ZEISS announces ‘no compromise’ Otus 55mm F1.4

ZEISS has announced the Otus 1.4/55, a premium manual focus ‘normal’ lens for full frame SLRs. It’s the first in a new line of lenses aimed at ‘uncompromising professional’ photographers, with a price tag to match – €2,940 or US$3,999 (excl. VAT). According to Zeiss it’s named Otus after ‘a type of owl known for its excellent vision in darkness’. On the technical side, it employs a Distagon design that’s unusually complex for this class of lens, with 12 elements in 10 groups to minimise aberrations even when shooting at maximum aperture.

Read more about the design philosophy of the Otus Distagon T* 1.4/55 on the Zeiss lens blog  

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• Press Release
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Press Release:

No-compromises image quality with the new ZEISS camera lens

The ZEISS Otus 1.4/55 stands out with technical features ideal for all-around professional photography with 35mm DSLR cameras
 
OBERKOCHEN/Germany, October 7, 2013: With an imaging performance that has hitherto only been seen with medium format systems, the new ZEISS Otus 1.4/55 offers ambitious photographers who do not accept any compromises in image quality the possibility for a more compact gear. DSLR cameras with high resolution 35mm sensors put enormous demands on lenses. The Otus1.4/55 can deal with these demands thanks to its outstanding sharpness, high image contrast and no visible chromatic aberrations. It creates the highest-possible image quality, even with an open aperture. The new ZEISS lens is especially suited for advertising, fashion and studio photography, and professional photographers working in these fields will not need to make any compromises in terms of performance and quality. The Otus 1.4/55 is the first lens in a family of uncompromising professional lenses from ZEISS. Additional focal lengths will follow. Otus is the Latin name for a type of owl known for its excellent vision in darkness — just like this new high-speed lens from ZEISS.

“Our goal was to bring the best standard lens for SLR cameras onto the market. The Otus 1.4/55 delivers outstanding sharpness and contrast rendition all the way into the corners of the image. The only way we could achieve this was through the complex Distagon optical design, which until now has only been found on wide-angle lenses,” explains Christophe Casenave, product manager for ZEISS Camera Lenses. “Thanks to the low level of longitudinal chromatic aberration, there are no visible aberrations. So an illuminated harbor scene by night with many light sources in front of and behind the actual focal plane appears close to reality, without displaying complementary, color contrast edges. The excellent performance delivered by Otus is constant for all shooting distances. Its high performance with an open aperture also makes this lens a good choice for close-ups or portraits. For architectural and landscape photography, the Otus 1.4/55 takes full advantage of modern high-resolution camera sensors, resulting in impressive resolution in the images, even for the smallest detail.”

Other unique features of the Otus 1.4/55 are its high image contrast all the way to the edges (even for low f-numbers) and the consistent high-resolution performance across the entire image field. The lens has a completely new optical and mechanical design, which was developed taking into account the special and increasing requirements of high-resolution DSLR cameras. The Otus 1.4/55 is equipped with a floating elements design with 12 lens elements in 10 groups, including a double-sided aspheric lens and six lenses made of special glass with anomalous partial dispersion. These sophisticated features create image results without color fringing or distortion. Cameras with a lower number of pixels will also benefit from the lens’s unique features.

The performance delivered by the Otus 1.4/55 is especially obvious with night shots. When taking pictures with many image-dominant, open light sources, it is common for correction defects to show up. Because the Otus 1.4/55 is an apochromatic lens, longitudinal chromatic aberrations are corrected by its lens elements of special glass with anomalous partial dispersion. The color defects are therefore significantly lower than the defined limits. Bright/dark transitions in the image, and especially highlights, are rendered with no colorful artifacts. Although it is not a traditional focal length for architectural and landscape photography, here, too, the lens can deliver very good results. The edges of the image can be used for all apertures, giving full rein to the photographer’s creativity. For portraiture, the Otus 1.4/55 render the finest details precisely, and thanks to the maximum aperture of f/1.4, the photographer can consciously play with the depth of field and create a smooth bokeh. The Otus 1.4/55 stands out not only for its highly detailed pictures with no bothersome artifacts, but also for its mechanical quality. The smooth focus operation with the large angle of rotation allows for the finest variations when focusing — qualities that are only possible in a metal barrel. Its design as a manual focus lens allowed the engineers to work with much smaller tolerances during the construction. The lens’s robust metal barrel with the easy to grip focus ring makes it perfect for the demanding everyday situations of professional photographers, and guarantees a long product life. The yellow labels on the scales, which are borrowed from the professional ZEISS cinema lenses, contribute to better visibility. For its innovative product design, the Otus 1.4/55 already won the iF product design award 2013.

The Otus 1.4/55 will be available with F bayonet (ZF.2) and EF bayonet (ZE) starting at the end of October in all global markets. The recommended retail price will be €2,940 or US$3,999 (excl. VAT)*.

More information can be found on www.zeiss.com/photo.

*Status 7 October 2013

Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 specifications

Additional images

Nikon mount version, with lens hood

The ZEISS Otus 1.4/55 uses a complex Distagon lens design with 12 elements on 10 groups

Zeiss Otus 1.4/55

Comments

I don’t worry that they sell enough but yes this requires quite a specialist photographer.

It will get sold and it will get used, by a very few..

For most of us it isn’t just out of reach it is about 4x out of reach. Still even specialist lenses like these will be bought. Lets hope by people who really use it well 🙂

I cannot imagine how some can manually focus below f2 on a distance up to 2 meters on my 5dm2…. Still have one old (a bit radioactive) 50mm @1.4 manual lens, where the rate of sharp pictures was below 10%.

Mini review from Lloyd Chambers (with 1.4 samples)
http://diglloyd.com/articles/ZeissZ/ZeissZ-Otus-55f1_4.html

I just hope that this lens with 10x higher price tag than Sigma counterpart, can offer at least 10% increase in overall image quality
There are samples available and results look indeed great…just as one would expect from a quality, standard lens. I’m just curious, how much improvement will actually show up (real world / lab environment).
Latest, small sensor Zeiss line – Touit wasn’t really stellar.

Same price as a Leica 50 f/1.4 Summilux, but without the beautiful knurled metal barrel.

But a $4000 normal lens?

This new Zeiss lens will probably do well as a rental. But most modern pro-grade lenses provide more than enough resolution and performance for even the most demanding applications so it’s not clear to me why such a lens is even necessary.

Whoooooooo?

don´t know you but i rather buy this..

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/748876-REG/Hasselblad_3023052_Wide_Angle_HC_50mm_II_F_3_5.html

A kilogram and $4,000? While I don’t doubt that it will be an excellent lens, I think I can live happily enough without it. There are after all, some excellent 50mm and 55mm lenses out there. Zeiss seem to have over-looked that size, weight and price are themselves a compromise. And do we really have to have lenses named after birds? What’s next? Not a dodo, one suspects. A Hoopoe, an Emu or a Puffin? Anyone?

Who wants to have a premium quality image will pay a premium price. Now of course I would like to see a MAJOR improvement over the classic 50mm lenses.
Next thing is how much difference will this make in day to day operations ?

“According to Zeiss it’s named Otus after a type of owl known for its excellent vision in darkness.”

Then it should be f/0.95. Of course, the price would be US $10,000.

You still live in ’80s? When lens aperture was perceived as a the most important quality indicator? I think we’ve learnt quite a bit since than.

“You still live in ’80s? When lens aperture was perceived as a the most important quality indicator? I think we’ve learnt quite a bit since than.”

I think you missed the point. If it is named after an Owl with great night vision then the poster was simply saying the lens should e faster than F1.4 which is pretty normal on premium 50mm lenses these days. The original post is not linking lens speed to quality in the way you suggest.

I also agree with the notion if you are going to name it Otus for the reasons given I’d expect it to be faster. In fact it was the first thought that crossed my mind when I read that.

Autofocus would be nice….it’s 2013 🙂

I look forward to side to side test with some of the history’s best 50’s:-)

Lens prices are really becoming absurd!

Plus, it comes with a lens hood! 😀

It has a nice DOF-scale! 😀

Here we go again, another Zeiss bashing session. Most of the readers here would have no problem blowing $800-$1000 on an unlocked iPhone5s that will be obsolete in six months.

What did you people do before the F3AF came out in ’83? OMG! It’s not autofocus! How am I supposed to take a photo without autofocus!?!

Whaaaaa!

“Most of the readers here would have no problem blowing $800-$1000 on an unlocked iPhone5s that will be obsolete in six months.”

Excellent point. However, how much better are the images from this Zeiss, compared to the Sigma 50/1.4?

IOW, are the images 10x better? In a blind 11×14 test, would the panel do better than 50/50 – which is random?

FWIW, I have a Motorola Android.

Well, Zeiss mentioned that this is lens supportingly as sharp wide open as some of 50 f/1.4 are at f/5.6. So yes – I would call that 10 times better.

Most iphone users spend 199$ at front and other expenses are ignored.

so this Zeiss becomes instantly obsolete to match “no compromise” 1983 standard?

btw, I see “no compromise” in the 6 ED elements (less the number, higher the lens design skill).

Well, I was a child, so not much. Why is everyone else in here a senior citizen?

Forgetting about the price for a moment…

35mm manual-focus SLRs had large bright high-mag VFs with screens that made focusing a fast lens a snap (maybe not so much with wides but still…)

More of an issue (IMO) is that the Otus 55 weighs about a kilo (just under in F-mount, just over in EOS), making it heavier than a D800/5DIII (compare the 50/1.2 AIS Nikkor at 360g or the 1.4 at 249g). How is anyone supposed to hand-hold a setup like that and *accurately* focus at f/1.4 with the dodgy focusing screens in DSLRs? Solution: use LV and a tripod. The run’n’gun spontaneity and all-round usefulness that made the fast 50mm FL popular just went right out the window.

I think this an extremely specialized lens that just happens to have a “normal” FF focal length, rather than being the ultimate incarnation of the standard lens (somewhat like the 50/0.7, just not as extreme), hence much of the confusion.

odd-us

Because premium primes at f/1.4 don’t already exist?

Why Canon version does not have aperture ring – meaning the aperture changed electronically? But what about Nikon?

Yes, from day 1 Canon EOS use electronic ‘wire’ move the aperture,however Nikon in-heritage the big family of all F lenses, so only the latest lenses aperture are move by electronically.

If it truly was a “no compromise” lens, why not make it a F/1.2? or F/.95?

Because those lenses are usually compromised too. There is a reason why the Canon 50mm f/1.2 performs worse in some areas than other 50mm lenses, including the Canon 50mm f/1.4.

I had the 35/1.4 Contax/Yashica. At 2.0(and that the speediest also in these testimages) the corners were sharp, even at low light inside church. When i remember my 35/2.0 OM I am getting upset again. Thats why i changed to Contax in 1978.

OK, it’s an impressive design, on paper, but there is, also, not much compromise in pricing it.

impressed? Zeiss say there is no resolution or field curvature data they can provide at the moment.

My ppl have word for this.
Naprdjavanje.

I can’t translate it correctly but is in connection with farting.

Shart perhaps?

they have been annoucing this for years

That is one sick owl, a representative of dying species…one that got extinct even before being actually formed.

Enough poor lenses for poor people…..

This site lives from poor people. So you can move on.

I have Distagon 35 f/1.4 ZE……compared to the new Sigma….it adds nothing on top, a lot more heavier, twice the cost and doesn’t have AF.

This lens at this price……….you gotta be kidding me!

OCTOPUS!

And now people complain about Leica price.

Amazing optics and built quality = expensive.

We’ll see how the build quality is on an actual lens. Cause on images it look like one of the Tamron lenses from early ’90s: http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/Tamron-AF-20-40-F2.7-3.5-Aspherical-IF_lens176.html
This rubber band might be really difficult to keep in any acceptable condition after 2-3 years. I preferred old Carl Zeiss lenses that got fully metal body.

4000$ worth optics.. that´s the question.
how much better then 700 euro glas is it.

That’s not the case here. The optics of Zeiss lenses were never really exceptional – just on par with pro grade lenses, usually even softer wide open.
What you pay for here, is the supposedly “exlusive” brand – so it’s just a status symbol like a Leica, or a Nex rebranded to Hasselblad.

wlad – you serious? Cause it feels like a troll attempt.

My “old” Planar 1,4/50 Contax/Yashica is a wonderful lens, can be used with an adaptor ring, does the same manual work and can be found on the market for less 150$.

oh… come on!

zeiss has even links to “high res” pictures on their website (http://lenses.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/en_de/camera_lenses/otus/otus1455.html) for this lens

let’s take a look!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlzeisslenses/sets/72157635236491881/

WAIT A SECOND!

NOT A SINGLE PICTURE WIDE OPEN @ 1.4 ???

so much words and still so shy to show anything? whoa…

The last portrait shot on the D800E is done at f/1.4.

really? did you bother too look at all?

There you go full res shot at f1.4 so easy to bash…

$4000???? sigma art looks way better with AF

Thank you. That’s what I’ve been saying.

Now that’s a beast. Let’s see a DPR lens review soon.

Really like the design of that thing. Very simple, almost “underplayed”.

No compromise, eh? Maybe just the price, size and weight of the lens.

Seriously, this should belong in any camera bag of those who shoot with the Nikon D800/E.

Well there is a compromise and it’s no AF – for this kind of money you’d expect a more complete package. I expect Sigma to update their 50/1.4 next year and equal this at less than 1/4 of the price.

“equal this at less than 1/4 of the price.”

Equal this for 1/10 of the price.

But will it out resolve the much cheaper Sigma 35 F1.4? I know they are different focal lengths but just saying.

22 lenses currently outresolve the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM in the lenscore database, including a number of Zeiss lenses. I think it’s safe to assume that this lens will outresolve not just the Sigma 35mm but most other lenses as well.

will you see a difference to cheaper 50mm lenses on print?
i doubt it….

i rather buy a loui vuitton bag.

on a 8×10″ not but on 40x 60″!

You still print?

a photo is no photo until it is printed…. 🙂
of course i print. i have a few epson A2+ printers.

Plastek, you still meet people in person having mobile phone and facebook?

YSLaiHK – and what does it have to deal with printing?
Henry M. Hertz – that was true during the film age. Not so much for digital. For digital photographs a native medium is digital. It’s like scanning film – sure, makes sense, but something just doesn’t feel right about it.

that´s maybe the opinion of stupid facebook users who stick their noses on 5 inch screens…… for me a print is the final medium.

No a photograph is not a photograph until it is chemically processed.
we’re talking image making now! 🙂

Photography is image making, but not all image making is photography.

well, it might be an exceptional lens, but it looks like a cheap toy with that rubber band and the yellow Sans font

I don’t know. I think the yellow looks really smart.

As a professional photographer I have no need for this lens, but I know for sure it’s an exceptional build lens with an exceptional image quality and with an exceptional investment value.

…. for exceptional rich dubai clients with no clue about photography. 😉

Yes, this is ridiculous. If you’re looking for a lens like this as a professional to make your photos sell or whatever, you’re really doing something wrong.

@Henry, no doubt it’s an excellent lens for sure.

@Northgrove
I have twice tested a Zeiss lens for a review and I can say it are top notch lenses. Excellent build and image quality.

Do they stand really out by means of image quality, so it is worth to choose above those of top lenses of other brands, no they don’t.
Now it might be that these lenses will do and will make it the absolute choice for professional photographers or those of collectors/investors.

Otus regrets…

LOL!

Is this like buyer’s remorse?