otus

Zeiss Lens Families Are Named After Birds

In the past decade, Zeiss has launched a number of new lens lines for DSLR and mirrorless cameras with unusual-sounding names such as Batis, Otus, and Milvus. Perhaps you own one of these lenses, but did you know that each of those lens lines is named after a bird?

Shootout: $4,990 Zeiss Otus 28mm vs $4,250 Leica Q

In the pantheon of lens focal lengths, 28mm is a bit of an outlier. Photojournalists are more apt to reach for the 35mm, while many manufacturers have settled on 24mm for primes and the wide end of their zoom lenses. But 28mm has become visually familiar to consumers because its field-of-view equivalent can be found on many smartphones like the iPhone.

Zeiss Otus: Another Level of Quality

I have been shooting using Zeiss optics for decades. The appreciation was instilled in me by my grandfather who collected cameras quite seriously, including a large Leica collection. He passed on a few cameras like the Argus C3, Zeiss Ikoflex Twin Lens Reflex, Rollei 35, etc. as well as a few large format and enlarging lenses, often explaining to me that Zeiss was the real leader of optics.

Sony 85mm G Master Lens Gives Zeiss Otus Performance for Half the Price

DxOMark just finished testing Sony's 85mm f/1.4 GM lens, part of Sony's uncompromising new line of G Master lenses. And the results show that Sony really did leave out the compromise; in fact, it looks like the 85mm f/1.4 GM is on-par with the lusted-after Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 ... at less than half the price.

DxOMark: The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art Series Lens ‘Comes Seriously Close’ to the Otus

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.

Sigma Slaps a $950 Price Tag on the 50mm f/1.4 Art Series Lens, Shocks Us All

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!

Sigma 50mm Matches the Otus in Almost All Tests, Said to Cost One-Fourth as Much

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...

First Sigma 50mm Art Lens Review Claims Nikon and Canon Aren’t On the Same Level

When Sigma announced their 50m f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens, they included some extremely dramatic statements. Not only did they say that they wanted to beat out Canon and Nikon, they intended to blow them out of the water, stating that they were aiming to make the lens as good, if not better, than the $4,000 Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus Distagon T*.

Last month we shared a somewhat shady review of the lens, which came with plenty of skepticism, so today we're sharing with you a review from a much more reputable source, SLR Gear.

Sigma 50mm DG HSM Art Lens Tested, See How it Stacks Up Against the Otus

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.

Australian Website Lists Price of Sigma’s 50mm f/1.4 Otus Competitor at $1,350

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.

The ZEISS 55mm f/1.4 Otus, a Very ‘Scharf’ Lens Indeed

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’ New 55mm f/1.4 Otus Reaches New Heights in Optical Performance and Price

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.