Verdict
Pros
- Streamlined design that makes the lens easy to hold
Cons
- Stiff zoom ring is uncomfortable for fingertip rotation
Key Specifications
- Review Price: £1419
Sony Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA T* SSM review
Sony’s top-rank standard zoom comes courtesy of Carl Zeiss and enjoys the same Vario-Sonnar lineage that made the German manufacturer famous throughout the film-camera world. It is also good-looking thanks to a highly streamlined design that features a constant diameter right along the barrel’s length (excluding the mounting flange itself) and a fairly modest length.
The manual-focusing ring is foremost and has a very good feel; the zoom ring is behind and, on the review sample at least, verges on being slightly too heavy to be truly comfortable. AF speed, provided by an aptly-named Super-Sonic Wave Motor, is good and its accuracy is high. Switching between AF and manual-focusing is carried out using a rotating switch that falls right under the user’s left thumb. Sadly, the rotating action is not as easy on the thumb as a simple slide-switch, which is employed by other manufacturers in this application.
Optically, the CZ 24-70mm zoom displays a well-matched set of MTF curves and it appears that Zeiss has gone more for consistency than for a pronounced sweet-spot in image quality. Wide-open and fully-closed resolutions are slightly lower than elsewhere but from f/4 to f/11 the lens stays solidly in the 0.25-0.30 cycles per pixel range at all focal lengths. There is a small amount of chromatic aberration at the 24mm setting, especially towards the edges of the field but this is unlikely to be obtrusive.
Thanks to internal-focusing there is no movement of the front element, nor of the manual-focusing ring, and with only just over 30mm of extension during zooming (despite a continuous forward movement) this is a very compact lens overall. Even more impressive, given its well-contained proportions, is the fact that the Zeiss lens manages to focus slightly closer than competitors from Nikon or Canon’s equivalent zooms.
A classy protective pouch is provided with the lens, as is a petal-shape lens hood.
Sample images
Verdict
Overall this is a very good-looking lens that produces consistent results right across the range of commonly-used aperture settings, though at a street price of around £1,300 it’s not cheap.
Trusted Score
Score in detail
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Value 9
-
Design 10
-
Image Quality 9
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Features 9
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.