Review by Klaus Schroiff, published December 2007

Introduction

The build quality of the lens is decent although not stellar. The outer shell is made of good quality plastics and the broad, rubberized zoom and focus rings operate smooth but also a little stiff. The focus ring could operate somewhat more accurate though - it isn't really a highlight of the construction. The rubberized control rings feel good with lots of grip but they also collect dust like hell. As you can see below the lens extends significantly based on a mono-cam system. Fortunately the tolerances are pretty tight so there's only marginal wobbling here. In AF mode the focus ring is decoupled from the AF gears so it does not rotate during AF operations. Thanks to an IF (internal focus) design the front element does not rotate so using a polarizer is no problem.

Similar to some of the Nikkors the Zeiss does still rely on the conventional focusing system driven by the camera (via a slotted drive screw). Consequently the AF produces a moderate degree of noise during operations but it is fairly fast. The lens comes with a signed paper certificating that it is within factory specs. This may feel reassuring but my first sample of the lens was not perfect (the exchange process over at sonystyle was flawless though).