No compromise? Zeiss blogs about its new lens line and the 55mm F1.4

Zeiss has posted a blog article that talks about the inception and development of its latest line of lenses, led by the 55mm F1.4 that was first shown at Photokina last year. Titled ‘No Compromise’, it explains how the company is aiming to meet the demands of the latest high resolution sensors, to satisfy the needs of both professional photographers and ambitious hobbyists.

The development of the 55mm F1.4 is discussed by leading members of the team involved, the product managers Nicole Balle, Dr. Michael Pollmann and Christophe Casenave. The ambitious goal was simply to create the best lens on the market, able to realize the full potential of cameras like the 36MP Nikon D800. After interviews with potential customers, the team decided to focus on lenses for portraits, landscapes and still lifes – applications for which the company’s manual focus lenses are best suited.

Dr. Pollmann talks about the evaluation of the first prototypes as a key moment of truth; would the lens’s predicted performance be visible in actual use? The answer, apparently, was yes: “After we had the first results from the prototypes, even the skeptics were surprised at how clearly the higher image quality becomes visible in the pictures.” One compromise that does seem to have been made, though, is size – the 55mm F1.4 is a monster due to to its complex optical system.

This picture of the 55mm F1.4 on a Nikon pro body shows the sheer size of the new lens

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The 55mm F1.4 has been given an iF product design award

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The final phase of the project was about bringing the lens to production and sale. Even the packaging was carefully designed: according to Casanave “Such a product is not just unpacked. We want the “unboxing experience” to be something that is really special and representative about this unique product.”

The 55mm F1.4 will come onto the market towards the end of this year, and Zeiss is confident it will be one of the best lenses on the market. Says Casanave “There will be nothing of comparable quality, and that not only applies to this specific focal length range”. It’ll be interesting to see whether users agree.

Click here for the full article on the Zeiss Lens Blog

Comments

Don’t think I’ll be running out to buy a 50 to do landscape with.

Looks fantastic, I really like the “clean” design! I wonder how it compares with the new Zeiss/Sony Planar T* 50/F1.4 ZA SSM.

I’m take a wild guess. This lens will cost about the same, if not more than the Leica APO 50/2 M. It’s aim the luxury market where owners could sleep better at night knowing they have the bragging rights on certain things. 🙂

Wrong. It’s market will be pros and enthusiastic photographers who need the ultimate image quality from combining a top quality lens with top quality sensors available today, in 35mm format. Simple. If you don´t have enough money, or do not need it, move on, there are other good lenses around.

Actually, it’s a very expensive way to confirm that the problem with the pictures was the photographer, not the equipment.

Does ZEISS make lenses to fit most brands of cameras?? I would love to see a discussion of lens manufacturers, and lens quality of various name brand lenses. I’m a rather serious enthusiast, and really don’t claim to be well informed. I would like to read opinions of these more advanced and more opinionated lens buyers/users. Ramone.

Yes, they make them for Canon, Nikon, Sony, and M (Leica, etc) mounts. Rumors that they are planning for Fuji X-mount also.

On the “quality” of manufacturers, it seriously is a price = performance. A lot of people say Nikon this, Canon that, but in the end at least from my experience (over 3 decades) is the “color” of the manufacturer. Canon consistently gives warmer tones (redish) and Nikon is more neutral, while Zeiss is cooler (blueish, higher contrast) Although with Digital age that seems to be less of an issue. etc etc

“It was decided to focus on portraits, landscapes and still lifes”. Personally I’ll be interested to see the landscape lens(es). I’m assuming that they’d have to be looking at a couple of FLs (say 24mm & 35mm at the very least). And I sincerely hope that they’re going to make them significantly smaller and lighter than this one. Zeiss need to understand that size and weight can be a compromise too. Serious landscapers will want lighter kit if they’ve got to carry them and all the hiking gear on a two week trek…….

I don’t care too much for AF, and have no interest in the other lenses.

For landscapes, they have a 18mm, 21mm, and 25mm lenses for several digital mounts. But in this area, for example Canon already has two really good prime lenses, both tilt and shift:17 and 24mm.
Personally, I use the Zeiss 25 f/2 on my Canon 6D, and I am really happy with the quality.

No compromises… except for high price, great weight and size, and lacking of autofocus and image stabilization.

If they designed a so big lens for a camera with 36 MP, I wonder what will be the size and weight of a Zeiss lens for the 100 MP cameras that will come to the market in the next few years.

It would be exactly the same size, since this lens is it. You’ll be able to use this lens on 100mp+ no problem, assuming it’s as good as Zeiss claim.

Not exactly. Zeiss says explicitly that the design target was a lens resolution good enough for a 36 MP sensor:

“In 2012, the Nikon D800 came on the market, equipped with a full-frame sensor with 36 megapixels. This was the highest resolution of any sensor in a full-frame camera to date. ZEISS wanted to offer photographers a range of high-end SLR lenses that would enable them to use the full potential of such cameras. Such a combination would achieve performance values that would be comparable to those of medium-format systems.”

Bottom line: the performance of the new 55mm Zeiss lens is matched to the D800 sensor, it could even fit the future cameras, but the performance will be insufficient for use with sensors with resolution much higher than 36 MP.

The 100/2.8 macro c/y zeiss belong to the top zeiss lenses ever. maybe you had a used one which didnt yet see service. i have bought a used 60/2.8 1:1. It was only years later, when i first used it that i recognized the blades needed cleaning. In an interview of two zeiss managers(one was dr. hubert nasse) in a german photo magazine i have read that until recently they were not allowed to get the best out of the lenses. and that the new HQ will be at the level of MF photography.
How can we use that lens on nikon, canon SLRs without aperture ring?

Use original Canon ‘L’ lens you will never regret.

Very curious to see how this lens performs. What irritates me is that they chose to make a 50mm first. I don’t see a lack of great 50mm lenses for FX, if there would only be a great lens between 20 and 24mm.

I do see a lack of great 50mm lenses. Right here below, I will make a list all great fast 50mm for Nikon:

That’s a big standard lens…

If there is a reason to get this lens instead of a very good (and very cheap, if you look around) 50mm f1.4 AIS Nikkor manual focus lens (and a KatzEye focusing screen), it is not apparent — and there would be enough money left over for a 180mm f2.8 Nikkor.

I own 50/1.4 AIS and it’s not really good. At least it’s cheap.

For this 55mm, Zeiss have been saying that this will be the best lens of it’s kind on the market. Whole different ballgame.

That’s funny — the one I have is excellent, as is every other one I’ve ever used.

Zeiss and Nikon and everyoner else have been making fast normal lenses for a few generations now. That there should be any fuss over one is the triumph of hype.

Such news should be a message to Nikon. Specifically for the D800/E series we need highly corrected, hi-resolution primes, say from 18 to 50mm; not necessarily faster than f2. Just a few primes designed to deliver flawless IQ from corner to corner on the 36MP sensor starting from f2.8 or f4, for instance.

And we know that if Nikon do them then the prices would be more “reasonable”.

Adopt MF/LF lenses?

Yes – Agree that some slower high res lenses would be an excellent idea. I’ve never needed f1.4 wide angles and it seems to me that they often come with many compromises….. size, weight, flare, distortion, vignetting, cost, etc

And to peevee – Most LF & MF lenses are unsuited to DSLR adaptation. And their FLs are typically too long for routine FF FOVs.

Zeiss is more like a small start-up only they have a big name.

Zeiss is pretty big, they are more in the Industrial/Cinema side than Photography. It’s a niche lense where autofocus is given up for pure quality and feel. It just feels “nice” to hold a full-metal lense compared to all the light plastics out there (fast AF lenses need lighter materials)

Whaaaaahhh! I’m holding my breath till they make them autofocus!!!

ain’t happening. They are not a “sports” lense. Landscape, Portrait, Still life, none of them needs autofocus, for still-life and landscape you actually turn OFF autofocus.

You’ll have to buy a Sony A-mount camera for something like that

No compromises is corporate talk for high retail prices. It’s 2013, develop some AF/MF lenses. Modern AF works very well for the most part, and new cameras aren’t really made for MF the way cameras were in the past.

it’s nice to see the effort they make advertisers to hide the brand name of reflex, too bad that there are no doubts about the brand they do on the model. also hide the red stripe on the handle was impossible?

Ultrasonic motor? USB connect lens software upgrade from time to time ? Fully new design? new lens design / element? We will see…

It’s a manual focus lens with a new optical design.

This is good.
Sensors have been fine for years, the glass is another story.
The only trouble now is that something that works as well as it was supposed to to begin with will be priced in gouge land.

Anyway, at least there will be something less flawed optically for those that can/want to pay for it.

What’s really good about this lens is that it will put pressure on the other lens manufactures to up there game as well, though hopefully at less cost.

I really love the yellow markings on that lens

“Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow.”

Not as soft as a Tomioka wide open i would think 😉

Some Zeiss lenses are mediocre at the best…they should speed up the game…

I suppose there will always be snarky comments by people for whom the product is not intended, but Zeiss and their skill in creating products which are at the pinnacle of their industry is simply incredible. As a regular user of their cine master primes, ZE series for Canon and even older super-speed cine lenses, i can say that what they achieve in the quality of their products is peerless. If you want to see what incredible precision and intelligent engineering can create, use one of their professional products. This new series is an extension of that, and i for one think their constant evolution of product line is amazing.

Who are the people this lens is intended for? How many Professionals do “the unboxing experience”? Most I know just stick it on the camera and go shooting everything with it 🙂

Zeiss ist fantastisch!

A line of lenses built like this? They had better come with a team of Sherpas to carry them for you, that thing is huge – check out the pic of it mounted on a D4!

The image quality had better be outstanding considering it doesn’t even focus itself…

With a few notable exceptions, Zeiss lenses have tended to be much larger than their direct competitors. The trend began in the 70’s and has continued until today. I have several Zeiss lenses.

I love their build, which pay homage to Nikon’s excellent AiS lenses. They are not quite as robust as those Nikon lenses, but then again, this is 2013 and standards across the board have fallen.

But colour, sharpness, falloff character and more are really excellent in the Zeiss line. And, with the exceptions of the 15mm and 85/2 in the ZM line, most are prices competitively.

In the SLR world, they tend to be a bit more expensive, but I think the build, production value and quality of image are generally worthwhile.

But yes, they are large. Perhaps too large.

I had a Contax system and the lenses weren’t unwieldy at all. The 21mm was big but that’s because it was two lenses bolted together. The rest, including a zoom were normal sized and not very well made. I never liked the cheap feel to the aperture ring and my 50 1.7 stopped focussing accurately! My 100mm macro developed a nasty grinding sound when focussed and some of them were no better than my older Pentax primes.

But some of them! Oh boy were they sharp and the colours and contrast were just perfect. I have boxes of velvia slides that make me cry coz the image quality is so much better than my DSLR. So however good these new lenses are maybe they should be used on MF bodies for best results?

Talk to me when it comes with AF.

Yep, they are more or less useless to me without AF… 🙁 Even modern Medium Format lenses has AF

I agree. How can they call it ‘No Compromise’?. Oh, how about that one: want the best quality lens – ditch the AF.
“aiming to satisfy the needs of both professional photographers and ambitious hobbyists”, yeah, right…

For the price of this lens you could get a pentax DA* 55mm 1.4 with AF and still have enough money left to buy a K5-IIs and then You could Buy two more excellent DA* zooms.

Zeiss…a dream lens ..

Photography did not exist before 1983.

I agree – Zeiss lenses on SONY (I have 24-70/2.8 and 135/1.8) work just fine with AF. I see no objective reason for keeping AF from Canon and Nikon other than some “paperwork” that may exist between Zeiss and Sony

Oh, so you need AF for landscapes, portraits, and product photography? Really? The intended audience (pros and enthusiastic hobbyists) probably know a thing or two about manually focusing lenses, I would say…