Originally posted by spade111 Also Byrd, since you've had the zeiss stuff, have you considered picking up any of the zf.2 lenses? A few of them look quite attractive in terms of rendering and I'm thinking they might be fun to play with. They certainly have the build of the pentax limiteds, though I think they are a bit slower. Were the nikon lenses overall better that you chose not to go that way?
Hello Spade-
Regarding the Zeiss ZKs: I thoroughly enjoyed the Zeiss lenses on my Pentax cameras. At one time I had four of them, the 18mm, the 35mm, the 85mm, and the 100mm. I have sold all except the 85mm f1.4 (my favourite). I also owned all three of the FA limiteds. I sold the 31mm (but I still have the other two).
I greatly preferred the Zeiss 35mm f2 over the 31mm FA limited. It was sharper, with better colour saturation and micro contrast. However..... it is a fairly large lens; and it is heavy. (And, of course, it's manual focus.) My initial plan was to take the proceeds from the Zeiss 35 ZK and purchase the Nikon version. (I still might do this.) I might also purchase at some point the Zeiss 100mm in Nikon mount. However... I have been so happy with the results the Nikkors are providing that I might not walk down the Zeiss path for some time.
I have to admit that I am enjoying the fast and precise autofocus capabilites of the Df with Nikkors. And, though I'm still in 'honeymoon' phase with my three Nikkor lenses, I don't really think that the Zeiss have much (other than build quality) over them. The 135 f2DC is probably the finest portrait lens I have ever used. The 85mm f1.8 is a sharper lens than my Zeiss 85 f1.4 (a difficult lens to use because of focus shift), and the exotic 50mm f1.2 is.. well... a lens that provides a rendering that is unique. (This is, like the Zeiss 85mm, a demanding lens to focus accurately.)
A 35mm lens will be my next purchase. And my choice is to spend $1,000 (plus) for the Zeiss or around $350 for the Nikon 35 f2 D. (I don't want or need a large--and expensive--f1.4 wide angle.) Given my results with the 85mm D lens, I leaning heavily towards getting the auto-focus 35 D. For my purposes, it will be--though not as good as the Zeiss--still, good enough.
In summary: Yes, the Zeiss lenses are of very high quality. But *if* they are optically superior to the Nikkors (some are, some aren't, I think) , it is only by a small amount. They are heavy, expensive, and manual focus only. (It is their build quality that is truly impressive.) I'll only be purchasing the Zeiss in those focal lengths that really matter to me.
Byrd-2020
(p.s. I'll try to get some shots with the 50mm f1.2 up shortly.)