Some impressions of the Zeiss Touit 32/1.8

Morning in De Rijp 1
(Sony a6000, Zeiss Touit 1.8/32, f4, 1/750s, 32mm, ISO 100)
also on flickr

Just got my first serious lens for the a6000 the other day: the Zeiss Touit 32mm F1.8 (or 1.8/32 as Zeiss calls it).  A fast prime? Well according to Lightroom Analytics, I shoot a majority of my better pictures around 35mm anyway. I got lucky and found a completely new copy on Markplaats (Dutch eBay) for the price of second hand one. That, for me anyway, fixes one of the biggest cons many reviewers agree upon (here, here and here): the price level.

Unsurprisingly, I couldn't resist taking it out the moment I had my greedy little hands on it. So I went to the picturesque town of De Rijp, not too far from where I reside. Here are some of my first impressions.

TL;DR The lens is well built and balanced, superb image quality, acceptable autofocus (hurry up with that firmware update Zeiss), slightly softer wide open, but razer sharp otherwise; shoot at f2.4+. Also: lovely unboxing experience ;-)

200mm macro thing

Itsy Bitsy
(Sony a6000, Auto Chinon 200mm + extension tubes, f8, 1/500s, 200mm, ISO 1600)
also on flickr

200mm is not necessarily the most obvious choice of focal length for macro photography. Why is that? You can probably google the anwser, but isn't it more fun to try?! In theory it sounds really nice to have a macro lens with a long focal length as it allows you to have some distance between you and your subject. Especially useful with bugs and the sorts.

So why does one see so little macro lenses with a focal length larger than about 100mm? It turns out, there's a very good reason for that. Even if the spider picture above is pretty nice.

Lazy

Lazy Cat
(Sony a6000, E 55-210, f8, 1/250s, 135mm, ISO 1600)

It has been awhile since I've last blogged here. Between studies, work and life, I haven't made the time to write more here. So it's time to pick up the camera once more (with feeling)!

Noticing that I left the old Pentax K5 at home more than I figured I would, I got myself new equipment. My current weapon of choice is the new Sony a6000. That's right: mirrorless, I have gone. Smaller with at least the same punch and plenty of options with manual focus glass. Also: PC and smartphone tethered shooting.

Today I tried it out for the first time. I'll write my initial impressions down at the end of the week, but for now there are two more pictures after the break.