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Zeiss 24-70/2.8 SSM unacceptable sharpness at corners?


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I have owned a Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8 SSM lens for about 6 years. Since I bought it (new), I have told myself the sharpness at the corners is normal. Maybe I have been trying to justify the cost of the lens, but I want to know what you think. I also want to hear form other SAL2470Z owners. What do you think of the lens you own? Does it look like this in the corners? (For full resolution version, click here.) This shot was handheld with a Sony a900 at ISO200, 1/500sec, ƒ7.1. I made sure to turn off any distortion correction in Capture One, and turned the sharpening down to zero. Note the smeared details at the corners. For what it's worth, no amount of correction in Capture One fixes this issue. Everywhere else in the image is amazingly sharp and always has been. It's just the corners that annoy me. If this were a $500 lens, I'd maybe get used to it, but it was over $1200 and that stings.

 

I've also noticed that even a single filter causes terrible vignetting at the corners at 24mm. Again, I've told myself this is normal, but it sucks when I use a polarizing filter for a landscape and I end up with black corners at the widest focal length. You can see it slightly in this shot. Apertures smaller than ƒ8 are much worse.

 

i-dFzJKZf-M.jpg

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Vignetting you fix with a step-up ring, 

frinstintz 72 - 82mm. I don't know your 

lens. If it's native size is larger than 72 

you're pretty much stuck unless you 

can find some Series 9 or some 95mm

stuff, either of which is pretty rare :-(   

   

As to corner sharpness, don't lose any 

sleep over it. It's just typical. Always 

believe it when you're telling yourself

that it's normal. 

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Guest Jaf-Photo

I am very pleased with my copy. There is some softness towards the edges and vignetting but nothing that stands out. Most 24-70 lenses have these issues and I thimk the Sony Zeiss does better than average. That goes for CA too, which is hardly noticeable. I don't know if you use slim rim filters but they do reduce the vignetting.

 

I couldn't see anything untoward in your photo. But you could try taking a test shot of a flat focus target filling the frame. In wide lanscape shots, a lot of the features around the borders will be outside of the plane of focus and therefore softer.

 

And $1200 new was a good price. It was $2000 in Europe.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi there!

 

I have a quite good copy since 7 years, but to be honest Your copy seems to be too bad. My copy has soft Corners at 24mm but not that heavy like yours. I would send it in for repair.

 

Warmest regards

Wolfgang

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Chiming in here... my copy of the Sony Zeiss 24-70mm 2.8 ZA SSM seems to be quite a bit sharper overall, and especially at the corners, based upon what I can tell from your photo. I've had no problem with correcting slight vignetting and corner lens distortion in PP. I rarely use any filters, other than a high-quality UV filter (virtually clear), because I feel that almost all filters create some sort of distortion or undesirable effects to exposure. I've never had any luck with a polarizing filter. I make my best attempt to shoot directly for what I want with the camera and lens only. It's true that quality can vary from copy to copy among the same lens category. You'll have to decide what to do with your copy. Before I settled on my 24-70mm, I picked from 2. The one I own is better than the one I tried before. Best of luck! FWIW

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Guest Jaf-Photo

I don't know, I still think it's a difficult picture to judge by. If you shoot staggered foliage with a wide angle lens, some of it will always be out of focus. To really tell if there's a problem, you should shoot a test chart or a brick wall, making sure they're parallel to the sensor.

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I don't know, I still think it's a difficult picture to judge by. If you shoot staggered foliage with a wide angle lens, some of it will always be out of focus. To really tell if there's a problem, you should shoot a test chart or a brick wall, making sure they're parallel to the sensor.

 

Agreed and good feedback and advice.

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