This is the second shooting report of the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 1.4/35 ZM. I won't repeat what we said in the first report, but I must say this is one of the best ZEISS lenses for Leica M mount. It's bitingly sharp wide open. The bokeh is very ZEISS, or charming and beautiful. I cannot take my eyes off the smooth bokeh around the focal peak. And, the 3D quality is wonderful regardless of the distance of the subject. The color reproduction is also very ZEISS. The clarity is extremely high. The contrast is high, even though the tonal gradation is amazingly rich... This lens is so good that I cannot find better ways to express its excellence. It sometimes behaves wildly in some conditions, but even such character makes this lens more fun to use. And, because this lens is F1.4, I shot all images in this report wide open.

( Photo / Text : 4beats )

I wanted to get the bokeh wide open at close distance, but the highest shutter speed of the Leica M (typ 240) is 1/4000 second and the base sensitivity is ISO200. Still, I shot wide open without decreasing the sensitivity and with no filter to best enjoy the combination of ZEISS and Leica. And, here's the result. Without exception, the camera generates overexposed images like the ones in a fairy tale, regardless of the personality of the photographer. I could somehow "rescue" the image with software, but you must be careful when shooting wide open. Still, thanks to the EVF, you can check the exposure and compose precisely even at the 0.7m minimum focus distance. Thank God!

This white shirt is overexposed, too. But, I don't even care about it because I'm stunned by the 3D separation of that makes the subject look like he's going to start moving at any moment. The 35mm focal length is perfect for a casual shot like this, but again, be careful when shooting wide open because the focal depth gets paper-thin. Me? I still cannot stop shooting wide open because I have experienced the attractive outcome.

The bokeh grows extremely smoothly from the root of the chain. It's this bokeh quality that temps me to shoot close subjects.

I gave the lens a hard time by including the high-frequency subject, which is sandy soil. And, it looks swirly. But, I think almost any lens will draw like this in this condition and I love the 3D separation of the people.

Night shot is easy with the high-speed. I talked to the two ladies (in the first image of the three consecutive images above) to get a permission to shoot them. They laughed, looked serious, and used gestures to talk with me and I had a great time, even though I had no idea what they were talking about. Anyway, F1.4 gave me enough speed to shoot in this dark situation without causing camera and image shake.