Nikon 14-24mm vs Carl Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 David Clapp updates his experience with the 14-24 on February 13th, 2009, and this time, he pits the Nikon 14-24mm against the Carl Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 (more information on the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/21).
The Nikon lens was set to 21mm focal length, and the Canon 1Ds Mark III camera was used to take the photographs.
At f/2.8, the Carl Zeiss performs much better, exhibiting greater sharpness and contrast across the frame compared to the Nikkor 14-24. However, the Nikon catches up at f/4, while showing virtually no vignetting in the corners, unlike with the CZ lens. At smaller apertures, it's almost a tie as far as sharpness is concerned, but the Nikon shows slightly better contrast and much less vignetting in the corners. The Carl Zeiss lens produced images with cooler tones.
Additionally, David Clapp recommends the use of the Nikon 14-24mm, Carl Zeiss 28mm f/2 and Carl Zeiss 35-70mm lenses, stating that the Canon EF 24-105mm and 17-40mm lenses gave lackluster performance when used on the 1Ds3.