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Lens review

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35 mm f/1.4 ZE/ZF.2

28 June 2011
Arkadiusz Olech

10. Focusing



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The tested lens is a manual instrument so the focus can be set only by using a big, comfortable and perfectly damped ring which is situated on its casing. The depth of field scale helps a lot – it can be found on the casing as well, right below the ring.

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35 mm f/1.4 ZE/ZF.2 - Focusing

It’s worth mentioning that, although the tested lens is not a wide-angle instrument, its good aperture fastness makes the depth of field rather shallow. At the maximum relative aperture the DOF is only 0.5-1.1 meters wide when we photograph people situated in the distance of 3-4 meters. It is much easier to take photos after stopping down because then the lack of autofocus becomes less bothersome. For example by f/5.6, with the distance scale set at 5 m, we get sharp images in the distance from 3 to about 16 meters. In the case of f/8.0, applying almost the same distance of 5 metres, you can get sharp images from 2.5 metres to infinity.