First Test:
Zeiss ZF 25mm f2.8 v Nikon 24mm f2 AIS
Performance Comparison at f4 (Centre Frame)
 |
 |
| Nikon 24mm f2 AIS at f5.6 (Centre)
|
Zeiss ZF 25mm f2.8 at f5.6 (Centre) |
Apart from the exposure, which pumps more
midtone information into the Nikon shot, the primary different centre
frame between these centre f5.6 crops is distortion: Zeiss has clearly
paid a lot of attention to geometric distortion with their new, potentially
class-leading ZF. The corner crops demonstrate that chromatic
aberrations are well corrected, too.
Performance Comparison at f5.6 (APS-sensor 'corner')
 |
 |
| Nikon 24mm f2 AIS at f5.6 (Corner) |
Zeiss ZF 25mm f2.8 at f5.6 (Corner) |
I'm not sure this 'corner' performance is unbeatable
at this aperture: the Canon 24mm f1.4 L is exemplary at f5.6 across
the frame, and the little Olympus 24mm is starting to come on song .
. . however, compared with Nikon's best at 24mm, the Zeiss ZF shines
again: straight
lines,
no red
halos
and
marginal
resolution
loss.