Earlier this year, Zeiss anounced that a Touit 50mm f2.8 Macro lens for APS-C sensor mirrorless cameras was in the making. Finally, at the Photo Plus Expo 2013 in New York, we had the chance to take a closer look at it. Unfortunately, the lens is still not 100% final, so we weren’t allowed to take any pictures with it yet. We were able to fondle it a bit, and we can already say that it looks and feels absolutely great. And if Zeiss is keeping the same level of quality as we’ve come to know from their other Touit offerings, the 50mm f2.8 is going to be one serious contender on the mirrorless lens market.
Tech Specs
Unfortunately, the full tech specs for this lens aren’t available yet. What we can tell you, though, is that it translates to a 75mm f4 lens in terms of focal length and depth-of-field. For a macro lens, that isn’t too bad at all.
Ergonomics
In the pre-production sample that we were shown at PPE, there wasn’t really much to see yet. The front features a relatively small front lens element with a huge amount of space around it. We reckon that the production version of the lens will feature the Zeiss branding as well as the full designation of the lens there. On the side of the lens barrel, there’s a nice blue Zeiss logo.
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The lens barrel is dominated by what appears to be the focusing ring. As this was a sample of the E-mount version of the lens, there is no aperture ring. So far, the lens barrel features the “Touit 2.8/50” branding on one side, while showing the “Makro Planar 2.8/50” branding–which refers to the lens’ optical design–on the other side. It also notes the filter thread size, which is 52mm, and the “T*” branding which refers to the coating on the glass elements.
Sporting a longer focal length, the barrel of the Touit 50/2.8 is significantly longer that that of the 12mm and 32mm lenses. Still, the lens is relatively small, although it looks huge attached to the tiny NEX-5T.
Build Quality
From what we can tell from the little time that we had with the pre-production unit, build quality is going to be the same as with Zeiss’s other mirrorless lens offerings. It already had a very solid feel to it, and this might actually still be improved on in the final version of the lens.
Autofocus
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to actually take any pictures with this lens, so we can’t comment on its focusing speed and accuracy, yet.
Image Quality
Again, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures yet. If you, like us, are curious about this lens’ performance, you’ll have to wait just a little longer until we get a review unit.
First Impressions
So far, the Zeiss Touit 50mm f2.8 Macro looks to be a very promising addition to the company’s lineup of lenses for mirrorless APS-C cameras. Judging by the overall quality of Zeiss lenses, and by the great performance of the companies previous Touit offerings, we’re positive that this lens is going to be another great performer, and a serious challenger to both Fujifilm’s and Sony’s macro lens offerings. We also reckon, though, that it’s going to have a significantly higher price point than these.
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