The Zeiss ZM 25 Biogon Arrived Today!

Took delivery of a Zeiss 25 Biogon today from the kind folks at lensrentals.com. Yes, they now rent Leica gear! Its so cool to be able to rent a leica lens online, especially since they are so expensive to buy. This way, you can try before you buy! Thumbs up to the guys at lensrantals.com! With that out of the way let me say that even though I have only shot this lens for a few images today I am sitting here looking at these images at 100% and my jaw is dropping.

This Zeiss ZM lens is one sharp mofo! It also is showing no issues (in the few shots I took today with it) or problems on the M9. Impressive. No need for an IR filter or coding with a wide lens on the M9. Anyway, I posted a couple of shots in my M9 diary earlier today from this lens and here is one more I will post but any others I shoot this week will be for my review.

My main question is to see how it compares to the Leica 24 Elmarit, one of my fave Leica lenses. My review should be up within 7-10 days so be sure to check back!

I snapped this at 2.8 and this is the JPEG! I did not even process a RAW file for this one. I will show you the crazy sharpness and detail in my upcoming review. I always say I like lens with “character” and this lens seems overflowing with it. As for this house, I really wanted to knock on the door and get a pic of it with the owner. I chickened out so all you get to see is the lovely house. Ha ha. Click it for a larger 1500 pixel wide version. Vignette added to this image. Why? Because thats just my style 😉

weathered1500WM

Check back soon for the review which will have a ton of samples as well as testing for vignetting, distortion and sharpness!

7 Comments

  1. Hey Ron,

    I am not using a VF. With a 24 I do not feel you really need an external VF as you can guesstimate. With a 21 you would need one for sure, or if you wanted to be very precise, you could use one with the 24.

  2. Hi Steve,

    What are you doing with framing and the 25mm? Have you been using an external finder or just winging it within the M9’s finder. I’m looking to pick one of these up if/when I sell my 4th gen. Summicron.
    Thanks,
    Ron

  3. I have been using the zeiss 21 on my m8 for over a year alternating with the 35 cron, both are excellent, performance wise, for me, I can see no hardly any differences

  4. HI Carlos,

    Thanks for the info… I was hoping the Zeiss, at 1/3 the cost of the would be an ok performer. Oh well, I’ll keep using the Voigt 15 as a B&W lens and save up some pennies for the 18.

  5. Hey, I own the Zeiss 18mm M. Coupled on the M8 it was a good lens with good sharpness. I did some test shots on an M9 from my Leica Dealer Taswir with the 18mm ZEISS and it did not really work out around the corners. Light fall off as well as blurry edges were obvious from circle 18 mm till the frame edges. The picture was not appealing.
    We then tried the 18mm LEICA on the M9 and the difference in quality was VERY obvious with the LEICA lens much more luminous way out to the edges and shrpness by far exceeding the ZEISS which needed F8 to yield a decent image, but not comparable by any standard to the LEICA.
    I propose that you try and do some side by side tests at some dealer to see the difference which justifies even the price difference.

  6. Well, so far I am pretty thrilled with the 25. I have yet to try the 18 or 21 but hope to in December. As soon as I try them out, the results will be posted here! Thanks!

    Steve

  7. HI Steve,

    The 25 looks really good, I’d love to know what you think of the 21 or the 18 Zeiss lenses. I had a 21 Voigtlander which really didn’t work very well on the M9. I have the Leica 28 2.8 Asph which is a much better lens than it has any right to be considering it’s size and cost.

    I’m trying to find something wide now and considering the Zeiss lenses as I don’t want to tie up a fortune in something I won’t be using all the time. I have a Voigt 15, which is great as a B&W lens, but there are some color shifts in the corners.

    Curious as to your thoughts!

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