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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

New Zeiss 55mm f1.4

Jiri Vrozina said:
Nikon nikkor 50mm f1.4 is the lemon in Nikkor range. I hope they at last make a good one like 24,35 and 85. And yes, make it in Japan.
real world situation is YouTube ;-))))))
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I own a test projector and projected both-have you?
 
Jacek Zakowicz said:
That Nikkor matches master prime in projection- I don't see why it would not match this one...
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The 50mm Master Prime is actually the weakest lens in the series. Everybody knows that. I do know the focus pull is nicer though :)

Defining a "real shooting situation" is an interesting thing here.

Projection only reveals so much and most project within a certain distance that varies based on each person. At a lab up here in Van Nuys we test at a range from 3'-40'. I was at an optical lab where they tested up to 60' when I was a teenager. Most just don't have the space for that. It's not about pure projection though, but more about artifacts and artifacts under challenging conditions when shooting wide open, which projection really doesn't reveal. Stopped down 2-3 stops I agree you won't be able to see much difference, minus the contrast levels of this particular lens.

Any sort of surface you can create sharp specular highlights across the whole frame of the lens coverage truly reveals how it performs on this level. Aluminum fillings, aluminum foil, led pin lights, etc.

There's often a difference between "lab tests" and real world examples. Finding something that could be considered a combination of the two is nice and tends to reveal a lot about how anything works in the wild.
 
By real shooting situation I meant recording scenes not resolution charts that's all
 
No need to,used it once. Compared to old f1.2 it is step back especially with decent 24,35 and 85 around.
Too much p l a s t i c. :thumb_postwhore:
 
the street price will be approx $3500 and yes you can get a lot of good 50mm glass for under $500 but because the 50mm design has been so easy nobody really made a great fast 50mm. The Otus does seem overly complex but hopefully it will be overly awesome and not another case of the emperor's new clothes. I think Zeiss is going after Leica's new glass because they were not happy with the smack down Leica gave to the Master Primes. I think the Otus line is based on the Master Prime 2's which I think are not that far out.
 
Maik Müller said:
Yeah, the Canon 1.2L is the one i'll compare the Zeiss with. ;)
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The 50/1.2 is not so hot wide open.
Lot's of CA and not really that sharp in the corners.
I expect the Otus will more or less blow it away.

Further, sharpness corner to corner is one of the big issues.
Yes, there are a lot of cheap 50's out there, but once you start looking into the corners things sort themselves out real fast.

Beyond sharpness, Zeiss as a company is really about lens coatings. It is as much a chemical company as an optical one. Many of their lenses have not only quite a few more elements, but many of them may have up to 7 or 8 layers of coating to reduce light dispersion and increase micro contrast. You can be sure the latest coating technology has gone into this one. People have been grinding and polishing glass for a long time, that aspect is not going to improve beyond a certain point. It is in the coatings that the expense and the labor comes in. This is incidentally exactly where Sigma has improved themselves recently by the way...
 
Clayton Burkhart said:
The 50/1.2 is not so hot wide open.
Lot's of CA and not really that sharp in the corners.
I expect the Otus will more or less blow it away.
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I expect nothing else. ;) I'll compare them just because i own the Canon and it will be interesting to see how much better the Otus (my first Zeiss) performs and how different it will look. I can't wait...
 
Maik Müller said:
... it will be interesting to see how much better the Otus (my first Zeiss) performs and how different it will look.
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This will be like comparing a VW Golf to an Audi R8
or comparing a pair of socks to a tuxedo
or comparing a DSLR to a RED camera.

EDIT: sorry, I got carried away.. ;)
 
Got to take a quick look at the new Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 with the Duclos Cine-Mod. Matthew should be blogging about it soon. Interesting lens for sure.

_MG_0070.jpg
 
Phil Holland said:
Got to take a quick look at the new Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 with the Duclos Cine-Mod. Matthew should be blogging about it soon. Interesting lens for sure.

_MG_0070.jpg
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Dear Phil, is it as advertised 'the best 50' (55) in the world today (photo lenses) ... Does the contrast merit the hype? I'm sure it's sharp as heck.

Your friend in Berlin ... - Paul
 
Samir Patel said:
Looks like you got a Nikon mount one with manual aperture? Did you use it with a RED Nikon mount or a nikon to EF adapter?
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This one was indeed a Nikon version. However, it has had the Duclos Cine-Mod treatment and now how an Canon EF Mount, Delrin Focus Gear, 80mm Front, and Declicked Aperture. It still however has the crazy backwards Nikon focus rotation.


Paul Ellington said:
Dear Phil, is it as advertised 'the best 50' (55) in the world today (photo lenses) ... Does the contrast merit the hype? I'm sure it's sharp as heck.

Your friend in Berlin ... - Paul
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"The Best" is such a difficult thing to define. In terms of lenses made for DSLR cameras of similar merit it could in fact be "the best", however I really, really need to put it up against the Leica Summilux-M and Summicron-M 50s. It is technically "better" than anything Canon or Nikon makes today. Although Nikon has a new 58mm f/1.4 which may compete with this.

It does indeed have it's own character, which I like. It's sharp as hell across the frame and has no distortion. The final production model is a bit different than the prototype I looked at about 5 months ago. It's now lighter and to me looks different too.

I'm uploading a video with some focus pulls. Just a quick look. And Matthews going to measure light transmission, which I think is very important here. f/stop is one thing, but it's good to know what this lens sees versus other similar primes.

**edit. I should add that those with mid and high end cinema primes in the 50mm range, you're just fine :) This is a good lens, but it's not touching the Summilux-C or anything.
 
Sure, thanks Patrick and Phil, hype and tease me more and more. Aren't my expectations high enough already? ;))

Where is my shipping confirmation, i want to play with it NOW!
 
Phil Holland said:
**edit. I should add that those with mid and high end cinema primes in the 50mm range, you're just fine :) This is a good lens, but it's not touching the Summilux-C or anything.
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Interesting, that finally puts a more realistic perspective on it.

Thanks for the more detailed post, looking forward to see the footage you mentioned.
 
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