I bought a Zeiss OTUS 85mm from BH rated 9+, but its hood fail to clamp on the body. So it is on its way back. I quickly tested it and left very impressed. It is definitely a twin brother of 55mm in rendering but with better CA and even slightly better Boekh, though with noticeable bigger size.
Both bokeh is a little boring to my taste I have to say. It is just very neutral, clear like water, Leica S lens is better to me in this regard but at slower speed. (Otus might be as good at f2~f2.5, didn't use enough to tell)
How good it is? think it this way, it has MP100 sharpness at f1.4 with better CA correction. A insane good lens. Will I get it again give me another chance? I am not so sure, this meant to be used as Portrait lens FOR ME but focus throw design make it impractical for me, it is too long/slow for my preference. slightly movement of subject in my preferred working distance require quite a bit focus adjusting. (I had this complain of ZF85, this one is way worse. Leica R is still best in this regard)
DOF is redefined if you want fully taking advantage of WO of this lens, yes, lens is well corrected and easy to see focus with good after market screen. but plain of critical focus is super super thin with its focus throw design optimized for static stuff, it is not piratical to me. 55 also has long focus throw but I mainly use 55 for environment portrait, so I have a lot more DOF can use. and at that distance, the ratio of (subject move)/(throw turn) is good, means it is workable for me.
Your pics speak volumes about how good this lens is, and how good you are at using it. I'd love to know what you use instead, now that you have returned it.
philber wrote:
Your pics speak volumes about how good this lens is, and how good you are at using it. I'd love to know what you use instead, now that you have returned it.
Philips, thanks for your comments. You will love this lens based on I see what you shoot most if disregard of price and weight. I can't think of anything to improve upon this lens. I slightly prefer it over 55 in term of IQ and rendering.
As for me, I don't know my plan yet, this lens is like a drug, I want it back even known its limitation. I will wait for right moment and price now.
Given new Zeiss AF and MF lens for Sony, my days with Nikon is counting down. DF might be my last OVF SLR for my family use. For that, I am buying back a few leica R lens and keep them as leisure setup to enjoy the process (nothing beat bright OVF for me) and use future Sony for travelling and landscape stuff. Sony is defining the future.
Next week, my blog-friend and I shall compare a Otus 85 with a Lux 80, and some other lenses too. I haven't used the 85 myself, but if it is anywhere close to the 55, it will smoke the old Lux in many respects.
Heh. Let's hope a new state of the art and very expensive lens smokes what we allready have acces to since long and for less money.
I really liked (sold and sold wirh sellers remorse) the Lux 80 but perfect it was not.
Optically wise, Leica 80lux has been surpassed by many many new lens already. some of them cheaper than $500, so there is really no need for beating dead horse. People buy 80lux shouldn't expect OTUS expertise. I love 80lux look myself.
I have used many top lens over the years, but found there is interesting phenomenal that there is very little correlation between glass optic quality and final image quality, especially for story telling type of image.... if anything, the glass with good rendering seems more useful than pixel at corner. That could be because I never have any real dog lens, they all seems above my threshold at WO, and good stop down, if not, either I sell them or I use them differently.
Keep in mind, that is only my opinion for the type of photography I appreciate.
If we are solely sticking with glass talking, that is different story. 85 OTUS rule everything else including Leica (because of APO and f1.4) and 55 OTUS itself from what I see so far.
I took my Otus 55 with me during a 10 days hike through the Alps from Switzerland to Italy. It was the only lens I took (with my D800). Here a first quick result of my trip.
wiseguy010 wrote:
I took my Otus 55 with me during a 10 days hike through the Alps from Switzerland to Italy. It was the only lens I took (with my D800). Here a first quick result of my trip.
naturephoto1 wrote:
Very nice image, but a bit heavy to take hiking for 10 days.
Rich
It is heavy, but with the right bag it is not a real problem. I used a lowepro pro rover 35l (http://store.lowepro.com/rover-pro-35l-aw). I only wanted to take one camera and one lens as the main purpose of my trip was not photography, so this was a good fit. I walked about 175 kilometers in sometimes rough terrain without any problems.
