Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2 Review

Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2 Sample Photos

Sharpness is outstanding in the centre of the frame from maximum aperture | 1/200 sec | f/2.0 | 135.0 mm | ISO 280 High-Res	Stopping down to between f/5.6 and f/8 results in outstanding sharpness across the frame | 1/200 sec | f/6.3 | 135.0 mm | ISO 160 High-Res
Closest focus is 80cm | 1/1250 sec | f/2.8 | 135.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Contrast remains high, even when shooting into the light | 1/250 sec | f/2.0 | 135.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res
1/800 sec | f/2.0 | 135.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	1/200 sec | f/2.8 | 135.0 mm | ISO 400 High-Res
1/200 sec | f/5.6 | 135.0 mm | ISO 560 High-Res	1/200 sec | f/2.0 | 135.0 mm | ISO 1600 High-Res
Studio Portrait 1 | 1/160 sec | f/10.0 | 135.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Studio Portrait 2 | 1/160 sec | f/10.0 | 135.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res

Value For Money

The old saying that you get what you pay for certainly applies with this lens. To get optics of such high quality, the £1725 asking price seems justified.

Even so, when the price is compared to similar lenses from Canon and Nikon, then the extra cost becomes harder to justify, Nikon's AF-D 135mm f/2 DC costs around £1000 and sports defocus control, which allows you to control the amount of spherical aberrations and ultimately the character of blur in out of focus areas. Canon's EF 135mm f/2L USM sports an ultrasonic focusing motor, which allows manual focus adjustments to be applied at any time for around £860, which is around half what the Zeiss optic costs.

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