The Zeiss ZF.2 21mm f/2.8 is a precision manual-focus wide-angle lens. Looking for a newer version of this lens? Check out the Zeiss Milvus ZF.2 21mm f/2.8. Key features include:

Incredibly Sharp Wide-Angle Lens. The Zeiss ZF.2 21mm f/2.8 for Nikon is a legendary lens among SLR shooters. For years, the out-of-production Contax version of this lens was widely considered the sharpest wide-angle lens ever made. People routinely paid $4,000-$5,000 for it so they could adapter-mount and use it on modern SLR cameras.

Advanced Optical Design. Now Zeiss has remade the 21mm in AF mount with modern anti-reflective coatings that help produce professional-quality, high-microcontrast images with accurate colors and no color fringing, all regardless of lighting conditions. This is the lens many of us have been waiting for since the first ZF lens was introduced two years ago.

Close Minimum Focusing Distance. This lens’s 0.75-foot minimum focusing distance is great for shooting landscapes, and enables adventurous shooters to capture dramatic perspectives.

Manual Focus Only. This is a fully manually focusing lens, but cameras will automatically adjust exposure with the lens and give full TTL information to cameras of D200 and higher makes.

Communicates With the Camera. The ZF.2 designation adds a microchip to the lens that automatically lets the camera know time, aperture setting, and manual exposure settings, including those for cameras that are not AI-compatible. Since the lens now transmits the EXIF data, photographers no longer need to manually set the parameters. The ZF.2 lenses are optically identical to the original ZF lenses, so if these functions aren’t important to you, you can save some money by getting the original ZF mount.