Admiring Light
Menu
  • Home
  • Review Index
  • Shop Talk
  • Technique and Vision
  • Opinion
  • Portfolio
  • Site Index
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
Menu

Review: Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 Distagon T*

Posted on February 18, 2016February 18, 2016 by Jordan Steele

Contents

  • 1Construction and Handling
  • 2Image Quality
  • 3Conclusion
  • 4Image Samples

Image Quality

So the big question: did Zeiss succeed in packing outstanding optical quality into a small package?  The answer is an unqualified YES.  As you’ll see in the images and in my description, the Loxia 21mm is a phenomenal optic.

Sharpness

For landscape shooters, having an ultra-wide that provides excellent edge to edge sharpness is of great concern, and the Loxia 21mm delivers in spades.  The lens is very sharp across almost the entire frame right from f/2.8.  Just a hint of edge and corner softness shows at this aperture.  Stop down a bit and the Loxia 21 sharpens up to produce truly excellent sharpness from extreme corner to extreme corner. It’s remarkable to see that level of performance in a lens this wide.  When I reviewed the excellent Fuji 14mm f/2.8 (which has the same angle of view as this lens, as it’s an APS-C lens), I remarked that it was the finest wide-angle lens I’d ever used.  I directly compared the two, and one thing was immediately clear: the Loxia is sharper.  Notably so at wide apertures, but it even outresolves it in the corners stopped down.

Scioto in the Snow - Sony A7 II with Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 Distagon @ f/11,
Scioto in the Snow – Sony A7 II with Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 Distagon @ f/13, 25s, ISO 100
There is one thing of special note: the lens does exhibit some field curvature at landscape focus distances (though I found the field to be rather flat when focused between around 4 feet and closer). In most cases, it’s not a big deal, though if you want critically sharp edges at infinity focus, you’ll need to focus to the hard infinity stop (with slightly reduced center performance).  When focused for maximum front to back sharpness in the frame, you’ll have outstanding closer field sharpness at the edges and amazing center sharpness at infinity, but the edges at infinity will show some minor softening.  However, I found this to be very minor in actual field use, but it’s something to be aware of as you shoot.

Bokeh

You wouldn’t think that bokeh would be a major concern with an ultra-wide lens, but for close-up work, the Loxia 21mm can definitely create plenty of blur.  The bokeh of the 21mm f/2.8 is actually fairly good.  Specular highlights are neutral and while the bokeh is high in contrast, it falls short of nervous, creating a predominantly pleasing rendition of out of focus areas.

Snow Berry - Sony A7 II with Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 Distagon @ f/4
Snow Berry – Sony A7 II with Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 Distagon @ f/4, 1/80s, ISO 100

Color, Contrast and Chromatic Aberration

While the sharpness was outstanding, the area where the legendary C/Y 21mm Distagon most excelled was in the exceptional contrast and color that the lens could produce. I’m happy to report that the Loxia 21mm fits that same mold.  The Loxia 21mm has exceptional micro-contrast, astounding macro contrast and amazingly rich color.  The first shot posted on this page shows all three in their glory.  This shot had a minimum of post-processing, with some minor curves adjustment and virtually zero saturation adjustments.  If you enlarge that image, you’ll note the astounding micro-contrast in the snow on the left side, while the buildings simply pop.  On a few of the other night images in the Image Samples, I actually had to lower saturation, as the default RAW setting looked almost fake.  While this won’t be the case with most scenes, you can expect a contrasty, saturated look out of the Loxia 21mm.  In my opinion, the images almost leap out at you.

The Loxia 21mm can show some very slight lateral chromatic aberration if you look for it, but overall performance in this regard is excellent for a wide-angle.  Longitudinal CA is also not a problem.

Distortion, Flare and Vignetting

The Loxia 21mm performs fairly well with regards to distortion. The native optical properties of the lens show some barrel distortion with a mustache character (barrel in the center, pincushion at the edges), but the lens also has a distortion profile for JPEGs as well as application in most RAW converters.  The distortion correction works extremely well, and impact to sharpness is exceptionally minimal.  If it helped increase the performance in other areas, I’m more than happy with the tradeoff of some digital distortion correction.

The Loxia 21mm also shows some vignetting at wide apertures that can also be corrected with a profile, though stopped down this mostly disappears.  Overall, not much to worry about here.

With flare, the lens itself performs admirably. There is no loss of contrast with bright lights in the frame, including mid-day sun in a clear blue sky.  It also produces almost no ghosting whatsoever.  However, there is something about the construction of the lens that does cause reflections off the image sensor to be visible in the final images, at least on the A7 II. Going back through all my other images, I was able to spy subtle hints of reflections with a few other lenses, but nothing like the blatant ones present with the Loxia. The original A7 had a fairly major issue with sensor reflections, and the Mark II tempered that quite a bit.  However the Loxia brings out the worst in the A7 II with regards to sensor reflection, so if using it on that body (or the original A7 or A7R), you’ll really want to watch it if the sun is prominent in the frame.  From talking with other photographers, the issue is minimal to non-existent on the A7R II.  See the shot below for a typical presentation of these sensor reflections

Sensor reflections show with the Loxia 21mm on the A7 II
Sensor reflections show with the Loxia 21mm on the A7 II
You’ll also notice in the shot above and in the night shots, that the Loxia 21mm also produces rather spectacular stars with point light sources.  Some people don’t like sunstars, but I think they look rather cool if they are presented nicely, and the Loxia 21mm does so.  Its 10 bladed aperture produces stars with 10 points that show very defined spokes from light sources, even wide open (the aperture blades never fully open to a circle).  If you like sunstars, you’ll really like the Loxia 21mm.  If you hate sun stars, you may want to look at other options.

In all, the optical performance of the lens is simply phenomenal.

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples

Pages: 1 2 3

11 thoughts on “Review: Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 Distagon T*”

  1. Marc Baillargeon says:
    February 19, 2016 at 8:17 am

    Jordan,
    Excellent review as usual! This for sure is an extremely desirable lens but I concur with you on the practicality of using the Sony/Zeiss FE 16-35mm. The one-stop gain and marginally better performance with the Loxia, is not for me enough to overcome the convenience of carrying a single zoom.
    On the other hand, I really look forward to hear from you on the forthcoming Voigtlander 10mm and 12mm in E-mount. Both are appreciably outside the 16-35mm range to make them potentially very interesting. And I love those extreme wide-angle perspectives!
    Thanks again!
    Marc

    Reply
  2. Chris says:
    February 19, 2016 at 5:09 pm

    Interesting observation about the sensor reflection. I was wondering if sensor reflection is also visible in the image “Sunlight – Sony A7 II with Sony FE 28mm f/2 @ f/16” on the third page of your review of the Sony FE 28mm, or is that just regular flare?

    Reply
    1. Jordan Steele says:
      February 19, 2016 at 5:53 pm

      That’s illumination of the dirt on the window I was shooting through.

      Reply
  3. Alex says:
    March 12, 2016 at 7:56 am

    Good review! Did you had a chance to use the Loxia with a filter system? I’m interested whether it works with the Lee 75 system.

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Loxia 21mm lens in Stock and shipping in USA. New reviews from Admiringtlight and Photochirp. | sonyalpharumors
  5. Thomas says:
    April 4, 2016 at 1:02 am

    Is this lens designed specifically for the Sony? (I’m assuming so) that is some serious quality. When you reviewed this the 16mm Fuji wasn’t made yet. Is it the same type of lens? Is there anyway of adapting this bad boy to an XPro2 and retaining that quality. Which Sony is this made for? All E mount? Thanks for the review and these great images. Looks like 4×5 almost.

    Reply
  6. Mark says:
    June 8, 2016 at 10:03 pm

    Thanks for the informative review, Jordan!.

    What do you think: Could the field curvature of the lens be due to the distortion correction?

    You’ say the “thick sensor cover glass” in the Sony cameras make adequate lens constructions like a Loxia necessary. I remember Cicala from LensRentals demonstrating, that third party lenses deliver optical performance according to the thickness of the sensor cover glass in the particular camera. That’s why I’m wondering whether the sensor cover glass in the A 6000 / A 6300 is as thick as that in the A 7 series? And do you know what third party lens makers offer lenses that in the said sense are suited to the Sony cameras?

    Thank you again!

    Reply
  7. Pingback: Loxia 21mm f/2.8 – Site Title
  8. Pingback: Carl Zeiss Loxia 2.8/21 ??????????? | ?????????????
  9. Pingback: Review: Voigtländer 21mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar (Sony E-mount) - Admiring Light
  10. Bruno says:
    August 28, 2020 at 2:16 am

    Hello Jordan, although English is not my native language, I am always carefully checking your comments and conclusions. Really great insights!
    One thing that hit me when checking the ultra wide angle / wide angle reviews you and others specialists are running is that I do not see any good test of the Sony FE 20 mm f:1,8 G (or anything as good as what you are doing). Any plan to review this lens?
    Thank you.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Follow Me:

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on Mastodon

Most Popular Posts

  • "Full Frame Equivalence" and Why It Doesn't Matter (288)
  • Fuji X-Pro 2 vs. Sony A7 II: Noise Comparison (70)
  • Fuji 56mm f/1.2 vs. Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 Nocticron (63)
  • Review: Metabones Speed Booster (Canon FD to Fuji X) (56)
  • Review: Olympus OM-D E-M5 (48)

Recent Comments

  • Anonymous on Ready for Launch!
  • Jordan Steele on Canon EOS R8 – First Impressions
  • J Williams on Canon EOS R8 – First Impressions
  • Davide on Review: Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD
  • Peter on A Tripod in the Sky – DJI Air 2S Review

Archives

©2023 Admiring Light | Theme by SuperbThemes
We use cookies to personalize content and ads and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You may consent to the use of cookies or opt out. Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

SAVE & ACCEPT