Rumor of Zeiss Otus coming to Mirrorless Mounts

The original Zeiss Otus 85mm was designed as a future-proof lens in terms of resolving power. The only thing that held me back was the lack of AF. But now that we have the excellent RF 85mm, it remains to be seen how much better this new Otus is. Sadly, no AF means I cannot justify purchasing this lens.
 
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It looks like ZEISS is going to announce new Otus lens(es) in the RF mount if we go by a recent leaked image of the new ZEISS Otus 50mm f/1.4.
It looks like ZEISS is going to announce new Otus lens(es) in the RF mount if we go by a recent leaked image of the new ZEISS Otus 50mm f/1.4.
What part of the leaked image tells us that it is coming for the RF mount? I can´t see anything suspicious in the pic. But maybe I don't know what to look for.
 
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I always wondered why these lenses were so heavy, compared to Leica M lenses. The Zeiss having neither AF nor OIS, only lightweight electronics for aperture and metadata.
Quality? Certainly not, if compared to the latest Summilux equivalents.
Summilux 28mm f/1,4: 440g.
Otus 28mm f/1,4: 1305g.
In DSLR times, different optical calculation could partly justify such huge weight differences . But MILFS have like the M cameras a very short flange to sensor distance.
Nowadays, we have small and light cameras, but enormous anvil-heavy lenses...
 
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An RF 50/1.2 is still not exactly in the league of an Otus.
What? So you mean that the Canon exhibits has better contrast, colour rendering, flare resistant, better sharpness and the ability to focus a lot more accurately than the Otus lens? White the Otus lens screams "purist", uber-expensive, "exclusive" and questionable micro-contrast and milder colour rendering? The out of focus and transitional bokeh rendering preference is subjective. At least with canon, it's a consistent look across their lens range.
 
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What? So you mean that the Canon exhibits has better contrast, colour rendering, flare resistant, better sharpness and the ability to focus a lot more accurately than the Otus lens? White the Otus lens screams "purist", uber-expensive, "exclusive" and questionable micro-contrast and milder colour rendering? The out of focus and transitional bokeh rendering preference is subjective. At least with canon, it's a consistent look across their lens range.
Honestly, if the Rf (f/1,2 !!!) cost as much as the Otus (f/1,4 !!!), I wouldn't hesitate and opt for the RF lens. :love:
 
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My biggest take away from the article is that the Otus used prices have come way down. Huh. That probably shouldn't be tempting....yet....it would be a bit fun to play around with it vs my RF 50 f/1.2. hmmm.

At least to me, the article almost perfectly surmises my point, even if one person's impressions are exactly correct, the Zeiss Otus 55 f/1.4 is better against 1) flare, 2) with vignetting, and 3) focus breathing. They also bring up color rendition, but that did not make the top 3 list for whatever reason. Seems to indicate resolution is a push. Yet, despite these, they still carry the EOS-R and RF 50 f/1.2 when they take a "second bag" with them for "easy" shooting when they do not feel inclined to use a "proper camera". Which I read that even to someone that previously owned and clearly prefers the Otus (with 5DRs), the RF 50 f/1.2 (with EOS-R) still meets their standards, at least part of the time.

There will always be people willing to pay extra for a specific feature.

I am making an assumption that whatever Zeiss does will have a similar 2x-3x higher price point, similar to the Otus vs "L" 10-15 years ago. Back then, the Otus was clearly better in a number of ways. Yet at that price point even back then with the advantages, I think only a small group of people actually made that investment. If Zeiss comes out with a $5-7k lens even with better flare, vignetting and focus breathing, I would not expect it to sell well. If they come out with a $2-3k lens that is better...then yes, I suspect it will have a reasonable, yet likely smallish (no-AF) market.
I love my milvus 100 on my 5dsr. The manual focus is very enjoyable to use. I mostly use it for studio shooting. I'm an artist not in the photo community but I would probably move to an r5 if ziess rf lenses were 2-3k. I've really been waiting to see ziess rf lenses. But I think my wants are niche.
 
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Maybe Zeiss will fill the UWA (14mm or wider), fast (f 2.8 or faster) lens void from Canon. I would kill for a 14mm, f1.8 replacement for my Sigma Art lens for astro.
I found a Sigma 14mm/1.8 new on eBay and bought it last December and now use it with the EF to RF adapter. Still is my preference for Aurora Borealis, it is an incredible lens. I have the Cine version of it as well.

In Central Europe, Zeiss sometimes shows up on fairs and I have seen their own benchmarks for the Otus series when it was still fairly new. I was blown away by the difference in quality back then. I even did a few trips with my lenses deliberately set to manual focus just to see if I can get used to such a situation.

I told them a couple of times that I would not think twice if they could come up with an ultra wide that beats the Sigma. Definitely a top spot on my wishlist.
 
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I found a Sigma 14mm/1.8 new on eBay and bought it last December and now use it with the EF to RF adapter. Still is my preference for Aurora Borealis, it is an incredible lens. I have the Cine version of it as well.

In Central Europe, Zeiss sometimes shows up on fairs and I have seen their own benchmarks for the Otus series when it was still fairly new. I was blown away by the difference in quality back then. I even did a few trips with my lenses deliberately set to manual focus just to see if I can get used to such a situation.

I told them a couple of times that I would not think twice if they could come up with an ultra wide that beats the Sigma. Definitely a top spot on my wishlist.
Certainly a very good lens (the Sigma). But far too heavy for travel.
 
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I always wondered why these lenses were so heavy, compared to Leica M lenses. The Zeiss having neither AF nor OIS, only lightweight electronics for aperture and metadata.
Quality? Certainly not, if compared to the latest Summilux equivalents.
Summilux 28mm f/1,4: 440g.
Otus 28mm f/1,4: 1305g.
In DSLR times, different optical calculation could partly justify such huge weight differences . But MILFS have like the M cameras a very short flange to sensor distance.
Nowadays, we have small and light cameras, but enormous anvil-heavy lenses...
It is a different set of compromises. I had the Otus 28mm f/1.4 and currently still own the Summilux 28, and the Otus is sharper wide open with less vignetting.

Same reason why the Noctilux-M 50/0.95 is 700g and has a 60mm filter thread and the Nikon Z 58/0.95 Noct is 2000g and has a 82mm filter thread: the Noct is way sharper and more corrected than the M wide open.
 
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My guess would that if we are going to get Zeiss lenses for the RF mount they will be similar to how the classic series worked with EF.

Canon has done a much better job with the RF L lenses, but I'm not sure about the micro contrast that Zeiss is known for.
I’m sure that if you shot pictures with both lenses and put them side-by-side, no one would know which lens shot what.
Except they might know because the vice is more likely to be out of focus.
Micro contrast? Lol.
 
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I’m sure that if you shot pictures with both lenses and put them side-by-side, no one would know which lens shot what.
Except they might know because the vice is more likely to be out of focus.
Micro contrast? Lol.
Well of course you are correct. I'm sure Zeiss's reputation and long term success has been nothing more than a bunch of overblown hype.

Out of focus? If you are focusing manually, which I do...it makes no difference which lens you are using. In fact the more difficult one to focus would be the focus by wire.
 
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I’m sure that if you shot pictures with both lenses and put them side-by-side, no one would know which lens shot what.
Always funny when people have strong opinions about things they have never seen.

I have seen pictures taken side-by-side with the original Otus 55mm and some competitors and if you would not have been able to spot the difference, you might have wanted to ask for an appointment with an optician.

The RF lenses are better now, but I doubt that they got better by that much,
 
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