I don’t like buying new lenses. Not only are they less tactile in use, weaker in build quality, and–in the case of E-mount–often relatively worse-off in image quality compared to my AI-s’, but new lenses are also expensive! Okay, sure, a lot of the money for a lens can go to fancy features like optical stabilization and autofocus, but for my style of shooting, these features always play second-fiddle to what really counts: image quality.

What’s nice, then, about the Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8, is that it tries to go against some of the conventions of new lenses–sans the expensive aspect:

• The all-rubber focus ring is an absolute treat to turn. It’s a real shame that, like all autofocus mirrorless lenses, the focus is fly-by-wire, because I’ve never turned a smoother focus ring, including every Nikkor I’ve ever used.
• The build quality and overall aesthetic of the lens is beautiful. Though there are some polymer parts on the inside to help reduce weight, the entire body of the lens is of a very nice semi-matte metal. Though the lens hood is plastic (again, to cut down weight), once it locks in, there’s no play.
• Unsurprisingly, this is the first native e-mount lens I’ve used that performs notably well on the NEX-7. The sheer resolving power of this lens, thanks no doubt to the Planar design, is impressive.

Though I did give high marks to the Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS, and I still stand by what I said, the Zeiss is in another league in areas of performance like sharpness and aberrations. I currently have both lenses, and plan to do a direct side-by-side comparison at the end of the Zeiss’ review (to come hopefully in a week). It’s still a toss-up whether the Zeiss 32mm ($900) is worth twice the price as the Sony 35mm ($450).

Until then, I’ve taken some time the past few days to make some photographs with the new Touit. All ten below captured with the NEX-7:

Abandoned
32mm, ISO 100, f/8, 1/125

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