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Zeiss Milvus

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
That 85mm is insane. Heavier than the Otus, but who cares. Has anybody seen a price for these?

Edit: $1,799 for the 85mm. Sold!

35mm is $1,117. That's a bargain :)
 

AlexLF

Well-known member
I've been staring at Otus 85/1.4 and now this :) Still looking at Otus though... But I'd like to see the difference. Tough times :)
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I too was looking at the OTUS 85 as the older ZF.2 85 had too much bad characteristics but held off as the
OTUS is just too big ... not weight but presence.

So now a new 50 and 85 in 1.4 will keep my 25 F 2 and 135 F 2 for now.

Just wonderful news. Especially the bit about an easy way to de-click for video.

Bob
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Look at the b&w portrait of the man taken with the 85mm wide open. I don't expect more than that from a portrait lens.
 

rayyan

Well-known member
And I thought I was done with MF.

Time to see my optometrist and ophthalmologist :)

One only lives once. I think my wife owes me for that trip i paid for our trip to China...hmmm.

p.s insane..i mean these lenses.
 

Swissblad

Well-known member
I have to admit I wasn't very interested at 1st - but this is one sexy range of lenses - yummy.

The 100mm f2 looks like it will fit nicely in my bag.......:)
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
I was also not really overwhelmed at first look, but you know it takes some time ...

I find this a stunning lineup of obviously great glass and some are on my wish list, like the 2.8/21, 1.4/50 and 1.4/85.

I think I will prefer especially the 1.4/85 to the Nikkor 1.4/85G, although this always is praised very high by others, despite the fact that I never was happy with my copy and finally sold it. I am pretty confident that the Zeiss Milvus is much better and WRT AF, especially with this focal length and main usage (portrait) AF is almost not necessary.

Exciting times ahead!
 

JohnBrew

Active member
Further examination and reading between the lines reveals only two of these lenses are new designs, the 50 1.4 & 85 1.4. The others are the same as before with new housings. I don't know about the rest of you but I detest the Otus focusing ring and now they've gone and put it on these new bodies.

ptomsu: I had the 85 1.4G and stupidly sold it as I didn't care for the overly sensitive throw in MF mode and thought I would find something more to my liking. I should have kept it as in looking over some of my old images some of the best were taken with it. The old Zeiss 85 1.4 was too long in the tooth, the Otus too big and heavy (and pricey!) so I thought I was going to have to do without an 85 but along comes Zeiss with the new design. No problem with the price but the darn thing weighs 2.6 lbs (according to the listing on B&H)! I use a tripod for 99% of my landscape images but I still want to be able to street shoot with any lens I own and anything over 2 lbs just wears me out. So I suppose I'm still looking...
 
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ptomsu

Workshop Member
Further examination and reading between the lines reveals only two of these lenses are new designs, the 50 1.4 & 85 1.4. The others are the same as before with new housings. I don't know about the rest of you but I detest the Otus focusing ring and now they've gone and put it on these new bodies.

ptomsu: I had the 85 1.4G and stupidly sold it as I didn't care for the overly sensitive throw in MF mode and thought I would find something more to my liking. I should have kept it as in looking over some of my old images some of the best were taken with it. The old Zeiss 85 1.4 was too long in the tooth, the Otus too big and heavy (and pricey!) so I thought I was going to have to do without an 85 but along comes Zeiss with the new design. No problem with the price but the darn thing weighs 2.6 lbs (according to the listing on B&H)! I use a tripod for 99% of my landscape images but I still want to be able to street shoot with any lens I own and anything over 2 lbs just wears me out. So I suppose I'm still looking...
Meanwhile I tend to think that my 1.4/85 G copy was just a lemon, as all here and on other forums keep telling me how great this lens is!

I am actually full with you WRT weight, if a lens is only useable in the studio (more or less) it is not the best lens for me either :cool:

I might give the 1.4/85 G a second try.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Intriguing... They are Zeiss, they have a sexy build, price is reasonable and... ...they are manual focus. And these days, that's a deal killer for me. The 21 maybe I'd go for if it's stellar, but I have the Sigma ART's in 24, 35 and 50, and have the Nikkor 28 asph and 85/1.4G; heck, I even have the 105 DC which when zeroed is a laser. Oh, and ALL of the aforementioned will AF on my D810.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I think it's great that Zeiss upgraded the line to the new body style and the 50 and 85 imporoved a great deal. Actually both of those lenses where not the best wide open so it's great they upgraded them. Yea no AF and Zeiss Nikon / canon there never will be because of licensing agreements but these may come down to having a look that folks may like plus it should match each lens in the lineup. So depends on what you are after and even for Sony video shooters these could be very useful to them. I think it's a great upgrade all around and a good thing for Zeiss and end users that want something like this. Even Sony still folks can use either mount where we may not have a certain focal length and prefer manual focus. So across the board this can fit in many folks kits. Of course I'm a lens whore and more the merrier too.
 

Swissblad

Well-known member
Intriguing... They are Zeiss, they have a sexy build, price is reasonable and... ...they are manual focus. And these days, that's a deal killer for me. The 21 maybe I'd go for if it's stellar, but I have the Sigma ART's in 24, 35 and 50, and have the Nikkor 28 asph and 85/1.4G; heck, I even have the 105 DC which when zeroed is a laser. Oh, and ALL of the aforementioned will AF on my D810.
AF is an issue for me as well - which is why I will only consider the 100mm macro - where AF does not really play a role.

Ageing eyesight, MF and high pixel density is not a good combo....;)
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
MF is an issue, but it's a fun issue. For portraits, all logic tells me to buy the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 or 105mm f/2.0, and I already have the 105mm f/1.8. But this new 85mm seems to be an object of passion, one that I will love to death, even if it's too heavy and I will miss focus frequently when shooting wide open.

This is one for myself and one for my dreams :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs8uYxTJ530

And I suppose it's made in Japan as well :D
 

dwood

Well-known member
I'm interested in these lenses. My eyesight is aging too but much of my work is slow and steady on a tripod and I can tweak focus on LV until I get it right, so MF isn't a deal breaker. Like Jack, I also shoot the Art glass. I have the 35 and 50 and recently rented the 24. They're all excellent lenses for sure but I also have a Zeiss Distagon 21 and that's the one I get the most joy from in terms of image rendering. When these become available, I'll go into rental mode and have a go. The specs on the redesigned 50/1.4 and 85/1.4 look like mini Otii...on paper anyway.
 
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