Daily commuting, seen differently

[Airy]

For similar concerns, I'm also reluctant to include people of the sizes in which they can easily be identifiable in my images recently.  If people are unavoidable, I would try to include them only as assembled anonymous crowds.

Self-censorship is not my natural attitude, being a brazen Westerner... more precisely, I think it a pity that people (and lawmakers) went paranoid, probably inspired by those in the show- and paparazzi-business, i.e. our leading pack. The essence of street shooting however is to celebrate life, not asphalt, concrete, and neon lighting.

[Erik Lund]

These modern Zeiss almost all deliver high contrast, colour saturation and sharpness.

I like the third shot.

[simsurace]

Airy, thanks for the comments wrt. Zeiss vs Sigma. They are already quite helpful.

By the way, what was it that put you off with the 25/2.8 ?

It didn't so much put me off -- rather I was not ready to spend the money on this lens when I really want the f/2. I think it is a fine lens if you take if for what it is, i.e. a moderately fast wide-angle. But compared to the 35/2 it is just not quite in the same league I think. The falloff wide open is quite extreme, I would be willing to accept if it was at f/2, but at f/2.8 it is just too much. I don't really get why even a moderately fast lens is so extreme in that respect, maybe it was the engineers' intention, I don't know. You even see it through the viewfinder and I was wondering whether it was vignetting from the lens shade, but it the falloff is really crazy.

Another thing was that despite what I had heard about its insane close focus, it was only sharp at close distances when the subject was placed dead center, wide open that is. If you place the subject off-center and want to throw the background way out of focus with a large aperture (the first thing to try really), the rendition is unfortunately plagued by a lot of astigmatism (I think that's what it is) which introduces a smearing effect. In addition, the field curvature is really extreme up close. I think the Nikon AI-s 28/2 which I also have does better in this regard, even though it doesn't go quite as close.

In contrast and as a surprise to me, the lens was really freaking sharp at large distances, even wide open and pretty far into the corners.

I don't want to bad-mouth it, maybe I got a sub-par sample (although it looked like new), or I didn't spend enough time to learn it. But I guess that the 25/2 would fit me more and also go better together with the 35/2.

EDIT: And to add one more positive, the 25/2.8 is really amazing with regards to color and contrast, there is nothing to complain here (unless you prefer a more subtle rendition). But I guess this is pretty much common throughout the range of ZF/ZE lenses, they are all known for their pop, the straight Planars maybe less so but the Distagons and Makro Planars.

[Airy]

I was once interested in buying a used 25/2.8, but it could not focus to infinity and the shop (a Leica, Voigtländer and Zeiss dealer...) confirmed it by testing it on a bench - but they did not offer to adjust it.
The 25/2 is probably the better choice (low astigmatism, low coma...) but field curvature is the other way around, so you've been warned. By the way, my copy was for sale over about 6 months until I finally bought it. You may want to check Photo Ciné House in Brussels, rue du midi. They also got other second hand ZF2 : 35/2, 50/2, 50/1.4, 85/1.4... and the boss is yet another Df hugger

It is not the first used lens I bought there and, unlike several Paris shops, they never try to cheat people by selling stuff with semi-hidden defects. In Paris I experienced :

At the Boutique Nikon, XVIIth district:
- A grossly defect Noct (1300€ but that's no excuse), which I sure did not buy
- A slightly defect 50/1.2 AIS (diaph does not open fully, maybe 1.25 only); they did not tell nor admit the defect, but sharpness was good and price was low, so that was a deal;

Somewhere in the XIIth district:
- A defect Zeiss distagon 15/3.5, never sharp even stopped down; not bought;

Photo Suffren, XVth district:
- The above mentioned 25/2.8 and, once again, I discovered the problem (and did not buy).

I can only recommend, in Paris : Photo cirque and Le Moyen Format. They treat their customers seriously, not just their pals.
In Brussels, of course, PCH rue du midi.

[simsurace]

Thanks for these tips, good to know!

[Akira]

Self-censorship is not my natural attitude, being a brazen Westerner... more precisely, I think it a pity that people (and lawmakers) went paranoid, probably inspired by those in the show- and paparazzi-business, i.e. our leading pack. The essence of street shooting however is to celebrate life, not asphalt, concrete, and neon lighting.

Airy, self-censorship is a hindrance to the creative mind, but the self-limitation can be turned into an inspiring rule of a game.  I would take the latter.