Up until recently the Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 and Zeiss Otus 1.4/85 have taken the limelight in the manufacturer’s lens portfolio, with the former claiming to be the best standard lens in the world and the latter said to be the best short tele lens in the world. It’s perhaps no surprise then that the newest member in the Zeiss Otus family – the Otus 1.4/28 – makes another bold claim of being the world’s best wide-angle lens. During a recent visit to the Zeiss UK headquarters in Cambridge, AP were granted access to one of the first samples of the Zeiss Otus 1.4/28 to capture our first set of images prior to the first review samples being made available to the photographic press.
The Zeiss Otus 1.4/28 has a construction of 16 lens elements in 13 groups
Designed to exploit the full potential of contemporary high-resolution sensors, the Zeiss Otus 1.4/28 was paired up with a Nikon D810 to capture a selection of images around the city streets. Unlike the recently tested Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 and Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2, the new Zeiss Otus 1.4/28 is a fully manual focus lens and therefore required a very careful and precise focusing technique to get the very best out of it. First impressions from using the lens out in the field are very impressive indeed and it’s a lens that’s likely to draw attention from landscape, architectural and interior photographers as well as videographers looking for nothing but the best. To view the impressive results for yourself we’ve uploaded a selection of full size image samples to our Amateur Photographer Flickr page.
The lens will be made available in F Mount (ZF.2) and EF Mount (ZE)
Though pricing and availability of the Zeiss Otus 1.4/28 is yet to be officially confirmed, we were told to expect it to cost more than the Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 (£2699) and Zeiss Otus 1.4/85 (£3299). To take a guess at how much it’ll cost, we’re expecting the price to be around £3500-£3800 at the time of launch. It was also mentioned that the lens would be available worldwide starting in the second quarter of 2016.
The F Mount (ZF.2) version mounted to the Nikon D810
For more information, including features, specs and technical details, don’t miss our Zeiss Otus 1.4/28 news story.
