Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 Pro Reviews

The Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100m f/2 is a medium tele macro lens that performacs exceptionally on a full frame DSLR. The lens is very sharp at f/2 and truly excellent between f/4 and f/8. Lateral CAs as well as distortions are not relevant from a field perspective. The amount of vignetting is quite high at f/2 but not an issue anymore from f/4 onwards. The quality of the bokeh is generally very good at large aperture although you may be able to spot some "cat's eyes" as well as bokeh fringing. The Zeiss allows a max. magnification of 1:2 only which may be a drawback for some but the fast max. aperture is certainly broadening its scope into other applications such as portrait photography. The price level is more than steep but this is about as good as it gets on a full format DSLR. Highly recommended (if you can live with manual focusing)!

As you can see from the above alternatives, there are plenty of lenses to choose from in the 100mm macro category for both Nikon and Pentax users. The Zeiss 100mm ƒ/2 has much to commend it: it's a full stop faster than its contemporaries, and its results for sharpness, chromatic aberration, corner shading and distortion are all exceptional. It's also built extremely well, with a construction finish that will last dozens of years and bear up well under harsh conditions. If you have a spare $1,500 kicking around and a need for the sharpest macro performance money can buy, then the Zeiss 100mm ƒ/2 is probably in your future.

To date the Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100m f/2 is the best medium tele macro lens tested on a full format EOS DSLR. The lens is very sharp at f/2 and truly excellent between f/4 and f/8. Lateral CAs as well as distortions are not relevant from a field perspective. The amount of vignetting is quite high at f/2 but not an issue anymore from f/4 onwards. The quality of the bokeh is generally very good at large aperture although you may be able to spot some "cat's eyes" as well as bokeh fringing (LoCAs).