EXCERPT page containing first few paragraphs. 2024-04-24 12:14:36
UA_SEARCH_BOT_compatible_botmozilla/5.0 applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko; compatible; claudebot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com) @ 3.142.250.114
For full access, subscribe here. Or click title to login. 
Infinity Focus: where?
Many modern lenses, especially autofocus lenses, have no hard infinity stop; they focus well beyond true infinity. However, the manual-focus Zeiss ZF and ZE lenses do have a hard-stop and it is convenient to rely upon that hard stop for shooting subjects at infinity.
While my experience with the entire ZF line has been that the infinity stop is spot-on, this is not guaranteed; each and every camera body can vary in the actual distance between the lens mount and the sensor; it is certainly not going to be accurate to the last micron. Zeiss has to err (if at all) to construct the lenses to focus at infinity, or a tiny amount beyond. There is simply no correct value for every camera body.
Where is infinity?
The sample ZE 18/3.5 with which I was supplied by Zeiss for testing is clearly a very sharp lens.
Article continues for subscribers...
Diglloyd Guide to Zeiss is by yearly subscription. Subscribe now for about 21 cents a day ($75/year).
BEST DEAL: get full access to ALL 8 PUBLICATIONS for about 75 cents a day!
Diglloyd Guide to Zeiss offers comprehensive integrated coverage of Zeiss DSLR lenses for Canon and Nikon. Nearly a decade in the making, it covers everything you need to know for every lens in the ZF.2, ZE, Milvus and Otus lines. Guide to Mirrorless and Zeiss ZM rangefinder lenses in Guide to Leica.
- Make better images by learning how to get the best results right away. A “cheat sheet” saving months of ad-hoc learning—Guide to Zeiss is much more than lens reviews.
- Save money by choosing the right lens for your needs the first time. A year’s subscription covering ALL these lenses is a tiny fraction of the cost of just ONE lens.
- Make better images, a sort of “cheat sheet” saving yourself months or years of ad-hoc learning—Guide to Zeiss spells out best practices.
- Real world examples with insights found nowhere else. Make sharper images just by understanding lens behavior you won’t read about elsewhere.
- Jaw-dropping image quality found nowhere else utilizing Retina-grade images up to full camera resolution, plus large crops.
- Aperture series from wide open through stopped down, showing the full range of lens performance and bokeh.
- Optical quality analysis of field curvature, focus shift, sharpness, flare, distortion, and performance in the field.
Want a preview? Click on any page below to see an excerpt. And see Lloyd’s articles for Lenspire.Zeiss.com.
