A few comments on Mike Johnston's work.
I don't know him personally, but would like to say that as someone who divides his energies between writing and photography, I respect his work highly in both areas.
It is easy to understand the sentiment expressed here that one would like to see some images to go along with the praise of the Zeiss lens.
It also must be said that you get what you pay for. Johnston's most natural counterpart is Sean Reid, who tests equipment rigorously and publishes the results on a subscription based site.
They're friends, by the way, and Sean is an admirer of Mike's work in print and with camera.
One must read Johnston's three blog items to fully appreciate the spirit of his comments about the Zeiss. He makes clear that this is a matter of personal taste. And he also makes clear his lack of patience with humorless web chat mavens and gear snobs of various descriptions, and he is not interested in debating anything with anyone, or indeed providing proof for what is simply the personal preference of a guy with, for what it's worth, a great deal more experience than most of us will ever log.
Johnston has also invited readers who use the Zeiss lens to post their images on his site, so it is not as if we've been left completely in the lurch.
Without intending this as an insult to anyone, I find it ironic that people question Johnston's photographic skills on this forum, which after all is a place where all of us emit opinions about things all the time, and where great photographic skills are not necessarily in great abundance.
The point is that you take this stuff for what it's worth, and in every instance what it's worth is every member's decision to make.
Finally, here is Johnston's latest post. In my opinion it makes perfect and perfectly delightful advice:
...Or, How to Be Cool in Nine Easy Lessons:
1. The fewer lenses you use, the cooler you are.**
2. Committing to one camera is very cool, even if you own two or three of them.
3. The longer you've been using the same film, the cooler you are.
4. The closer your camera is to "mint," the less cool you are.***
5. Using a camera that's as old or older than you are is very cool.
6. The shorter your longest lens is, the cooler you are.
7. The more often you carry your camera with you, or keep it within easy reach, the cooler.
8. Cool people do not use zooms. Really cool people use cameras that can't be fitted with zooms.
9. The more you will shoot for every frame you'll show, the cooler you are.
*Satire Alert.****
** Four is fairly cool. Three is definitely cool. Two is very, very cool. One, and you are a God, and I kowtow to you.
*** And a corollary: the more you care what brand of camera you shoot, and especially the more you let other people know what brand you shoot, the less you even have a clue what cool is.
**** I think. On the other hand, I think I kinda believe all these things, deep down.
