Some macro shots

[loydall]

[el-Ignoramus]

love them all, and personally speaking, I think ladybugs were created or kids books and Macro photography

what camera and lens Loydy??

[loydall]

5D Mark II with the Zeiss 100mm f/2 macro.

I've recently had a complete change of my lenses - sold ALL my canon lenses to replace them with these Zeiss lenses. They are manual focus but it's not that difficult to get used to. The quality on them is incredible. I'll post some samples later.

[el-Ignoramus]

I mostly use manual focus anyway, sounds interesting, how much are they for, for some reason from where I am I keep getting sony lenses with Carl Zeiss elements whenever I run a search

[loydall]

This is where I got mine:

http://www.theclassiccamera.com/prod...tails_1889.htm

They aren't cheap, that's for sure but are so, so sharp it's such a pleasure to use them.

I bought mine in the shop so I managed to get a bit off that price though.

[gorlummeeguvnor]

fantastic. I have been trying to get up close to insects in the garden but sadly not produced anything like these. Did you give it the yellowy green wash in photoshop or is that how the photo is? And where is the pickaxe? Number 3 could be huge

[loydall]

The colour of plant was as you see it there - an incredible bright green - just as you see it. I've done very little to these shots.

The light bounces off the leaf to giver that nice colour.

pickaxe? What do you mean?

[WannaBe_80z]

these shots are just incredible. what made you jump the canon lens wagon?

[loydall]

Well - it was actually Sigma that did it - I had the Sigma 50mm 1.4 - it wasn't bad but it didn't quite have that "pop" that I was looking for. Plus - for me, 50mm wasn't quite wide enough for the "scene" type shots I was looking to take.

So - I looked into 35mm and heard the Zeiss 35mm f/2 getting good reviews (most of the time getting better reviews than the Canon 35 L). Was a bit wary of buying a manual focus lens but thought I'd give it a go anyway.

Within an hour of owning that lens I knew I'd have to sell my Canons. This thing was SO sharp and the colours popped - the micro contrast was amazing and the bokeh really smooth.

So - Sold my 24-70 and 70-200 to fund my second Zeiss which was the 100mm macro F/2. This was even sharper. I got used to the manual focus really quickly - I actually changed the focus screen in my 5D Mark II to the precision focusing screen which allows you to see your focus better than the standard screen. I'd say my % of keepers is at least as high as it was before (and I'm much more pleased with the shots than I was from my Sigma 50mm - which I also sold).

So - the only Canon I have left is my good old 85 1.8. I've tried a fair few canon lenses now (from a lens hire place) and I have to say I think the 85 1.8 is the best. Even better than the 85 1.2 (too slow to focus) and the 50 1.2 (way too soft)

I may still sell the 85 to go towards another Zeiss though.

So - right now I have primes only and it really makes sense to me:

Zeiss 35mm f/2
Canon 85mm 1.8
Zeiss 100mm f/2
And then the old Zeiss 135 mm f/3.5 which I may get rid of - it's good but doesn't stand up to the others.

The canons are good though - 24-70 is an incredible lens and amazingly useful to have that range at that quality but the Zeiss is another world.

I really like the idea of limiting myself to focal lengths. I'm considering JUST shooting with the 35 and the 100 - that would really help develop a style. Shooting a wedding with those 2 would be great - you could get some great shots that work well together - establish the scene with the 35 and then go in for the detail shot with the 100.

It might not suit everyone but, for me, it's been a brilliant thing to do.

[loydall]

Here's another I shot with the 100mm:

[WannaBe_80z]

Damn! Price: £1578.00. It's only $1800 here from B&H. The price difference between us is crazy.

[gorlummeeguvnor]

pickaxe? What do you mean?

just a scale reference - and i really ment ice axe. oops

[loydall]

Damn! Price: £1578.00. It's only $1800 here from B&H. The price difference between us is crazy.

Mine was more like 1400 which is $2260 - is that US price for the ZE version (i.e. the canon fit)?

[littleMatt]

They're awesome! Love the sneaky looking fly best.

[WannaBe_80z]

Yeah the ZE.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...100mm_f_2.html

[ctranter]

Yeah zeiss do some nice lenses.
I'm still amazed I walked out of b&h empty handed when I was there last month- given the saving compared to the uk.