f 22: Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 First Impressions (comparison with Tokina 11-16 at wide end)

As you can see, many of the photos below are taken at 24mm (on the 24-70mm f/2.8). I felt the colour and saturation was very accurate and rich without adjustment in post-processing. The bright and contrasty middle of day was challenging but the exposure coped well, with default -0.3EV and Kelvin 5900 WB applied in all PASM camera modes. This can be compared to the Tokina, which seems to handle over-exposure much less favourably, while I used a B+W Kaeseman MRC circular polariser on the Tokina lens and no filter on the Sony Zeiss. The third shot shows the Buddhas inside the temple but had to be taken from outside in bright conditions metering looking into the dimly illuminated interior because no photography is allowed inside buildings. Handheld on 50mm zoom, shot off the hip so-to-speak, ISO increased to 200 just for this one, I am quite pleased with the detail and sharpness. Unobtrusive shots like this are assisted by the back-of-camera hinged adjustable angle screen which allows you to compose and image without holding up the camera. The f/2.8 is certainly much more cooperative in this regard than the 16-80ZA lens. I found the SSM AF very quick and quiet (confirmed in the quote below). In the fourth image, I thought the exposure was well-handled in the extremely sunny conditions. The steps still show good detail and colour without too much reflection. The incense bowl, for example, shows the relatively realistic angles and perspective of the 24mm wide angle (36mm equiv. on APS-C), rather than the unrealistic exaggerated angles of the Tokina at 11mm. The former is very close to the natural human eye's perspective. The final example is stopped down a fair bit (f/7.1) to achieve the DOF for the foreground statues and architecture in the background (same for image 4 to capture depth of stairs and building behind). According to Photozone.de, "In terms of resolution it may well be the hottest cake around in this class and neither distortions nor vignetting are problems to worry about (all within the APS-C scope) ... A highlight of the lens is the extremely fast and silent SSM AF drive - if you think the Canon or Nikkor variants are fast here you may need to prepare for a surprise".