Sharp and contrasty near and far with automatic floating elements. You do not need to a second step to adjust the floating elements like on the CF/CFE series. Corners soft wide open. Contrast good wide open. Fast aperture makes for easy focusing even in dim light. Better stopped down a bit than wide open. Very low distortion. Slight vignetting wide open. Current version focuses to 12 inches. New version coming out soon reduces close focus for lighter weight. Excellent fit and finish. Smooth focus.

Heavy (but balances well). Optical formula somewhat sensitive to manufacturing tolerances so there is some slight variation across lenses. Test if buying used.

Great lens if you don't need leaf shutter. If buying new I might wait for the new version which supposedly allows Zeiss to build to tighter tolerances more consistently. But you give up the extra close focus. Don't know when these are due. More info is at www.zeiss.de. Look for the lens newsletter.

Similar Products Used:

Rollei 6000 series.