{"id":3036,"date":"2014-02-02T11:03:57","date_gmt":"2014-02-02T16:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=3036"},"modified":"2014-02-03T08:28:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T13:28:28","slug":"review-zeiss-touit-32mm-f1-8-planar-t-fuji-x-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-zeiss-touit-32mm-f1-8-planar-t-fuji-x-mount\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Zeiss Touit 32mm f\/1.8 Planar T* (Fuji X-Mount)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, Zeiss released its brand new line of lenses dedicated to APS-C mirrorless cameras. \u00a0 Here, I’ll be reviewing the ‘normal’ lens in that release, the Zeiss Touit 32mm f\/1.8 Planar T*. \u00a0While the version of the lens I reviewed was for Fujifilm X-Mount, the optics and internals should be identical between this and the Sony E-Mount version. \u00a0Zeiss has a storied history in the photography industry, with a reputation for extremely high-end lenses with crisp contrast and vibrant color. \u00a0In the Fuji mount, there’s stiff competition for the Touit 32mm f\/1.8 in the form of Fuji’s own 35mm f\/1.4. \u00a0That lens is 2\/3 stop faster, an excellent performer and a full $400 cheaper than the Touit 32mm’s $999 asking price. \u00a0Let’s see if that extra money is worth it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Zeiss Touit 32mm f\/1.8 Planar T* on the Fujifilm X-E2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. \u00a0You won\u2019t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. \u00a0There are plenty of other sites that cover those. \u00a0I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool in real-world shooting. \u00a0Thanks are due to LensRentals.com<\/a> for providing the lens for this review. \u00a0Please give them a visit any time you need a piece of gear for a special event or simply to try out that lens you’ve been anxious to use.<\/em><\/p>\n

Build Quality and Handling<\/h3>\n

The Zeiss 32mm f\/1.8 Planar is a solidly constructed lens with an all-metal barrel and rubberized focus and aperture rings. \u00a0There is absolutely zero flex anywhere in the lens body, and it feels like a solid block of metal. \u00a0The lens doesn’t use an internal focus mechanism, so there is some external movement of lens elements during focusing. \u00a0However, Zeiss has positioned the front focus group inside a recess in the lens, so while the elements move back and forth within this recess, the overall size of the lens stays constant at all times.<\/p>\n

\"Zeiss<\/a>
Zeiss Touit 32mm f\/1.8 Planar T* with Lens Hood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Included with the 32mm f\/1.8 is a plastic lens hood that provides good coverage and snaps on and off easily. \u00a0Unlike the hood for the Touit 12mm f\/2.8, the hood for the 32mm doesn’t radically alter the size of the lens when reversed, keeping the overall package relatively small.<\/p>\n

The rubberized focus ring is still a point of contention with me. \u00a0It provides good grip and rotates smoothly, but I don’t enjoy the feel of the rubber. \u00a0I much prefer the ribbed metal feel of Zeiss’ other lenses, such as the FE 35mm f\/2.8 for Sony E-Mount. \u00a0The rubber just makes it difficult to feel the ring moving. \u00a0This lack of tactile feedback is a bit odd, and while the lens focuses just fine in manual focus mode, I think the rubber focus ring needs to go.<\/p>\n

The aperture ring on the Touit 32mm f\/1.8 is also rubberized, but the click-stops for aperture settings provide that tactile feedback that’s lacking on the focus ring. \u00a0The detents for the aperture ring are a little too small for my liking, however, making it rather easy to inadvertently change the aperture setting.<\/p>\n

Size-wise, the 32mm f\/1.8 is nearly identical to the Fuji 35mm f\/1.4. \u00a0The lens handles well on the camera and feels well-balanced in the field.<\/p>\n

Focus Performance<\/h3>\n

One weak area with the Touit 32mm f\/1.8 is in focus speed. \u00a0It’s a relatively pokey lens in the autofocus department. \u00a0While it’s not appreciably slower than the Fuji 35mm f\/1.4 when using CDAF focusing on something like the X-E1, it lacks the proper firmware to take advantage of Fuji’s phase-detection capability on the X-E2 and X-T1. \u00a0As a result, that slow\u00a0speed is present on all bodies as of this time. \u00a0Zeiss has hinted that a firmware update to enable PDAF focusing is coming soon, but so far it has not materialized.<\/p>\n

I did find focus accuracy to be fine, though the lens tended to hunt a bit in lower light. \u00a0Overall, it’s not a lens that you’ll use when you need quick response, but it does just fine if you’re photographic static subjects.<\/p>\n

Continue: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Image Quality<\/h3>\n

Sharpness<\/h4>\n
\"Columbus<\/a>
Columbus Club – Fujifilm X-E2 with Zeiss Touit 32mm f\/1.8 Planar T* @ f\/4 (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Zeiss name has become synonymous with optical excellence, and in particular they have a reputation for making extremely sharp lenses, often at the expense of some other rendering characteristics. \u00a0With a moderate f\/1.8 aperture and a very high price tag, expectations for image sharpness with this lens were very high on my part, and Zeiss has succeeded here. \u00a0Mostly.<\/p>\n

At wide apertures, the Touit 32mm f\/1.8 performs very well. \u00a0Images are very sharp in the image center right from maximum aperture, and even the edges and corners produce fairly decent results at f\/1.8. \u00a0The edges are slightly soft, but still have a fair amount of detail. \u00a0This is impressive wide open on a standard lens.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the Touit 32mm doesn’t really get\u00a0much sharper than that when stopping down. \u00a0While 85% of the frame remains tack sharp throughout the aperture range, those corners and edges don’t improve much at all at smaller apertures. \u00a0While the performance is still decent in the corners and edges, it’s not outstanding. \u00a0If you look at the comparison I did<\/a> between the Zeiss 32mm and the Fuji 35mm f\/1.4, you’ll see that while the Zeiss is notably sharper at wide apertures, the Fuji surpasses it quite handily on the edges and corners at smaller apertures. \u00a0While this won’t be noticeable in most prints and especially not at web size, it’s a little disappointing given the strong wide open performance and the cost of the lens.<\/p>\n

Bokeh<\/h4>\n

Bokeh is always a subjective thing, and Zeiss bokeh in particular can divide people a fair bit. \u00a0Wide open, the Tout 32mm f\/1.8 produces out of focus areas that are a little busy, but they certainly have some character. \u00a0Whether you like that character will be up to each individual person. \u00a0Specular highlights have some bright edges at wide apertures and there is some green fringing that can be seen in certain places as well. \u00a0The overall effect is somewhat nervous. \u00a0When stopped down to f\/2.8 and smaller, the bokeh smooths out a bit, losing the bright edge and controlling that green fringing better.<\/p>\n

\"Snow<\/a>
Snow Roller – Fujifilm X-E2 with Zeiss Touit 32mm f\/1.8 Planar T* @ f\/1.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One other thing of note is that the lens produces some cone-shaped specular highlights at the edges of the frame wide open. \u00a0I expect some mechanical vignetting of highlights on extremely fast lenses (which usually show a cat’s eye appearance), but it’s odd to see it on an f\/1.8 normal lens, especially producing asymmetric highlights.<\/p>\n

Color, Contrast and Chromatic Aberration<\/h4>\n

Aside from sharpness, Zeiss lenses are known for having what is often termed ‘3D pop.’ \u00a0That is, the contrast and falloff to out of focus areas adds depth and impact to an image. \u00a0While the Touit 32mm doesn’t represent this as well as many other Zeiss lenses I’ve used in the past, it does have a very nice strong contrast profile with excellent color reproduction. \u00a0Images are a little lower in contrast at f\/1.8, but the lens still produces plenty of impact at wide apertures. \u00a0Stopped down, the Touit 32mm f\/1.8 puts out very contrasty images with good fine detail and gradation.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Chromatic Aberration is a bit of a weak spot with the Touit 32mm. \u00a0 The lens produces very visible lateral chromatic aberration, seen as a cyan and magenta fringe that intensifies as you near the image corners. The lateral CA is present at all apertures. \u00a0It’s worth noting that Lightroom can correct this CA using its automatic chromatic aberration correction tools, so this may be a minor point, though it does affect the edge resolution to some degree.<\/p>\n

Distortion, Flare and Vignetting<\/h4>\n

I’ve seen reports that the Touit 32mm uses in-camera software corrections for distortion and vignetting. \u00a0 However, I don’t generally see these in most instances, and even Capture One seems to be implementing them on this lens. Whether corrected in software or not, the final images show very minimal distortion and minimal vignetting at wide apertures to boot. \u00a0You shouldn’t need to worry about either in day-to-day shooting.<\/p>\n

The Touit 32mm f\/1.8 also puts in a good showing in flare resistance. \u00a0While the included hood eliminates most instances of flare, the 32mm shows good resistance even when the sun is in the frame. \u00a0When the sun is just\u00a0out of frame, there is a minor loss of contrast near the light source, but it’s still quite minimal.<\/p>\n

Continue:\u00a0Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Zeiss<\/a>
Zeiss Touit 32mm f\/1.8 Planar T*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Pros<\/h4>\n