Carl Zeiss Otus 1.4/85

[Zoom] Wide-zoom | Standard-zoom | Tele-zoom | High-zoom  
[Fixed-focal] Wide angle | Standard | Telephoto | Macro

Undeniably, "85mm F1.4" sounds special to many photographers and it's safe to say that the one from Carl Zeiss is the King of Kings. Most standard and short telephoto lenses have the double gauss design, which is a derivative of the famous planar design. And, Planar is also used as a name of some Carl Zeiss lenses employing the Planar design. The Plana design best represents Carl Zeiss lenses. It was invented by improving the double gauss design and has the following characteristics: 1) it's suitable for high-speed lens thanks to the highly symmetric design, 2) excellent achromaticity (anti color shifting), 3) excellent flatness of image plane, but 4) prone to coma aberration. It is designed to perfectly correct spherical aberration and the flatness of image plane promises high image quality regardless of aperture and position of image. These characteristics are common to Planars for all mounts and they reflect Carl Zeiss's philosophy.

Enough of preliminaries. The Carl Zeiss Otus 1.4/85 says "APO" before the Planar and it means apochromatic. According to the lens design diagram, it has many special lenses with anomalous partial dispersion and with aspherical surface. This must be an exceptional lens for sure. Yashica-Contax used to have two anniversary lenses, the Planar 55mm F1.2 and the Planar 85mm F1.2. But, the Otus 1.4/85 will give them the finishing blow. The 55mm had outstanding resolution and beautiful color reproduction, while the 85mm was an excellent and all-round lens. But, they were made for films. I have used the two lenses with a digital camera via mount adapter and they did generate wonderful output, but the 85mm generated purple fringe. It can't be helped because it's natural to have such issues on an extremely flat sensor. The Otus 1.4/85 was released in the digital age when we take high-density sensors for granted. And, if it didn't excel the two old anniversary lenses, they would not have released it. So, it was impossible for me to stay calm when testing this new lens. Typically, with this focal length, I should take some bust-up shots, but I deliberately shot in adverse conditions to examine the potential of this lens.

( Photography & Text : K )

Because I regularly shoot streets with a 50mm lens and a rangefinder camera, I don't know what to do with a 85mm lens. (laughs) My first idea was to shoot wide open in this extremely lighting condition. But, look at the sharpness. Even though there are many sharp lenses out there, this level of sharpness of clarity stand out from the crowd. This made me feel almost fainted...

There's a bench on the left side and stone pavement on the bottom right. With the complicated light coming through the tree, the stone pavement could look nasty. But, the 85mm F1.4 dissolves everything. This is a lens you want to shoot wide open, or you must keep shooting wide open... I'm just kidding, but I almost want to say it because of the sharp focus even though the subject is placed far from the center.

The back bokeh is pleasing, while most Planars generate noisy back bokeh at some distance between the subject and the background. The texture rendering of the stone statue is just splendid.

This image is almost the exact copy of the subject and it makes me want to shoot with the D810 featuring more pixels. And, I think it should not present any problem. Moreover, with this high performance, it may generate even higher quality images. The absence of lowpass filter should make a difference, too. When I imagine these possibilities, I have to fight against my desire to buy the camera and the lens... No! I must stay cool... (laughs)

---

The sunshine is becoming warmer day by day. Even one hair of the woman is purely resolved. The blurred and lighted leaves are beautiful, too.

I shot at F5.6 way over. The unrivaled resolving power perfectly depicts the LED decoration on the trees. And, it's never hard. It just resolves things minutely. No color shifting. The rendering is so beautiful that it looks like the shining silver frost seen in Hokkaido.

I tried to focus on the man, but I failed (it's hard to see in this small image size). Even with the Nikon D4S having the great viewfinder, I can't focus. And, I truly appreciate the liveview. In other words, the focus is so sharp that the subject pops out even at 10 or 20 meters away. With an ordinary lens, it's impossible to see if the remote subject is in focus or not. I have already asked Carl Zeiss at the interview, but let me repeat. Can you make the AF version? :p

I tried to focus on the woman's hair, but ended up in focusing on her shoulder... By the way, because I failed to focus so easily, I stopped trusting my eye and switched to use the focus-aid. But, hey, even AF can be erratic with this high-speed and focal length. While some lenses are easy to see the focus, other lenses are hard to do the same. And, this lens is by all means the former. The latter is the Yashica-Contax Planar 85mm F1.4. The Otus 85m F1.4 is a lens that shows the definite focus and I feel down when I fail to focus. My only way to run away from this reality is talking to myself "even AF fails." At the same time, I realized how it is hard to focus and thanked camera manufacturers who are always working hard to change what we can't to what we can.

So, I raised the white flag and switched to liveview. With this high performance, I can tidy up the composition by defocusing the spoons and folks on the right side of the frame. I chose to frame like I do with a 50mm, but I'm not sure if a 50mm can simplify composition even if it were F1.0. So, even though I'm sure this lens is great for portraits, I think it must be a great lens for snapshots. The only problem is the size...

---

It's very sharp wide open. I stop down only when I need to get more depth of field. Without stagnation and exaggeration, it just captures subjects realistically.

Another example of the "real capturing." Can you feel it?

Using a 85mm like a 50mm. The subject was about 20 meters away. This approach is impossible without the exceptional sharpness.

---

With its over-quality, the King of Kings re-transcends the modern standard.

The anniversary Planar 85mm F1.2 transcended the standard at that film age. I digress a little, but I strongly remember the silver C Planar 80/2.8 for Hasselbrad (the white lens). The lens was made before coating technology was introduced. I shot with this lens on the Hasselbrad 503CW with the 25-Megapixel PHASE ONE P25 digital back. The image quality was fantastic. Of course, it was affected by backlight. But, it focused from corner to corner and it never loses against modern lenses. I don't think the lens designers at that time considered the invention of digital back, but the performance taught me how Carl Zeiss have won a reputation. So, to me Carl Zeiss meant "over-quality." And, it was again demonstrated by the new Otus 1.4/85.

The 1.4/85 is more excellent than the 1.4/55. It's s high-definition and sharp as the 55, but I feel the Otus 1.4/85 is a little softer and the Otus 1.4/55 is a little edgier. And, I think it's a perfect characteristic for the typical use. This relationship between the two Otus lenses reminds me of the one between the two anniversary lenses.

The production of the anniversary lenses was limited, but the Otus is a model in the catalogue. To get this phenomenal image quality, you need to be prepared for the size and the price. And, if you need the (fixed) focal length, this is a dream lens.

• 
  I was so happy that I kept shooting wide open. (laughs) * Click to enlarge.
• 
  The subject is tack sharp even if they are in the corners. Try this with your lens. * Click to enlarge.
• 
  "There's a purple where the waves become fluffy"... NOT with this lens. * Click to enlarge.
• 
  It has slight vignetting, but it's gone by stopping down. And, the flatness of image plane is outstanding. * Click to enlarge.
• 
  The lines are so delicate. * Click to enlarge.
• 
  Look at the pointed-light sources. Shot through the windshield. * Click to enlarge.

( 11.02.2014 )