Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8 Distagon: Final Verdict | 4K
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2018
- Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8: Final Review | Photographer Dustin Abbott delivers a final verdict on this premium, compact optic for Sony FE, complete with both stills and video coverage and a variety of sample images and videos. Read the text review (with a little more coma coverage): bit.ly/loxia2821DA
Visit the Image Gallery: bit.ly/loxia21mmIG
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Keywords: Zeiss Loxia, Loxia 21mm, Zeiss 21mm, Zeiss Loxia 21mm, Loxia 21 f2.8, Loxia 21mm f2.8, Loxia Review, Zeiss Loxia Review, Loxia 21 Review, Loxia 21mm Review, Dustin Abbott, Carl Zeiss, loxia2821, Zeiss, Loxia, 21mm, F/2.8, F2.8, Distagon, Review, Hands On, Comparison, Test, Sharpness, Distortion, Chromatic Aberration, CA, Video Test, Declick, Video, Sample Images, Coma - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![เบิ้ล ปทุมราช - อ้ายกินดอง น้องลาบงัว ft. สแน็ก อัจฉรีย์ [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-OK--KaSPcI/mqdefault.jpg)
your reviews are SO much more comprehensive than anybody else - thanks, Dustin. I'll get one of these or the Sony 24 f1.4 - can't wait for your review.
I'll try to work the 24GM in next month sometime.
@@DustinAbbottTWI im still waiting for it )
Yeah, that's not happening until the new year at the earliest. I've got a few schedule through the end of the year and beyond.
@@DustinAbbottTWI I'll be in no position to buy either one of these until "the new year at the earliest", anyway. In the mean time, I DID pick up the voightlander 65mm based on your review, and it made me unenthusiastic about all my other lenses... Now I have high standards - thanks, Dustin ;)
Watching your review again… had the 21, loved it, sold it, miss it… bought it again…
This is by far the best online review of the loxia 24. I have one and it's a gorgeous lens. I suppose one can get basically as good results with some other way less expensive glass (if you work at it). Well, you don't need a Swiss watch to tell the time but, if you have one, telling the time becomes something special. I love the clean crisp look of a shot made with this lens. It is very small and compact so not a burden to carry it around. It's not auto in any way, so maybe not for fast moving situations. I think 21 mm is an ideal all-round wide angle lens.
It is a lovely lens, for sure!
Just a superb lens and it mates perfectly with the Sony A7 bodies, aesthetically the size and finish complement the looks of the camera. The image gallery is very nice and I especially liked the night sky images, the night sky rendering looked almost perfect with each heavenly body clearly delineated and very little evidence of coma. Great review as always Dustin, your work is appreciated.
I was just able to grab a few night sky shots last night. Conditions were far from optimal, but at least it was something!
Thank you Mr Abbott
Bulls eye on every point! I especially like that you mentioned that the size of this lens is so unobtrusive that you can bring it with you anytime. Even if you think you will not use this focal length, it disappears in the bag until you need to use it. But when you do, you'll be glad you brought it! Because of the sharpness, color and contrast, this is a lens I could count on to deliver pleasing jpegs SOOC. I set the creative profile to 'standard' on my A7iii for fast sharing over social media; although I will always keep the RAW files by default. For everyday photography, due to the beautiful image rendition of this lens, I don't hesitate to take people pictures with it as long as they are at least 1.2meters away. It's so good it could pass as a 35mm lens if you're careful in taking the shot angle and crop accordingly. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this lens to every Sony Alpha user. There's currently no equivalent in the other mirrorless systems to date. Thanks for the review, much appreciated!
Some solid points here.
Very happy with this lens after 1 year. I was nervous about manual focus but it's not been an issue at all on the Sony A7Rii and A7Riii. I sold a 16-35mm f4 to fund this. No regrets.
I'm not surprised. It is a lovely little lens.
Thanks for the review, nice little lens for video I think
That's definitely a serious strength for the Loxia series and this lens in particular.
Thank, since I have the Batis 25 that has image stabilisation and autofocus (often on a gimbal) I don't use the loxia 21 anymore. Manual focus with longer focal lengths is useful for video to do a focus pull. You don't really tend to do that with a wide angle.
That’s not necessarily true for everyone, but if it is true for you...that’s all that matters
hi dustin i have a sony a7rii if you had to choose between zeiss loxia 21mm F2.8 Distagon and the zeiss loxia 25mm f2.4 Distagon for sharpness, image quality, what do you recommend to me?
I like the 25mm performance a little better, though the 21mm is arguably a more useful focal length.
I went down the Batis road for video but I'd love to have Loxia's in my collection too... Thank you for these wonderful reviews Dustin.
If you want to do manual focus or focus follow in the your work, the Loxia series is night and day better than the focus-by-wire Batis lenses. If you want autofocus during video, however, the Loxias are worthless ;)
Thanks Dustin, I'd love best of both worlds.
My favorite lens.
It's a sweet one.
For FE mount what would you recommend for real estate if this isn't ideal?
An interesting combination that I personally use is the Laowa 12mm F2.8 (actually a Canon lens) and something called the Laowa Magic Shift Converter. It gives you a high quality 17mm F4 shift lens with essentially zero distortion and the ability to eliminate perspective distortion too: bhpho.to/2GirZGh. You can search on my channel for a review.
Thanks for the review! I'm so torn between this lens and the Sony 16-35 2.8 GM. It would be awesome if you can take a look at the GM as well :)
Probably at some point, but at the moment I'm swamped with other reviews, so it won't be for a while.
SwitchRich hi mate do you mind telling me why you returned the 16-35 f4, I am considering this lens and would like to know where you didn’t like it
Its horses for courses: if you are doing journalism, street photog, weddings, events, the zoom is more practical. Zooming with your feet is frequently not an option in those situations. If you are doing landscapes, astro, product, still-life, certain types of portraiture, then the compactness and uber quality of the Loxia 21 makes it the lens of choice, despite being limited to one focal length. A very good point made by Pastor Abbott is that Zeiss sees the Loxia range as biased towards film-making.
I sold my Loxia 35 mm and wanted to replace it with the 21mm...but since this lens have no autofocus, how can i shoot everything in focus? Like on your footages of the scenery, what was the aperture? I would like to specifically use this 21mm for filming. Thanks.
Usually an aperture of around 5.6 is a good landscape option. Just focus about midway through the focal range and most everything should be in focus. You can find the exact sweetspot with a little trial and error.
@@DustinAbbottTWI oh. Thank you. Im getting it.
Hi, is there a difference between the Loxia 21mm and the Zeiss Distagon 21mm f/2.8?.
If so, which would you advice to get for filmmaking?
The short answer is yes. I really like the Loxia lens for your purpose.
@@DustinAbbottTWI is there much of a difference between those lenses???
Thank you, im sorry for bothering so much, im thinking of buying one of this
Do you find the rendering much different between the loxias and voiglanders? I know they are both made by Cosina. I'm thinking of switching over to the voigtlander 21 1.4 for its faster aperture but I don't want to lose the Zeiss microcontrast, colors and other special Zeiss qualities.
There's definitely some similarity in rendering. Both brands have an optical glass that just makes colors a little bit sweeter. I do think there is more similarity than difference.
Thanks for your thoughts on this. I guess the colors on the APO based Cosina lenses are sweeter still.
It's more a combination of color and contrast. They just have a lot of punch to the color.
@@DustinAbbottTWI Do you think this punch is something that can be recreated in post or does it need to be captured in camera? Sometimes I look at pictures with my Loxia and Voigtlander lenses and they seem to have something special about them; other times the pictures look no different from other non-Zeiss lenses I have. In general I feel like foliage showcases their special nature a lot.
I've liked my fast primes for a long time, but one time I thought I need a Zoom lens to take on vacations, shoot the kids with, etc. My primes are big and bulky. I like them, but it's a hassle. I bought a 24-105 from Sony. Great lens, but it's huge, I've found it even more of a burden to take with me while on a holiday. I bought that so maybe my wife would also pick up the camera, and shoot. She does not, and I don't blame her. Long story short, I've began my search for a lighter gear, and I am very tempted to buy this lens for and everyday walkaround. I've never used manual focus though, so I am a little bit scared to fully commit. The more videos I watch on manual lenses, the more I begin to think this would be a good road for me; being more conscious about the aperture, depth of field. I am selling my zoom lens, thinking about trying out this one, and if I like it, I will sell my other primes and buy a fast manual 50-65 lens next to this (maybe Voigtlander APO series).
I did find a good deal on a used 21mm Loxia, I am watching all of the videos to know if I should pull the trigger or not.
I own both the Loxia 21mm F2.8 and Tokina 20mm F2.0. I must say the Tokina Firin is a less sharp but the lens is much faster and costs 650 usd!!! Not only that but the Tokina Firin lens is slightly bigger and heavier but is built like a tank. You can hardly tell the size difference out in the field. Both lenses become incomparable around F5.6 I've taken the Tokina Firin backpacking with me for 8 months for adventure travel and have dropped it so many times. You really have to zoom in to compare the image quality between the two lenses. I don't take out my Loxia 21mm F2.8 nearly as often shooting because of its high cost as I tend to baby that one. Long story short, don't buy this lens if you'll end up less likely to use it do to its high price tag. Final comment, the Loxia lenses don't' hold their resale value very well.
I think you may be conflating your experience with the way everyone will feel about using an expensive piece of gear. My opinion is somewhat different: if I spent the money on something expensive, I want to use it!
Thank you Mr. Abbot for the amazing work you do.
And thank you for another great review. These are very much appreciated.
How would you say the image quality of this lens compares to the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 Art ?
As you know, the sigma is a beast. I would love to shed some weight of my pack and the Loxia 21mm seems like a good contender if IQ is at least as good as the Sigma.
Thanks Mr. Abbot
The Sigma is a little sharper in an absolute sense, though at landscape apertures it's not. The Loxia is so much better for colors and overall image quality, in my opinion.
Thank you so much for the quick reply.
My main interest is landscape so that sounds fantastic :D
Looks like I'll be selling some old lenses and taking an extra shift or two at work so I can try it out for myself.
Thank you for helping out.
Best regards,
Daniel
It's a lovely little lens.
When I search for some minority lens,there is always your videos.Thank you,Dustin,your view counts. Love from China❤
Glad you like them!
You sound intelligent and articulate. It feels good on TH-cam !
That's kind. Thank you.
Will this be challenged by the new Sony 24mm f1.4 G Master that will be available soon?
Foto4Max -No, obviously not but 3mm is close in anyone's estimation. I was asking Dustin to comment on the new Sony lens in comparison.
Loxia 25mm vs Batis 25mm vs Sony 24mm GM would be a better comparison.
That will depend on the individual. These definitely compete on price, and that may put some pressure on Zeiss here, but I do think that the Loxia series still has a unique position as a hybrid stills/video lens and it remains the compact option.
Thanks Dustin I look forward to you reviewing the Sony 24mm 1.4 when it becomes available. I believe that it also has a de- clicked aperture ring as well as a focus hold button ans an af/mf switch.
May I feedback that the 24mm G video reviews of dpreview and Jared Polin both indicate a significant amount of flare & ghost. So I think the 24mm G is certainly less suited for outdoor landscape photography where nice sunstars are a big plus and where the Zeiss nice micro-contrast really excels. However in ultra low light situations shooting handheld (no tripod) or shooting moving objects/persons, the 24mm G benefits the f1.4 large aperture and last but not least the AF. So it depends what you want to do with it ...
it would be great in 2,3 years when Zeiss will release that kind of lenses for Canon mirrorless system.
I'll be interested to see what third-party development is like for the R and Z systems.
The loxia series of lenses are the lenses that made me almost get a Sony FE camera. But it just ended up getting too expensive and went to Fujifilm X instead.
Fuji has done a good job of stocking their systems with quality glass.
For sure! That is why I went with them. And with X-T3 it seems like the bodies are catching up.
I'm scheduled to test one shortly along with the new 200mm f/2 lens.
Sweet! I got to try the 200/2 lens in the store I work at. Amazing lens.
The mounting/unmounting thing that everyone is talking about in these reviews, is the most none issue I've ever seen. I've been using Loxia lenses for a couple of years now, and mounting and unmounting is something you just do. No problem what so ever.
Relative to other lenses, though, it does stand out as somewhat clunky. It's not that you cannot do it. I try to hit all the highlights and potential flaws of lenses in my review - even though every single thing doesn't affect every single individual.
@@DustinAbbottTWI I guess all it does is it speaks to how good these lenses really are, if that's the biggest issue ;)
Yeah, I just picked up a used copy. Being a 63 YO female, after reading reviews, I was worried that it would take a lot of force to get the lens off. It turns out that it does not. There just isn't much of a non moving part to grip. It's ever so slightly a pain to take off but really no big deal.
I can put up with manual focus. I CANNOT put up with the lack of auto diaphram action on the Aperture. What it means is that you have to choose between composing and focusing on a stopped down lens and not being able to see properly. Or, focus on a wide open diaphragm then having to stop down before firing the shutter. It's bullshit. There is no reason Zeiss couldn't have incorporated an auto diaphram actuator in the Loxias. It wouldn't even make the lens any bigger. If they really want to cater to the all manual folks, they can add a button or a de-click switch or something to disengage the auto diaphram actuator. Auto diaphram is a STAPLE even for manual focus systems like the Ai Nikkor, OM Olympus or Contax MM.
Dwight, that's interesting, as I've never had an issue with what you are describing. The EVF has no problem compensating to ensure properly lighting to achieve focus. I don't think this is a real issue.
@@DustinAbbottTWI EVF does it by increasing the gain on the read out. It's no different from focusing in a brightly lit room and one with the lights off and using a higher ISO.
@@dwightlooi Right, but it doesn't really affect your ability focus and compose...ever, that I've seen.
@@DustinAbbottTWI OK, try this... Turn the lights off in your room and close the curtains such that you have some light from the edges of the curtains or a night light or something really tiny. Now turn the aperture ring on the loxia (or adjust the aperture setting for an AF lens to F16 or something with live view on). Now notice that the EVF is blotchy, grainny and seems have a reduced frame rate? Now turn it all the way to F2 or something and notice that the EVF image quality and frame rate gets a lot better? Well, letting in 32x as much light does that.
Hi Dwight - here's my problem with this - that's a straw-man argument. When am I shooting F16 in a dark room? Why am I shooting F16 in a dark room? Even shooting astro I've NEVER had a problem with focusing the Loxias.