I usually post in the m4/3 forum because that's where most of the new toys come up, but this time I think that the Zeiss Distagon T 21_2,8 ZE with the 1Ds3 makes such a wonderful combination that it's worth a digression to the Canon Forum.

I have been mildly dissatisfied with Canon's wides, primes and zooms, and went for MF alternatives, in fact AF in superwides is not of primary importance. I intended to purchase the Nikkor 14-24 so I payd sales-itemhome for an adaptor and never got it (and never got the refund by the way).
That left me with the new Distagon 21_2,8 ZE, and as soon as it became availeable I ordered it at the Carl Zeiss web shop, 3 days later it arrived and today was the first day out.

The destination was the Monumentary Cemetery in Oropa (Biella, Italy), where about 20 stone chapels, erected in the early 30's, lie scattered in a beechwood grove on a mountain slope.
The fog and low clouds created a magic setup, but the light conditions were quite challenging. Tripod, mirror lock up and remote trigger had to be used.

Here are two of the captures,
ISO100 21mm F2,8 1/15sec

http://www.zoomview.it/images/272+273+274_HDR2%20edL%20TIFF%20+%20CR3%20w.jpg

and ISO100 21mm F16 1/1,6sec

http://www.zoomview.it/images/_M7U0265%20edL%20TIFF%20col%20+%20CR3%20w.jpg

Web images displayed on monitors are not ideal for judging IQ, but on A2 prints detail is stunning across all the image, there is no trace of chroma on high contrast edges, colour gamut is such that PP in Lightroom 2.4 leads to a faithful reproduction of the subjective colour memory.

Worth every Euro of the invoiced 1.600.

Ciao, Vittorio