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Zeiss ZF.2 100mm f/2 Makro-Planar T*

Resolution Chart

The 100mm Makro-Planar exhibits near-perfect performance wide open right out to the extreme corners, full exploiting the sensor of the full-frame 16.7-megapixel Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II. Wide open at f/2 the corners are every bit as good as the center in resolution and very close in contrast, a remarkable performance achievable by only the very best lenses. The new 21.1-megapixel Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III will be required to probe the performance limits of the Makro-Planar; I suspect that it could mate with a 40-megapixel DSLR quite well (scaling up a Nikon D300 sensor to full frame would be 28 megapixels).

All four corners were absolutely consistent with two samples of the Makro-Planar. It’s a pity to see sample variation with many of the other lenses, as one must wonder what the achievable performance might be with perfect optical alignment. Indeed, one could have hoped that the 50mm f/2 Makro-Planar could have been designed to match the 100mm Makro-Planar.

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Zeiss 100mm f/2 Makro-Planar @ f/2.8

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