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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

Robin Leveille said:
That would make The CP.3's compete with Ultra and Master Primes. You really think Zeiss would do that Phil? They should just label them as Mini Master Primes. like Cooke did for the mini S4i's
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Mini might be the designation. Who knows:

Phil Holland said:
Heh. I was joking about the CP.3 name. I think it will go into a series of lenses that will likely follow the Ultra or Master naming path, maybe Mega, Supa, Golga (heh). Or they can just stick with the owl. Cine-Otus maybe. This is all talk as we're likely 500 or so days from them even announcing that. They got plenty of time to name these new lenses. First step. Make more lengths.
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Whatever they do we are talking a minimum 2-4 years away for a full set.
 
I don't think the Otus is a CP.3 and I suspect it as actually better than a Master prime in terms of sharpness, resolving power and lack of CA.
I think it is a proof of concept lens.
The tricky part will be trying to achieve the same with a 21mm or an 18mm.
I am not sure that anyone knows (including Zeiss themselves) if this is indeed really possible.
 
I shot with the Otis lens for about 4 weeks up through October. It's at least as good, probably a little better optically than the Master Primes. Crazy sharp, virtually no color fringing. Exceptional mechanical build.

But it will never have the range of focal lengths that the Master Primes have. Next focal length in the series will be 85mm to hit the portrait shooters. Then they'll go wider.
 
August Bradley said:
I shot with the Otis lens for about 4 weeks up through October. It's at least as good, probably a little better optically than the Master Primes. Crazy sharp, virtually no color fringing. Exceptional mechanical build.

But it will never have the range of focal lengths that the Master Primes have. Next focal length in the series will be 85mm to hit the portrait shooters. Then they'll go wider.
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That's amazing to hear. Honestly, if they could release a 14 , 20, 32, 55, 85 and 135 set, I would buy it in a heartbeat. :)
 
I wonder if the color it renders would cut nicely with the Zeiss Contax or best with the Z* line...
 
August Bradley said:
I shot with the Otis lens for about 4 weeks up through October. It's at least as good, probably a little better optically than the Master Primes. Crazy sharp, virtually no color fringing. Exceptional mechanical build.
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I totally agree, this lens is amazing.

But it will never have the range of focal lengths that the Master Primes have. Next focal length in the series will be 85mm to hit the portrait shooters. Then they'll go wider.
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Didn't they say they're planning two more lenses for 2014?
 
Chad Bonanno said:
That's amazing to hear. Honestly, if they could release a 14 , 20, 32, 55, 85 and 135 set, I would buy it in a heartbeat. :)
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There are some Z*/CP.2 lenses which will probably make a good match, i have the 15mm and 135mm in mind, maybe that 25/2 too.
 
Just noticed that the EF mount version is manual focus like the Nikon mount version, but aperture is electronic controlled rather than manually.
 
Patrick Grossien said:
Yes they did. :)
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Good, i hope they keep their word.

Maik, do you have some footage to share from yours?
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Sorry, but at the moment i don't really have something i should share, didn't have much time to shoot with it and tested the lens mainly on my DSLR. I'll try to shoot something to put up here soon and will probably add the Canon 50/1.2 for a little comparison.

BTW, this lens would love a Dragon EPIC. ;)
 
August Bradley said:
I shot with the Otis lens for about 4 weeks up through October. It's at least as good, probably a little better optically than the Master Primes. Crazy sharp, virtually no color fringing. Exceptional mechanical build.
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Wow. Crazy to hear this. And...it covers full frame to boot.
 
Sorry for being late. ;)

Here are a few random frame-grabs. I was just playing around, spontaneous handheld run&gun style, which isn't the best way to shoot with a 55mm lens. I also forgot to lower compression ratio in 4k-motion mode. I'll probably add more later and do the promised comparison shots against the Canon 50/1.2L.





 
I created a Zeiss Otus user group on Vimeo in the hope that this soon to be lens set can get some hype. I really like the Otus...

Anyways, so far James Miller, Kholi Hicks and August Bradley have contributed with some nice videos that I have added to the group, along with my own little video from my trip to Norway.

Have a look and find the group here: https://vimeo.com/groups/229279

 
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So I was asked by a friend of mine if I could do a simple test… and simple it was.
I took what EF lenses we had lying around and included the Otus in the collection.

The result is an unscientific test done on the 5D3.


The following lenses are in the "test":
Canon 70-200 2.8L II IS USM (@ 70mm)
Otus 55 1.4
Canon 24-70 2.8L II (@ 50mm)
Canon 24-105 4L (@ 50mm)
Canon 50mm 2.5L macro
Canon 24-70 2.8L I macro (@ 50mm)
Canon 85 1.2L
Canon 17-35 2.8L (@ 35mm)

Settings:
- Iso 200 ( 24-105 @ iso 400)
- 5600K
- 1/50s
- F 2.8 ( 24-105 @ 4)
- Light from window on the left. Small styro plate on the right which doesn't go all the way up, hence the dark top right corner on many of the shots.

Raw files with NO correction… I turned off sharpness and noise reduction completely in Adobe Camera Raw. I repeat… this is raw data.

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18962406/Archive.zip
 
2:45 into this video, Zeiss' Richard says 85mm 1.4 OTUS shipping late August
with wide angle(s) due in 2015


 
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