared to another lens on an adapter. It doubles the number of variables.

  • Oleg

    Good review, but a wrong platform to compare. The Sony A7r with Metabones adapter would push both lenses to the limits.

  • Tom

    If there is anything I’ve learned is not to trust a chart. With no pictures to seriously compare I don’t see the review as complete. This Zeiss is really better compared with their own remarkable 135mm 1.8. Since Sony just announced it will be reintroduced this year with SSM- maybe we’ll finally get to see it Dyxo’d as well as real life comparisons. Time to either end the hype or bring the APO F2 back down to earth.

  • June

    Can you run a test and comparison between the Canon 135/2 L and the Nikon 135/2 DC?

  • I use the Canon 135 2.0 a long time. It’s a very nice and sharp lens. One of the most important and handy things about this lens is the very fast AF.
    I do a lot of wedding and almost every detail you see op http://totaalfotografie.nl is made with this lens. Especially on weddings.

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