Zeiss lenses are known for their nearly perfect optical performance, and the Otus 85mm f/1.4 may be one of the best in their lineup. If you are looking for some of the best optical quality you can find in a portrait lens, check out this great video review of the Otus 85mm f/1.4 ZE lens.
Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this great video review takes a look at the Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 ZE lens. Though it is a manual focus lens costing over $4,000, the Otus 85mm has gained a lot of respect for its sharp and contrasty rendering, lack of aberrations, smooth bokeh, and characteristic 3D pop. To help it get that performance, the Otus has a variety of features, including:
- Planar optical design for high sharpness throughout focus range
- Apochromatic design with six anomalous partial dispersion elements for reduced aberrations and increased clarity
- One aspherical element for reduced distortion and increased sharpness
- ZEISS T* anti-reflective coating for reduced flares and ghosting and increased contrast
- Floating elements system
- All-metal lens barrel with rubberized focusing ring
Altogether, while the Otus 85mm f/1.4 is certainly one of the most expensive lenses out there, it also offers top-shelf performance. Check out the video above for Frost's full thoughts.
For the difference in price, I would say that the Milvus 85mm outshines the Otus by kilometres. Quality-wise there is such little difference that the price gap is just not warranted.
Go Milvus.
The Milvus is fantastic, but it's form is problematic on a Canon DSLR, your fingers have nearly no space between grip and lens. It's a bit heavy, and I sold it to buy an old Canon FD 85/1.2 L for my EOS R. It's not that perfect, but it has more character and it's light weight.
Anyway, the Milvus was a heavy pleasure.
A colleague had the manual-focus Zeiss 100 f2 macro for Nikon, and it was stellar. Really nice bokeh and shallow DoF when desired. I'd take that lens over the Otus, if only because the close-focus enabled portraits not possible with a conventional lens.
Well, the background blur is slightly busier than the f1.4 lens, but the 1:2 macro 100/f2 is way more versatile. Colour rendition is also great.
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