All I can say is, with f:1.4, I am surprised to see so much structure in the distant background. I'll need to try that myself, because I find it very nice. Thanks for checking.
Some image from July 4th. since the foreground and background are boring, I quickly decided to discard WA lens and use 55 otus all the way.
I manage drop the lens (with DF) on ground in the dark, I didn't put my hood on for its huge size, lessen learned but filter helped.(it got smashed.) the lens no longer focus as smooth, especially around MFD. I am waiting for Zeiss reply.
Wow! I am sorry for your incident. If it makes you feel any better, it happened to me too a couple of times. The filter saved my bacon on a Canon EF-50 f:1.4 and a Zeiss ZE 35 f1.4, but not with a ZE 85 f1.4 that fell on stone. It went back, the focusing was better than afte the crash, but not back to normal, and they exchanged it for a not unreasonable price. Hope yours turns out OK.
Philip, thanks. I feel pain to even think about it. this is not first time happen to me either. I droped my 50lux ASPH on rock at Laguna beach. The lens survived with a mark, Leica CLA it for free for me. This time is not as lucky as it is more than 4 lbs stuff drop on stone. Zeiss just sent me repair cover letter a few hour ago, I have to just keep my finger crossed and wait.
I used Otus in my recent trip to China alone with nikon zoom and zeiss 135 APO. I am very impressed with results. A beautiful lens. They are very heavy but worth the hassle. We have to cancel a well planed trip due to family member health problem. but take familiar subject is the best way to get to know the lens.
zhangyue wrote:
Philip, thanks. I feel pain to even think about it. this is not first time happen to me either. I droped my 50lux ASPH on rock at Laguna beach. The lens survived with a mark, Leica CLA it for free for me. This time is not as lucky as it is more than 4 lbs stuff drop on stone. Zeiss just sent me repair cover letter a few hour ago, I have to just keep my finger crossed and wait.
I used Otus in my recent trip to China alone with nikon zoom and zeiss 135 APO. I am very impressed with results. A beautiful lens. They are very heavy but worth the hassle. We have to cancel a well planed trip due to family member health problem. but take familiar subject is the best way to get to know the lens.
Alexluu627 wrote:
Do you like the zeiss 55 on nikon as much as your Leica S2 setup? If noise wasn't a issue, which setup do you like more?
Yes, they are different and Nikon setup is still more practical for me. Leica S2 file is amazing but system has many fundamental flaw to me. or I shouldn't say flaw but it seems be prioritized for studio, fashion use which you have ample light and can comfortably shooting f8, f11 etc.. There are few problem with S system: 1. mirror impact, I need be very careful to get very sharp image, it is not because of pixel density. (I don't have problem with D810) 2. Focus accuracy: I don't feel the focusing system do justice for S glass. that is why I think if you shoot f8, f11 it is OK, but not f2.5 at close distance. Manual focus is preferred if absolutely accuracy required.
So if I can get full potential of S2 image, most likely I would prefer S file. especially loving its color. But to me, I think OTUS glass out perform S glass I have in sheer optical performance. (S glass rendering is very beautiful though) I am very impressed with 55OTUS, 85OTUS and 135APO. (actually, I think 135 might be best of the bunch, but I seldom shooting f2 with OTUS)
Lovely picture! Very interesting to learn that you believe 135 APO to be the best of the bunch. I tried it very briefly, and came away very impressed. Now I am waiting to try one out, because I have been told getting correct focus at longer distances isn't so easy.
zhangyue wrote:
Yes, they are different and Nikon setup is still more practical for me. Leica S2 file is amazing but system has many fundamental flaw to me. or I shouldn't say flaw but it seems be prioritized for studio, fashion use which you have ample light and can comfortably shooting f8, f11 etc.. There are few problem with S system: 1. mirror impact, I need be very careful to get very sharp image, it is not because of pixel density. (I don't have problem with D810) 2. Focus accuracy: I don't feel the focusing system do justice for S glass. that is why I think if you shoot f8, f11 it is OK, but not f2.5 at close distance. Manual focus is preferred if absolutely accuracy required.
So if I can get full potential of S2 image, most likely I would prefer S file. especially loving its color. But to me, I think OTUS glass out perform S glass I have in sheer optical performance. (S glass rendering is very beautiful though) I am very impressed with 55OTUS, 85OTUS and 135APO. (actually, I think 135 might be best of the bunch, but I seldom shooting f2 with OTUS)
Thanks for the reply =) i was wondering if you had to choose the 55mm vs 85mm otus, which one would you get? I love the colors that render out of the s2 pictures you put up in the medium format section. They always look so amazing and the colors just pop out at you. I currently have a nikon 85mm 1.4g and i dont like the way it renders the pictures as did the a7r with the 55mm 1.8 zeiss that i was using. I would like to keep the d810 as it is a really great camera, but the pricing for zeiss lenses on this system is really sad =(. I could buy a pentax 645z and a lens for the price of the d810 and otus lens.
Great pictures!
I cannot believe some people compare this lens to the sigma art or the FE 55 1.8 calling it "mini otus". It's really an upper class when it comes to render.
It could compare to a supertele lens like a 200f2, easily.
Alexluu627 wrote:
Thanks for the reply =) i was wondering if you had to choose the 55mm vs 85mm otus, which one would you get?
I tried both Otus, 55 and 85. To my surprise, they are not really as similar as i would have expected. Both are very high performance, but the rendering is different. The 55 has more structured bokeh and a gradual transition from in-focus to out-of-focus, giving a feeling of depth, and so an IQ that can look milder. The 85 has a very creamy bokeh, with a sharp transition between in-focus and out-of-focus. So images are more delineated, for better or worse. This could have something to do with the fact that the 55 is a Distagon, and the 85 a Sonnar.
I discussed it with a guy from Zeiss who said that most amateur clients liked one more than the other, but not both equally.
All this, of course, leaves aside the question of focal length, for which I imagine you need no advice.
+1 for what philip said. but I feel the bokeh difference mostly come from how you used the lens.
I think I slightly prefer 85's bokeh but it is highly depend on the way I shoot it. for 85 and 135, most likely the picture will be half body and throw out of background case so bokeh is hard to not creamy. but if I have to pick one lens out of bunch, it has to be 55, no question about it, it is more useful. It can do things 85 or 135 do if you stretch it but not other way around.
Once I keep magnification similar: say 55mm at 1M, 135mm at 3M, the bokeh from both lens is very similar. I also have the 85mm and 55mm images shooting at the same magnification under same condition during the short time with 85OTUS, again, they are quite similar in Bokeh department. I will post those later once I have time to do so. This make me wonder if lens reach this level are they going to have similar bokeh?? General speaking, I would rate all three Bokeh good to excellent as they never draw attention to themselves. They are very neutral which is good for reference tool I guess. I happen to like this kind of rendering now and consistence is good.
Since this is gear forum, I understand lens is important. hence very detail, technical and subjective talk. but ultimately what you see here in forum, many pictures comes from years experience to process images, observing lighting, using visual effect by composing etc... those probably contribute more than lens itself in the end to final image.
zhangyue wrote:
+1 for what philip said. but I feel the bokeh difference mostly come from how you used the lens.
I think I slightly prefer 85's bokeh but it is highly depend on the way I shoot it. for 85 and 135, most likely the picture will be half body and throw out of background case so bokeh is hard to not creamy. but if I have to pick one lens out of bunch, it has to be 55, no question about it, it is more useful. It can do things 85 or 135 do if you stretch it but not other way around.
Once I keep magnification similar: say 55mm at 1M, 135mm at 3M, the bokeh from both lens is very similar. I also have the 85mm and 55mm images shooting at the same magnification under same condition during the short time with 85OTUS, again, they are quite similar in Bokeh department. I will post those later once I have time to do so. This make me wonder if lens reach this level are they going to have similar bokeh?? General speaking, I would rate all three Bokeh good to excellent as they never draw attention to themselves. They are very neutral which is good for reference tool I guess. I happen to like this kind of rendering now and consistence is good.
Since this is gear forum, I understand lens is important. hence very detail, technical and subjective talk. but ultimately what you see here in forum, many pictures comes from years experience to process images, observing lighting, using visual effect by composing etc... those probably contribute more than lens itself in the end to final image.
I feel it is similar. ps, one image I posted two thread above is actually from 135mm. ...Show more →
thanks for the replies again!! it is very useful and i am currently very close to picking up a 55mm otus either today or in the near future. I will eventually get rid of the nikon d810 and switch over to the a7r ii for the ibis and focus peaking. I really liked the focal length of 55mm since i was used to the 55mm zeiss 1.8 on the sony. So hopefully it wont feel any different besides the gigantic weight i guess lol.
Hey guys just picked up the 55mm otus from a seller on here in pasadena about an hour ago. I am so stoked and will be posting some pictures tonight. I am a new member to the otus family for this forum hopefully I could contribute and keep this thread going since it's awesome! Thank you guys for the replies earlier. It helped me pull the trigger
Congrats on the Zeiss otus 55mm. It's a wonderful lens. Please do post some photos. I have had mine for almost a year now and the picture quality still amazes me. I may get the otus 85mm soon.
hopefully I could contribute and keep this thread going since it's awesome! Thank you guys for the replies earlier. It helped me pull the trigger 
