ZEISS Classic Planar ZE T* 50mm f/1.4 Standard Camera Lens for Canon EF-Mount SLR DSLR Cameras, Black

This is a Lensmaker prime lens. But it is not for everyone. If your main concerns in photography are sharpness and ease of use then just look elsewhere, you are not ready for this lens.Don't get me wrong, this lens is really sharp (even at 1.4) But it is designed to honor a basic Optics rule: the focus plane is one and just one. If you get the focus wrong (as most beginners do) you'll think the lens is not worth the price.But why is this lens so special? Well, focus to out-of-focus transitions are just magic! Scene depth rendition with this lens will make you think the photo was shot with a larger format camera, even if you use this lens on APS-C !!Lens build quality is very nice. This lens will easily outlast any digital (plastic) camera body. Focusing is a great experience too (if you don't fear manual focusing). The focus ring allows to place focus with precision just where you want it.Image color and saturation are awesome. You can easily get the perfect picture on camera (no need to post processing) even when the light is not that amazing. Bokeh is also very good but it has it's character: it is not always creamy bland background blur (depending on how much luminance contrast you've got in the background) Bokeh manifests itself like no other 50mm lens, in a good way.What's the catch? well, the lens is somewhat expensive for a manual 'old' lens (but you will not mind the price once you feel the build quality and see the image rendition) and focusing will challenge your skills, even if you think you are used to manual focusing other lenses. But the effort is indeed worth!

I have a particular love for this lens. Zeiss still manufactures the Planar 50 and the 85mm although the Distagon line has been discontinued. I also have the Makro Planar 100mm which I might add is a legend in its own right. However, there is something very special about this lens particularly wide open. Yes at f1.4 the focus is soft and doesn't really sharpen up till about f2.8 where after this images become razor sharp. This peculiarity is not a problem--it is a bonus for me because it produces the most amazing bokeh I have ever seen. The bokeh produced has been labled "the swirly effect" and lens manufactures have spent years to correct this out as a design flaw. Thank goodness Zeiss understands this to be an image maker, not a deal breaker as they have kept the favorable (subtle) aspects of this flaw and done away with the displeasing "gross" extremes. This lens and the images it produces are surreal. Check out the "Zenography" channel to catch videos of the classic lenses that produce this effect but keep in mind that this lens has its own flavor and savor that (imho) is sublime.It is exceedingly difficult to describe the beauty of the images that come from this lens, and I might add that this too is subjective. You might want to try flickr and plug this lens into the search field.This lens is built to last a lifetime and it will if you take care of it. This is my favorite lens period. I have the 15mm, the 28mm, this and the 100mm macro from Ziess. I also have a Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 and Nikkor 50mm 1.8 and I am of the opinion that this lens has the very best personality (image quality plus silky smooth sweetness) with the 100mm Makro Planar coming in second.This is a manual focus lens, which is also a plus for us fine art folks who want to control everything down to a precision. You simply cannot go wrong purchasing a Zeiss lens as their reputation as a lens manufacturer is among the finest in the world. For owners of DSLR's like Nikon or Canon, you will not find a better lens to put on your camera. This lens has the capability of allowing you the finest images that your camera is capable of producing. Superior to Cannon or Nikon's own line of lenses.

This is probably the best 50mm lens I have yet used so far and I've used/owned the Canon 50 f/1.8, Canon 50 f/1.2L and Sigma 50 f/1.4. I must say that the quality and build of this lens is top notch. The all metal lens and lens hood feels like a piece of art. The focus ring is smooth and you're able to make minor turns with this barrel with ease (unlike the other lens) and the infinity focus is where it should be, at the very end and not a half millimeter or so from the end (once again like the lenses). But I must say that I am pretty disappointed in the plastic/cheap lens cap (front and back). The front lens cap isn't all that great and tends to fall out if you don't make sure that it's in.The color that this lens produces is just magical. I'm sure you'll read this at other places but it's comparable to the Leica version. Now, I'm not saying that they're exactly the same, but this lens definitely gives you that Leica look and feel in how the lens captures color. CA is minimal and focus is razor sharp. Granted once you get into the f/2.0 or higher, it's unbeatable.Now there are reasons why I decided to buy this and sell all of my other 50mm lenses. Comparing with the Canon 50 f/1.8, though a great, less expensive lens, the color reproduction wasn't quite what I was looking for. With the Canon 50 f/1.2L, even though it's an awesome lens, for it's price, I was hoping for more sharpness without having to dial up the f-stops too high. Also, because I'd become accustomed to autofocus in general and manual focus on that lens is mediocre at best, the focusing on the 50L was just way too slow. I found I was able to focus faster manually with the Zeiss lens than with the Canon 50L, especially in low light situations. Yes, I will miss the extra stop on the L lens but considering that it's so slow in focusing (and I've missed many opportunities). And the Sigma 50, is a good lens, and a beefy one at that too, but I just had way too much to deal with especially since it was front focusing. I did have to mail in the lens for new ones 3 times and the one I ended up keeping had the least amount of front focusing issue, but over time, the lens started to front focus more and more often and severely.This is priced pretty much in the middle of all these lenses. Being almost 2x cheaper than the Canon 50L, it's an amazing deal.Size wise, the Canon 50L is probably the largest and heaviest lens and the Sigma 50 comes very close to it as well. This is definitely a lot more compact than those two but larger than the Canon 50 f/1.8Word of caution though, you probably already know that this is a manual focus lens, I would highly recommend switching out your focusing screen to the the Eg-S version. It's about $40 dollars and it takes less than 20 seconds to switch it out from you camera. Once you switch them out, to focus, since the lens is made to communicate with the camera, either choose your focus point on the camera or just use all, press the shutter button halfway and focus until you see/hear the red beep in your viewfinder. It'll take practice but you'll learn to focus faster and appreciate the lens even more.I must say, I've own(ed) several L series lenses and was a diehard Canon L guy but this Zeiss lens and a few others that I've tried out have made me a convert.Another absolutely amazing lens by Zeiss is the 21mm. Probably the best wide angle lens, hands down.This lens will most likely rarely come off of my 5DM2.