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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

Clayton Burkhart said:
The average still photographer is not going to buy this lens. It's about 3-4 times more expensive than even the serious ones usually invest.
Guess who will?
Us.
It's cheap compared to cinema lenses.
That is why I think they have had their eye on the hybrid market for a long time.
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I am pretty sure this is still in the zone for stills shooters. The lens is announced in Germany for 2940€ and the Canon 85mm L has a standard price of 2.400€ (Mostly found for around 2.000€) so it's not that big a difference. Of course it's a premium for a 50 but I'm sure the price might come down a bit in the future. And think about what the Leica lenses cost. The 50mm 1.4 is 3.000€ and over. And that's what they are competing against - somewhat. There's a lot of Leica shooters out there. I'm sure there will be enough interest from stills people.

EDIT: but still you are right the AVERAGE stills shooter is not going to get this lens. This is for people who are pros or vey rich enthusiasts ;)
 
Josef Gatti said:
Sounds like you already have Phil! In your opinion, do the optics trump lack of cine mechanics? (say, comparing to cine lenses in the same price bracket)
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Yes Phil, I'd love to know what you think... I would say yes, this thing is sick! This is one of the big boys. Compare it to the best lenses out there! But my vote don't count.
 
Josef Gatti said:
Sounds like you already have Phil! In your opinion, do the optics trump lack of cine mechanics? (say, comparing to cine lenses in the same price bracket)
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I have yet to see the final production model, but this is what I got out of some "floor talk" with 3 of the designers and one of the marketing team from Zeiss.

- The Otus series of lenses are going to be the highest performing optical still lenses on the market for some time.
- As of 2013 the 55mm f/1.4 Otus is the highest quality optic that Zeiss makes. Including their cinema primes.
- They aren't just being designed with stills in mind. The intent is to bring them to market as a cinema series once the range fleshes out. You may have noticed that they have a rather generous focus rotation of 240 degrees. From what I understand is that this will be consistent across the set.
- They may actually already be very "cine-mod" friendly, although you'll be destroying a beautiful design. I have yet to see if there's image shift during the focus pull.
- It's been stated that they will have minimal breathing while focusing as well.
- There will be an additional two lenses announced, demonstrated, and eventually released at the end of 2014. I'm thinking 35mm and 85mm personally. They are supposed to be f/1.4 as well. I'm sure a 25mm will happen. That could also be a next year thing.


This is Zeiss firing on all cylinders doing what they do best. They have impressed the hell out of me with their Compact Zooms. And even me, who doesn't love the CP.2s for a variety of reasons, thinks that the 15mm and 135mm are pretty damn nice. I think actually those will "remain" for a while and could pair nicely with the Otus primes.

So you're looking at about 14-18 months for a 3 lens set basically. Maybe a 4 lens set if they crank out the goods. I do know that these lenses are expensive to make and deal with similar optics that the Leica Summilux-C Primes deal with in terms of element cost and repair. Right now, in terms of wide open performance, those might be the only thing that competes against the 55mm f/1.4 Otus. I obviously haven't done a side by side yet.

I do wish they would just release a PL version and officially launch their new cinema prime range, but that's tricky to do with one lens at the moment and there's no reason to compete with current selling products. You're going to see a lot of folks modding these to use them in a cinema capacity. Some will spend a premium to get the full rehousing done. I haven't a clue what the cinema version of these is going to run as that's way far away.


To me it's almost like a Leica-R concept except with Summilux-C type performance and a very Zeiss look to the image.
 
Phil Holland said:
- They aren't just being designed with stills in mind. The intent is to bring them to market as a cinema series once the range fleshes out. You may have noticed that they have a rather generous focus rotation of 240 degrees. From what I understand is that this will be consistent across the set.
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:) guess somebody was more talkative hehehe! it's great to hear that someone admitted it more clearly.

The interesting part now is: will these then be competitively priced as they are now in terms of cine lenses and when will they start announcing the cine versions ...
 
Am i the only one who actually likes electronic aperture and doesn't miss manual aperture that much? ;) Electronic Aperture could get more interesting when paired with the motion mount and some software-magic (automatic ND-compensation for ramps anyone?). Just saying.

Otherwise this lens is probably one of the most cine-friendly still-lenses already, it only misses a focus gear for ff-usage, everything else is already there (great housing, probably good markings).

Pre-ordered mine today (yes, the EF-version). ;)
 
Is this some kind of Twilight Zone?
Jeez 50mm lens is the easiest lens to make . There is a boat load of great fast 50mm lenses for that reason.
And they don't need 17 elements to achieve it.
Do we really need another 55mm MANUAL lens for $5000?
Photogs are already rolling on the ground laughing- manual 55mm lens with no stablization for $5k?
So you are paying $4950 for the BRAND and -what - $ 50 for the lens. This is what the society is coming to today...hahaha :)
 
Hehe, i saw this post coming. ;)

Manual or electronic, thats a matter of taste... Not everyone is into the Optitron, for various reasons, and AF on RED isn't exactly the most useful thing (sorry RED). So there you have it, a good manual focus lens has still it's place in the cinema-world and a outstanding optical performance is especially welcome in the RED-world.

If Phil says we will freak out and should compare this lens to a Master Prime, then there must be something special about it, probably making it worth paying the price.
 
Maik Müller said:
Hehe, i saw this post coming. ;)

Manual or electronic, thats a matter of taste... Not everyone is into the Optitron, for various reasons, and AF on RED isn't exactly the most useful thing (sorry RED). So there you have it, a good manual focus lens has still it's place in the cinema-world and a outstanding optical performance is especially welcome in the RED-world.

If Phil says we will freak out and should compare this lens to a Master Prime, then there must be something special about it, probably making it worth paying the price.
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I agree with optical performance being welcome in the RED world. In the photo world you have pixel peepers of course but you won't notice small IQ differences in normal sized prints and on the web. If you are shooting and displaying content in 4k on a big screen everyone becomes a pixel peeper.
 
Maik Müller said:
If Phil says we will freak out and should compare this lens to a Master Prime, then there must be something special about it, probably making it worth paying the price.
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Ok, I'm nothing close to Phil and his knowledge, but if it counts for anything: if you get to look through this lens, you will agree. ;) it's an eye opener. Hehehe. This thing is worth it's money and then some. I didn't get to keep any images but if the production lenses are producing what I saw this lens is going to be insane.

Anyone notice that I'm hyped about this thing? Hehehe
 
This lens reminds me of an incident few years ago (ok maybe 15) in the company I worked for.
We approached Zeiss with a request to make wide angle adapter for a camcorder. Few months later they came back with a prototype 6 inches in diameter and costing about $2000. We told them it wasn't practical on a $3000 camcorder that weights 3-4 lbs. They would not hear it- they insisted that the quality was amazing and price and size had to be just that.
We went to the Japanese then and got it made in little over 3 inch size for $200. We sold thousands of them. We would not sell one Zeiss unit if we went for it.
OK maybe that was then and the mentality of the pros was a little different...I'm OK with that ;)
 
I'm both on the side and against the side of logic with you on this Jacek. You're totally right. There's plenty of quality 50mm-ish primes out there that are inexpensive. Hell you can buy a Canon 50mm f/1.8 for about $75.

This isn't about making the cheapest lens in this case. There's several elements in there that do cost a chunk of change and of course there's typical profit mark up. It does show it's worth wide open where there's nearly no visible aberrations to speak of, which honestly not many lenses can pull anything like this off. Especially with challenging conditions in frame. This is how it's different compared to nearly every 50mm lens out there. And this is the logic and design principle that will go into the rest of these lenses to flesh out the Otus range.

Because of that "cleanness" to the image you get more of clinical yet natural look. The lens character is minimal, but is very contrasty from what I've seen.

It's a 12 element in 10 groups in a floating design. One double-sided aspheric lens and 6 special anomalous partial dispersion lenses. Those are the pricey ones and in reality not something that more than 3 companies can even manufacture. The machining on the focus transport found within this lens has some very tight tolerances, while I can't say for sure from the prototype I've seen I'm guessing this lens will be suitable for motion work, although should be modded with the standard fair. Duclos will offer that. Based what I know about the design you'll see the rest of these lenses with a somewhat similar element count and design logic.

So it's not really about making the cheapest, which is rather popular today. But rather making the highest quality. I hope Zeiss can produce and keep the QC on these at their highest standards.

Matthew Duclos said it best really. The lens game is a game of exponential growth. The higher the quality of the optic the more expensive it is. However, the gains at the top end of the quality and price range sometimes don't exactly "make sense". However, if you are interested in quality and can afford it, there's glass out there for you.

The good news is nowadays there's affordable glass out there as well. You just have to be more of a realist on what to expect from inexpensive lenses.
 
I guarantee you won't be able to tell the difference between $400 Nikkor 50mm f1.4AF-S lens and this in real shooting situation.
The 50mm F1.8 Nikkor is not too far behind at $200...
 
That Nikkor matches master prime in projection- I don't see why it would not match this one...
 
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 ;-))))))
 
Patrick Grossien said:
Ok, I'm nothing close to Phil and his knowledge, but if it counts for anything: if you get to look through this lens, you will agree. ;) it's an eye opener. Hehehe. This thing is worth it's money and then some.I didn't get to keep any images but if the production lenses are producing what I saw this lens is going to be insane.
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Thats exactly what i want to hear but i don't want to get my expectations so high. Hehe.
Every opinion counts, i've read what you said earlier after having the chance to play with it at IBC, and that was actually a part of my decision to give it a try and have a look by myself direct after the launch. I guess i can't just wait for some reviews and then have wait.

Anyone notice that I'm hyped about this thing? Hehehe
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Me too, since their first announcement... I understand. ;)

It really sounds looks and like the "Master Prime" for indie/low-budget-stuff. Maybe with a even better performance? If i read correctly between Phil's lines, he didn't actually say it is as good as a master prime, he just said you should put it up against the MP and then you'll freak out. :P

Oh, Phil, again thanks for your very helpful write-ups, well thanks for making me spend that much money, hehe... Is there any chance that you can do one of your great in-depth reviews and comparisons?

I'm really looking forward to see if its worth for me.
 
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