zeiss

Zeiss today unveiled the new Otus 28mm f/1.4 lens, adding a new focal length to the highly regarded Otus family alongside the existing 55mm and 85mm (which we reviewed here and here.

Well, well... what do we have here. Another amazing Sony E-Mount lens from those young, hip lens dreamers over at Zeiss. Perhaps you've heard of them, they're the blue logo'd company looking to take a cool $1,499 out of our collective pockets so we get the pleasure of owning the newest piece of the growing lineup that is Loxia E-Mounts. And you know what, they may have just succeeded... just.

Zeiss today announced its new Loxia 21mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens for Sony E-mount cameras. The compact and powerful lens was designed specifically for Sony's increasingly-higher-resolution full-frame sensors, and joins the 35mm f/2 and 50mm f/2 lenses that kicked off the Loxia line when it was unveiled in September 2014.

Carl Zeiss today announced Milvus, a new family of lenses for Canon and Nikon DSLRs. The lenses are optimized for the high-resolution cameras that are emerging in today's market. The line has 6 models for each mount at launch: a 21mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4, 50mm f/2, and 100mm f/2.

Sony and Zeiss are two brand names that appear together on many of Sony's cameras and lenses. For the past two decades, the Japanese and German companies (respectively) have had a fruitful partnership in designing and manufacturing gear.

To help clear up any confusion regarding dual-branded camera equipment, Zeiss recently published an interesting article that explains some behind-the-scenes details about the partnership.

Back in April, Zeiss announced its new Batis series of lenses -- a lineup that featured the world's first-ever OLED distance display rather than a physical distance indicator window. The new OLED screens can be easily read by photographers even in low (or no) light situations.

If you're wondering what the screens look like at night, check out the short clip above showing a screen glowing during a shoot in the dark.

Carl Zeiss today uploaded a number of sample photos captured with its new Batis line of full frame lenses for Sony's FE mount. Of the 7 images taken with the 85mm f/1.8 and the 4 with the 25mm f/2, one in particular is causing quite a bit of discussion among Sony shooters.

Now this is different: Zeiss has just announced a new line of lenses called Batis. The two new lenses -- a 25mm f/2 and an 85mm f/1.8 -- are the world's first full-frame autofocus lenses that feature an OLED display on the lenses for focus distance and depth of field.

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who knows as much about ZEISS as Bernd K. Otto. From the company's entry into the photography world in 1890, to its long-lived history and reputation throughout the 20th century, Otto’s knowledge and passion for the company led him to create Carl Zeiss Kamera-Register 1902–2012, the most comprehensive anthology of ZEISS cameras in existence.

A few weeks ago we told you that the first Hasselblad body and Zeiss lens to ever travel to space were going up on the auction block at RR Auctions in Boston.

Conservative estimates put the expected hammer price at between $50k and $100k, but the camera has officially been sold, and its selling price was a whole lot more than that... approximately three times even the highest estimates, in fact.

Space camera collectors and space camera admirers grab your bibs and prepare for some serious drooling. Seven months after that Hasselblad that may or may not have gone to the moon and back snagged a whopping $90K at a WestLicht auction, another intriguing but this time very official Hassy is on the auction block again.

The camera and attached ZEISS lens are the very first Hasselblad and ZEISS in space, and RR Auction in Boston has gone to great lengths to prove that these items are legitimate.

Laaaadieeesss and Gentlemennnn! I have for you the lens test to end all lens tests! Not a mere test, mind you, but an epic showdown, a clash of the titans, the ultimate cage match! Pixel peepers rejoice!

Dr. Hubert Nasse has been working in optics for almost 30 years. A ZEISS master, many of us dream of sitting down with a man of his optical know-how and just having a conversation in which he enlightens us (pun intended) on the basics of lens design.

Fortunately, photographer and photo educator Matt Granger is making that dream come true for us today with his video interview with Dr. Nasse from Photokina.

No surprises, but perhaps further confirmation for those trying to convince themselves that $4,490 is a reasonable price to pay, DxOMark has officially put the new ZEISS 85mm f/1.4 Otus through the wringer and it has come out the other side the most capable 85mm portrait lens they've ever tested.

Matt Granger, one of our favorite photographers/photography educators, was one of the fortunate souls who got to spend the last 4 months putting the newly announced ZEISS Otus 85mm f/1.4 through its paces, and he's created a video review to show you just why this lens is worth every penny of the $4,490 asking price.

As of a couple of hours ago, there's officially a new 'world-class' lens on the market. Touted as another 'world's best' in its category, ZEISS' 85mm f/1.4 Otus short telephoto lens has arrived.

The release of the ZEISS 55mm f/1.4 Otus was hailed with wide eyes and meaningful glances at checking account balances, but if you only just saved up enough to afford it, we've got some bad news for you: the next Otus lens is about to be released.

After a week packed with photo and info leaks about this mysterious line of lenses, ZEISS officially pulled the cover off of its Loxia line of manual focus lenses for the Sony full-frame E-Mount a7, a7R and a7S cameras.

Earlier this week we shared the reliable rumor that Zeiss was about to lift the veil on a new ‘Loxia’ lens lineup designed for full-frame mirrorless cameras -- at this point limited to the Sony a7, a7r and a7s.

Well, it seems that rumor was true, at least according to these leaked pictures of the 50mm f/2.0 and 35mm f/2.0 Loxia lenses said to be announced next week.

Sony full-frame mirrorless users rejoice, because the latest rumors indicate that ZEISS is looking to make your day. Recently trademarked by ZEISS, 'Loxia' is believed to be a new line of full-frame lenses designed specifically for mirrorless systems, which, for now, means the Sony a7, a7r and a7s.

If you're in the market for some new gear, be it bodies or glass, this weekend and the coming week hold some enticing deals. Both Sony and Zeiss are getting in on the action, so take a look below and see if either are up your alley.

We have our own Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens on the way for full review, but until then it's interesting to see what some of the big names in gear review are saying about this optical beast and how it compares to the Otus it was meant to compete with.

Today, one of the biggest of those reviewers, DxOMark, released the results of its tests -- and news is good if you're planning to pick one of these beauties up.

The first reviews have been clear: the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art series lens delivers quality on par with the exceptional $4,000 ZEISS 55mm f/1.4 Otus. That's no small feat, but just how impressive that fact was revolved entirely around what the company decided to price the lens. Well the answer is finally official, and it's going to blow some minds.

You'll be able to get Otus-quality PLUS autofocus for, get this, only $950!

Just days after publishing their glowing review of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art series lens that ranked it leaps and bounds ahead of the Canon and Nikon competition, SLRgear finally got their hands on the ZEISS Otus for comparison.

And it seems ZEISS will have to work hard to justify the rumored price difference between those two lenses...

According to Photo Rumors, one of their readers spoke to a Sigma rep at the Photography Show in Birmingham and was told that the much-anticipated 50mm f/1.4 Art series lens will make landfall in about two months time.

Sigma made quite a splash at CES this year when the company not only announced that a 50mm f/1.4 lens would be added to its superb Art series, but claimed that this lens would be so good that its competition wouldn't be Nikon or Canon, but the indisputably exceptional $4,000 ZEISS Otus.

Well, thanks to the website Xitek and their recently posted lens test results, we finally get to see if the 50mm's bite measures up to its bark.

The Zeiss Otus is easily the biggest DSLR 55mm currently available. I say currently, because I'm sure in some lab in the depths of upper Siberia a technician made a 50mm the size of a small child, just because. But the Otus shouldn't surprise us, Zeiss will never shy away from the pursuit of image quality at the expensive of "convenience."

Our reviewer Colin Peddle is currently the envy of the rest of the PetaPixel staff (including, wouldn't you know it, the Editor in Chief) because he gets to play around with the ZEISS 55mm f/1.4 Otus that has everybody in the photography world salivating.

We know Sigma's recently-announced 50mm f/1.4 Art Series lens is supposed to be good, great even. In fact, it's supposed to be so good that it competes on the same level as the ZEISS Otus that we've heard so much about (and may or may not be reviewing as I type this).

The question on everybody's mind, then, is "how much will this beast cost?" Thanks to an Australian website, we now have an idea.

Camera weenies can argue until they drop about subjective qualities like bokeh yumminess or ergonomics. For the folks who like to stick with numbers, however, there's software maker and testing titan DxOMark, which recently declared the Zeiss 55mm FE the best autofocus lens it's ever tested.

ZEISS is touting its latest release as a "perfect" portrait lens with serious Macro chops to boot -- a 50mm, f/2.8 model for APS-C cameras sporting Sony E and Fuji X mounts.

What's that? The ZEISS 55mm f/1.4 Otus haunts your dreams when it's not keeping you up wondering how you're going to sell a kidney on the black market to afford it? Well then, you might want to ignore this post, because there's another Otus confirmed for 2014!

I’m probably setting myself up for a replay of the Exo Tria Arxidia scene, but my friend Bernhard introduced me to the German term scharf the other day. It can mean both sharp and hot (as in spicy, or as in, you know, hot). After testing our first copies of the Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus lens I felt the term scharf was just perfect to describe this lens.

ZEISS announced that it was working on a new line of ultra-high-quality lenses last year. These lenses were being designed from the ground up to provide unmatched optical performance for high-resolution full-frame cameras like Nikon's D800.

Well, the first fruits of all that labor have finally arrived on digital shelves in the form of the Distagon 55mm f/1.4 Otus: a lens ZEISS promises will perform better for you than anything else on the market... assuming you can afford it.

Ever since June of 2011, NASA has had cause to retire the photographic equipment it used to capture shuttle launches because, well, they don't plan on launching any more shuttles. But before that decision was made, it looks like NASA was finally giving digital photographic equipment a chance to oust the analog cameras they had always used in the past.

If you thought the Zeiss f/0.7 lenses we shared yesterday were impressive, check out this crazy piece of glass: it's the Carl Zeiss Super-Q-Gigantar 40mm f/0.33. It's what some people call the fastest camera lens ever made.

Is that claim true? Well, yes and no... but mostly no.

Famed and well-respected optical systems manufacturer Carl Zeiss is taking a step forward to create a "more consistent" image of the brand -- a brand which, up until now, has been known as Carl Zeiss AG.

According to a blog post from earlier today, Carl Zeiss AG will simply go by the name ZEISS moving forward. The company is, of course, named after its optician founder.

Electronic autofocus and aperture control are new features introduced by Zeiss' new Touit lenses into the company's consumer lens lineup. After the lenses were announced, I couldn’t wait to take a look inside and see how things were put together.

If you're here to read about the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 for the Fujifilm X-mount, you've probably heard words like "great", "amazing", "superb", "lovely" and "well damped" used to describe this lens. It's wider then the Fuji 14mm and maybe, just maybe, as sharp as the Fuji 35mm. These too are all things others will say about this lens. The jury, however, is still out for this guy.

There's something to be said about lens manufacturing. You could even go so far as to say it, in itself, is an art form, with the hands of skilled and methodical workers ever-so-delicately assembling the glass we use to take photos.

Speaking of lens manufacturing, Carl Zeiss Lenses has just posted an short, yet interesting, video behind the manufacturing process of their Touit lens line (for what it's worth, the video is also available in 3D, if you need an added dimension to your viewing experience). These lenses come as 12mm f/2.8 or 32mm f/1.8, and are available for both E-mount and X-mount cameras starting in June.