Next week, ZEISS is going to announce new Otus lenses, and it looks like we’ll see both the Otus ML 50mm f/1.4 and Otus ML 85mm f/1.4 announced for the RF mount as well as E and Z mounts.
ZEISS Otus ML Specifications
- All Metal Construction – Made in Japan
- Clear, easily readable, and ultimate precise scales allow quick and accurate adjustments to maintain full control and focus
- Compact in design
- Otus ML 50mm f/1.4 77x100mm 667g
- Otus ML 85mm f/1.4 – 88x113mm 1040g
- Optimized for mirrorless mounts (Z, RF, E)
- Signature ZEISS Distagon and Sonnar designs are the baseline to give the best performance and sharpness.
- As an apochromat, the chromatic aberrations of the lens are corrected by lenses made of special glasses with anomalous partial dispersion. The chromatic aberrations and coloured artifacts are therefore limited to minimum, and colours are rendered as in reality, well-balanced and true to life.
- The aspherical lens design ensures consistent imaging performance across the entire field of focus as well as sharpness at the edge of the image. The more complex surface profile of the aspheric lens reduces the spherical aberration and further optical aberrations.
- The ZEISS T* coating reduces ghosting and flare.
- Ten aperture blades for beautiful bokeh.
- In a low-light conditions by manually adjusting the focus one can have more control over challenging lighting situations and achieve sharpness exactly where they want
- For portraits, especially with a wide aperture depth of field is very shallow, manual focus allows greater control in focusing
- Otus ML lenses can offer an advantage in controlling the depth of field, as the photographer has full control over the focus point By manually focusing on a specific area in the frame, the photographer can choose the exact point of focus and control the depth of field accordingly
- Some photographers simply prefer the tactile experience and control that comes with manual focusing, finding it more engaging and satisfying
- Photographers may want to focus on specific elements within a scene for artistic reasons , such as achieving a shallow depth of field or isolating a subject
- Photographers appreciate the slower, more deliberate pace that manual focus allows to find joy in the craft itself
It looks like these new Otus lenses are going to be more affordable than the previous line. The Otus ML 50mm f/1.4 is priced at £2100 and the Otus ML 85mm f/1.4 will be £2350. That would put these lenses under $3000 USD.
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My Zeiss Classic EF mount (15, 21 and 50mm) are all "read" even by the EOS R bodies. Including the focusing help...
And the Otus not?
See: https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Zeiss-Otus-85mm-f-1.4-Lens.aspx
I think Richard was referring to the Zeiss lenses in Contax/Yashica mount.
Anyway, it sure would be nice to see them in RF mount.
Now? Canon has really been hitting it out of the park with a lot (most? all?) of their RF lenses. Just compare the Otus 55 f/1.4 to the RF 50 f/1.2 or 50 1.4 VCM.
I like options, but the quality of the modern lenses is impressive and does not seem to be leaving Zeiss much room to differentiate themselves.
That said, I'll happily check out what they have to offer. It is not like they get to take my money automatically.
2 decades ago, they competed with far inferior lenses from Canon and Co. This has drastically changed, not only with RF, but also with the late EF lenses.
To be honest, if, as a beginner, I wanted the very best lenses, I'd get the Leica M APOs, Summiluxes and Summicrons or the RF 50 & 85 f/1,2, the RF 100 macro, the RF 135mm, the RF 70-200 etc... Provided I had the necessary $$$$$$$$$$$$$
Focusing quality and speed matter a lot to me.
But I'm nevertheless very curious as to what Zeiss will bring...
The EOS R Diary : RF 50mm f/1.2L USM – Laszlo Pusztai
I'm far from convinced...
Canon has done a much better job with the RF L lenses, but I'm not sure about the micro contrast that Zeiss is known for.
For the Leica M owners reading this post: The Zeiss ZM 25mm f/2,8 is absolutely fantastic, contrast, sharpness, colours, flare resistance. I'd go so far as to qualify it as a perfect lens. Alas, not all of them were mechanically on the same level as the optics. The mount has sometimes a tendency to get loose. So better check before buying...but it's worth it (provided you "6 bit code" it !!!!)
At least to me, the article almost perfectly surmises my point, even if one person's impressions are exactly correct, the Zeiss Otus 55 f/1.4 is better against 1) flare, 2) with vignetting, and 3) focus breathing. They also bring up color rendition, but that did not make the top 3 list for whatever reason. Seems to indicate resolution is a push. Yet, despite these, they still carry the EOS-R and RF 50 f/1.2 when they take a "second bag" with them for "easy" shooting when they do not feel inclined to use a "proper camera". Which I read that even to someone that previously owned and clearly prefers the Otus (with 5DRs), the RF 50 f/1.2 (with EOS-R) still meets their standards, at least part of the time.
There will always be people willing to pay extra for a specific feature.
I am making an assumption that whatever Zeiss does will have a similar 2x-3x higher price point, similar to the Otus vs "L" 10-15 years ago. Back then, the Otus was clearly better in a number of ways. Yet at that price point even back then with the advantages, I think only a small group of people actually made that investment. If Zeiss comes out with a $5-7k lens even with better flare, vignetting and focus breathing, I would not expect it to sell well. If they come out with a $2-3k lens that is better...then yes, I suspect it will have a reasonable, yet likely smallish (no-AF) market.
But I also photograph in cities, where you often have to focus real fast, if you don't want to get people or cars in your picture. No issue at all with the extremely quick focusing Leica M, much more with MF lenses on a MILF.
Additionally, wide open (f/1,2 or f/1,4) photography can be very demanding when shooting portraits wit MF lenses. As I wrote, I love Zeiss lenses, but there are some limitations to their use.