Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15

• Pros

  Very sharp. Excellent build quality. Full-frame coverage. Supports screw-in filters.

• Cons Expensive. Manual focus only. Huge. Some barrel distortion.
• Bottom Line

  The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15 lens captures a very sharp, very wide field of view with just a little bit of barrel distortion.

By Jim Fisher

The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15 ($2,950 list) ?is one of the widest SLR lenses you'll find without venturing into the world of fisheye optics. It is available for Nikon and Canon cameras, but doesn't support autofocus for either system. It's possible to focus on objects as close as 10 inches away from the lens, and if you set the lens to infinity anything beyond 2.5 feet will be in focus. It supports full-frame cameras, but still manages to deliver a very wide 23mm field of view on APS-C bodies. The lens hood is built in, adding to the 5.3 by 4.1-inch (HD) size and 1.8-pound weight. The front element is flat, so you can use 95mm screw-in filters?many other ultra-wide lenses have curved front elements and cannot accept filters.

Despite its ultra-wide perspective, the Distagon is nothing like a fisheye. It does show about 2.3 percent barrel distortion, which gives a slight curve to straight lines?but it's uniform and can easily be adjusted in Photoshop if desired. Many wide-angle lenses stretch out the edges of the frame, making folks standing off-center in a photo seem wider than they are in real life. This is also minimized with the lens, so you can feel free to use it for group portraits in tight spaces and for architectural work?just makes sure that the front of the lens is parallel to the group or subject.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness of the lens with the Nikon D600. Even at its widest f/2.8 aperture it crosses 2,000 lines per picture height, better than the 1,800 lines required for a sharp image. It increases to 2,178 lines at f/4, hits 2,561 lines at f/5.6, and delivers an outstanding 2,794 lines at f/8. The Sigma 8-16mm F4.5-5.6 DS HSM , which is only compatible with APS-C cameras, is slower and nowhere near as sharp at its 10mm setting, which is roughly equivalent to 15mm on a full-frame body.

There are shots that you can get with an ultra-wide lens that won't be possible with narrower glass. The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15 delivers the goods with its sharp design and a relatively speedy f/2.8 aperture. Its price is the biggest barrier to ownership. If you can live with a narrower lens, the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 3,5/18 ?isn't quite as wide or sharp at its maximum aperture, but is more than $1,500 less expensive.

More Digital Camera Reviews:
??? Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/50
??? Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35
??? Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15
??? Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25
??? Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28mm f/1.8G
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By Jim Fisher Analyst, Digital Cameras

Jim Fisher is the digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team. He is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really...

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