Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 Distagon: Arc Flare vs Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8

2015-11-13 • SEND FEEDBACK |
Related: arc flare, Canon, Canon 5DS, Canon 5DS R, Canon DSLR, Eastern Sierra, lens flare, peak bagging, Zeiss, Zeiss 21mm, Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 Distagon, Zeiss Distagon, Zeiss DSLR Lenses, Zeiss Lenses, Zeiss Milvus, Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8

Get Canon 5DS R and Zeiss Milvus 21mm at B&H Photo.

I documented this arc flare years ago in my review of the Zeiss ZF.2/ZE 21mm f/2.8 Distagon but I decided to update the flare page documenting the behavior across the aperture range. Large examples are shown from f/2.8 - f/16.

Zeiss ZE 21mm f/2.8 Distagon: Arc Flare from f/2.8 - f/16

The ZF.2 and ZE version behave identically.

According to Zeiss, the lens coating on the new Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8 (same optical formula) should greatly mitigate or eliminate this type of flare, which would mean an outstanding performance, since other types of flare are exceptionally well controlled in the 21/2.8. I am hoping to obtain the Milvus 21/2.8 soon to confirm the behavioral improvement.

Arc Flare

f6.3 @ 1/1600 sec, ISO 100; 2015-11-03 10:41:36
Canon EOS 5DS R + Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/21 ZE @ 21mm

[low-res image for bot]