Zeiss’ Teased Lens Is an Otus 50mm f/1.4 Prime
Zeiss’ hype train is stoked and roaring down the tracks ahead of a complete reveal on February 25 ahead of CP+ in Japan. After releasing a tepid teaser last week, the legendary German company is heating things up with the first real look at its new lens and some sample photos.
Thanks to owl imagery and an “owlsome” pun, last week’s teaser heavily alluded to Zeiss’ new lens being an Otus. This week’s teasers, including two videos on Instagram and a zoomed-in shot of the lens on Zeiss’ website, confirm this suspicion.
The latest video also offers a quick shot of the entire lens and is clear enough to make out not only the classic “Otus” model name and trademark yellow lens markings on the barrel but that Zeiss’ new lens will be an Otus 50mm f/1.4.
But wait, there’s more. One teaser video shows a photographer using the lens on a Sony mirrorless camera, while the subsequent video shows the lens used on a Canon mirrorless camera, meaning the lens will be available in at least E and RF mounts. Whether a Nikon Z version is in the works remains unclear. Still, it would be odd to omit Nikon’s mirrorless system given that Zeiss is doing E and RF versions of the new Otus 50mm f/1.4 and has a rich history of making lenses for Nikon’s F-mount DSLR cameras.
There is not much more to glean from the video besides the lens’s general size, shape, and design. It features a large focus ring, complete with what appears to be engraved focus distance markings in imperial and metric measurements.
One freeze-frame shows the shortest end of the focal distance range, which at three feet (0.9 meters) would provide a maximum magnification of 0.06x. If, and “if” performs some heavy lifting here, that is the lens’s minimum focusing distance, it will provide about half the magnification of the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 for DSLRs.
The lens also features a manual aperture control ring. This is marked in full-stop increments.
The new Zeiss Otus lens looks much different than the older Otus 55mm f/1.4 SLR lens. That lens is super streamlined in appearance, does not feature an aperture control ring in EF (the F mount one did have an aperture ring), and its focus ring features a smooth rubber surface. The new Otus may have the same style focus ring — it’s not entirely clear — but has more physical controls and a less rounded profile.
Although Zeiss’ busy teaser campaign has lifted the veil on some of its upcoming lens’s visage, including spilling the beans on the model, focal length, aperture, and at least two mounts, much remains unknown. Zeiss has not detailed the Otus 50mm f/1.4’s optical design, price, or release date.
Photographers need not wait too much longer to learn everything else about the Zeiss Otus 50mm f/1.4. The lens will be fully revealed next week on February 25. B&H says preorders will begin that same day at 8 AM ET (5 AM PT).
Image credits: Zeiss
