Carl Zeiss Batis 18 mm f/2.8
11. Summary
- very good image quality in the frame centre,
- good image quality on the edge of the APS-C sensor,
- imperceptible lateral chromatic aberration,
- lack of problems with spherical aberration,
- slight distortion,
- low vignetting on the APS-C,
- noiseless autofocus,
- good performance against bright light.
Cons:
- huge vignetting on full frame,
- too high price compared to possibilities of the lens.
Apart from huge vignetting level on full frame, the Zeiss Batis 2.8/18 didn’t have any significant slip-ups in our test because moderate resolution results on full frame don’t qualify as a flaw. If you want to be honest you have to say that the lens didn’t show any spectacular results either. We know that the instrument is a brother of the Batis 2/25. If you omit slight differences in particular categories you find just one difference between those two – the focal length. The lens, tested here, has a shorter focal length and because of that its construction is slower aperture-wise by one f-stop. Even when it comes to pricing the difference between those two are non-existent. The Zeiss concern demands $1500 for the Batis 2.8/18, a lens which can be described as just correct especially if you take into account the reputation of that company and test results of other lenses, produced by them. Such a price tag wouldn’t surprise only in a case of an outstanding instrument or at least a very good one.
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Of course you have to admit that, both optically and mechanically, the Batis 2.8/18 is a solid construction. It can provide very pleasant images characterized by good sharpness in the frame centre. The only flaw we found is the image quality on the edge; it can be a problem for landscape photographers even on distinct stopping down.
