Zeiss 35mm f 1.4 ZE Distagon Lens Press Release

The fast all-around talent

Carl Zeiss presents a new moderate wide-angle lens

OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 01.09.2010.

A woman is sitting at the bar of a dimly-lit cafe. Lost in thoughts, she doesn’t notice the glass of wine the bartender places before her. From a distance, a photographer tries to capture her mood. He brings her face, which is leaning toward her phone, into focus. Everything around her becomes a blur, and the lights in the background coalesce into a wild “dance” of diffuse shapes.

This shot will only work with a fast lens with short focal length and harmonious bokeh. Carl Zeiss introduces a new lens for just such images: the Distagon T* 1,4/35.

By introducing the Distagon T* 1,4/35, Carl Zeiss is complementing the Planar T*1,4/50 and T*1,4/85 lenses with a wide-angle lens that shares the same high speed. Crisp, sharp images work every time, whether at dusk or in the weak lighting conditions of a café, and without the need for a tripod. With its 35-mm, the Distagon T* 1,4/35 matches the classic and versatile standard focal lengths when used on cameras with APS-C sensor formats.

Due to the special bokeh effects in both the foreground and background areas, the Distagon T*1,4/35 opens up new creative possibilities, giving photographers more options to ‘play’ with focus. Thanks to its large focus ring, photographers can also create highly accurate, sharp pictures, even at maximum aperture opening. In addition, the optical construction of the lens guarantees high image quality across the entire image range. Furthermore, with one step less than the full aperture opening, the light fall-off toward the edges is just one f-stop.

With the ZEISS T*‘s anti-reflective coating, its sophisticated stray light reduction and the excellent flare control the new Distagon also takes pictures of bright light sources without artifacts. The Distagon T*1,4/35’s extremely long-lasting and robust all-metal precision mechanics, for which Carl Zeiss is known, make this lens perfect for use on-the-go and for photo reports.

The Distagon T* 1,4/35 will be available in first quarter of 2011 at a recommended retail price of €1385.71 (excluding VAT)*.

Technical specifications

Focal length: 35 mm
Aperture range: f/1.4 - f/16
Number of elements/groups: 11/9
Focusing range: 0.3 m - infinity
Angular field**
(diag./horiz./vert.): 63/54/37 °
Coverage at close range: 18 x 12 cm (close-up)
Image ratio at close range: 1:5 (close-up)
Filter thread: M 72 x 0.75
Weight: 830-850g
Length with caps: 120-122mm
Mounts: ZF.2 (F bayonet)
ZE (EF bayonet)

* As of September 01, 2010
** relates to small camera format