I photograph with a variety of the ZEISS lenses and over time I’ve received many questions about what the naming of them are, if they’re available for certain peoples camera lens mounts or simply what are the differences between one family vs another? In this blog I’m going to explain all of that for you, to help those not familiar with ZEISS lenses have a greater understanding of the families and which ones may be right for them!
What about naming? ZEISS lenses are categorized by families and each family has a name, that is named after exotic birds, Otus, Milvus, Loxia, Batis and Touit. There’s also three other lens families that don’t utilize the bird naming and are known as the Classic, ZM and Sony/ZEISS (which are produced by Sony, but utilize ZEISS optics) lenses.
ZEISS lenses are color matched across the lens families and to avoid being redundant in the info mentioned for all of the below lens families I thought it would be best to mention that here. Having lenses that are color matched is essential to anyone, as that helps in providing consistency across your images and videos, which in turn helps for any post work you may do for your content.
1. ZEISS Otus Lensesfor Canon EF & Nikon F
ZEISS Otus lenses are fully manual lenses, designed for the Canon EF and Nikon F mounts. This is the flagship family of lenses offered by ZEISS.
This family presently offers four available lenses (listed below) and offer no compromise in image or build quality. These are the best lenses I’ve ever used and at a price point starting at $4,500+ you’d expect nothing but the best. These lenses may not be for everyone, especially because of the price but if you’re someone who values quality then the Otus lenses are the best you could obtain.
Most lenses are built with image quality at the forefront, but there's compromises made to make them affordable and lightweight. Otus lenses are designed specifically for best image quality regardless of the lens being large or expensive. What this allows is image quality that's perfect wide open, just as it would be stopped down. These lenses are built with apochromatic lens designs of the Distagon, Planar and Sonnar designs, which are free of chromatic aberrations in the image.
One thing to note about these lenses is that they're not weather sealed lenses. If that's something you're interested in then look below at the Milvus line of lenses.
Click here to learn more about ZEISS Otus Lenses
Lenses available in the Otus family:
- Otus 1.4/28mm
- Otus 1.4/55mm
- Otus 1.4/85mm
- Otus 1.4/100mm
This family of lenses can be adapted to the Sony E-Mount system, with Canon EF or Nikon F to Sony E-mount adapter.
Click here for available adapters
Sony α9, Milvus 2/50mm M
2. ZEISS Milvus Lensesfor Canon EF & Nikon F
ZEISS Milvus lenses are fully manual lenses, designed for the Canon EF and Nikon F mounts and positioned under the Otus family of lenses.
This line offers a wide variety of focal lengths and is a great alternative to the Otus line, for those who may can’t afford them but want quality that’s very close to what Otus offers. These lenses will come with compromises not seen among Otus lenses, which is apparent to the lens sizes, weights and prices of the lenses in comparison to the Otus lenses.
Optically they're still the superior ZEISS quality you're familiar with and are an improvement of the ZEISS Classic lenses, which they replace. Milvus lenses improve on the lens coatings and adding weather sealing, which the Classic lenses weren't.
Click here to learn more about ZEISS Milvus Lenses
Lenses available in the Milvus family:
- Milvus 2.8/15mm
- Milvus 2.8/18mm
- Milvus 2.8/21mm
- Milvus 1.4/25mm
- Milvus 1.4/35mm
- Milvus 2/35mm
- Milvus 1.4/50mm
- Milvus 2/50mm Makro
- Milvus 1.4/85mm
- Milvus 2/100mm Makro
- Milvus 2/135mm
This family of lenses can be adapted to the Sony E-Mount system, with Canon EF or Nikon F to Sony E-mount adapter.
Click here for available adapters
3. ZEISS Classic Lenses for Canon EF & Nikon F
ZEISS Classic lenses are fully manual lenses, designed for the Canon EF and Nikon F mounts.
This family of lenses has mostly been discontinued, with the exception of two lenses (listed below). These have been replaced by the above Milvus line of lenses.
The Classic family are older releases compared to the Milvus and don’t offer the weather sealing you have in the entire Milvus family. The coatings of the optics are also updated on the Milvus. Being that the Classic family is older you’re able to find many of these lenses on third party websites, such as eBay for a bit less than their Milvus counterpart. If weather sealing isn’t important for your photographic needs then the Classic is still a great family to look into for the Canon and Nikon mount.
Click here to learn more about ZEISS Classic Lenses
Lenses available in the Classic family:
- Classic 1.4/50mm
- Classic 1.4/85mm
This family of lenses can be adapted to the Sony E-Mount system, with Canon EF or Nikon F to Sony E-mount adapter.
Click here for available adapters
4. ZEISS Loxia Lenses for Sony E
ZEISS Loxia lenses are fully manual lenses, designed for the Sony Alpha E-Mount mirrorless system.
What makes these lenses unique is that they’re all the same diameter in their millimeter thread. This is a bonus for those who may be cinematographers and are doing productions that utilize gears, eliminating the need for different sizes for different size lenses. These lenses also offer a de-clicking capability for smooth transitioning in focusing or keeping brightness balanced in camera throughout a scene.
I love these lenses, as they offer a very unique look that’s a bit different from the Batis lenses. I consider these lenses the Otus of the lenses available for Sony E-Mount. The contrast, bokeh and sharpness is exceptional from the Loxia’s and they’re quite reasonably priced lenses as well. They may be expensive for those who’s applications may not call for manual, but if you don’t mind full manual glass and want amazing quality then the Loxia’s are perfect.
Click here to learn more about ZEISS Loxia Lenses
Lenses available in the Loxia family:
- Loxia 2.8/21mm
- Loxia 2.4/25mm
- Loxia 2/35mm
- Loxia 2/50mm
- Loxia 2.4/85mm
5. ZEISS Batis Lenses for Sony E
ZEISS Batis lenses are auto-focusing lenses, designed for the Sony Alpha E-Mount mirrorless system.
These lenses offer very accurate and fast focusing in a weather sealed and dust resistant body. They also include a very unique OLED display, that displays focusing distance and depth of field. The Batis lenses are designed with future sensor technology in mind, just as Otus, Milvus, Loxia and Touit for the increased resolutions of camera sensors.
Click here to learn more about ZEISS Batis Lenses | Click here for my“Why ZEISS Batis Lenses” YouTube video
Lenses available in the Batis family:
- Batis 2.8/18mm
- Batis 2/25mm
- Batis 2/40mm CF
- Batis 1.8/85mm
- Batis 2.8/135mm
6. Sony/ZEISS Lenses for Sony E
Sony/ZEISS lenses are auto-focusing lenses, designed for the Sony Alpha E-Mount mirrorless system and available for both full frame and APS-C (crop) camera sensors. These lenses are produced by Sony, but are developed with ZEISS optics - through their partnership, that began in 1996 and offer the same color matched and sharpness quality you’d expect from the ZEISS only branded lenses.
The Sony/ZEISS lenses are the only lenses where you’ll find zoom lenses as well. Combined with the ZEISS Batis family the Sony/ZEISS lenses give you a wider range of auto-focusing lens options for your Sony camera.
Lenses available in the Sony/ZEISS family:
- FE 4/16-35mm
- E 4/16-70mm
- E 1.8/24mm
- FE 4/24-70mm
- FE 1.4/35mm
- FE 2.8/35mm
- FE 1.4/50mm
- FE 1.8/55mm
7. ZEISS Touit Lenses for Sony E & Fujifilm X
ZEISS Touit lenses are auto-focusing lenses, designed for the Sony Alpha E-Mount and Fujifilm X-Mount mirrorless systems APS-C (crop) sensor cameras.
ZEISS has discontinued production of this line of lenses and only three were ever produced. They're phenomenal lenses optically, but they're known for being more audible in their focusing (which make these not the best for cinematographers), compared to other lenses available. Focusing for some may be a bit slower as well, especially if you're comparing these to the full frame Batis line of lenses. The highlight lens in this small collection to me is the 50mm Makro, being that it's the only 1:1 magnification ratio lens that ZEISS produces in their entire lineup.
Click here to learn more about ZEISS Touit Lenses
Lenses available in the Touit family:
- Touit 2.8/12mm
- Touit 1.8/32mm
- Touit 2.8/50mm Makro
8. ZEISS ZM Lenses for Leica M
ZEISS ZM lenses are fully manual lenses, designed for the Leica M mount rangefinder system in 2004 and come available in black or silver finishes.
Not only do these lenses pair beautifully with the Leica M mount cameras, but they can also be adapted to the Sony & Fujifilm mirrorless cameras, giving a wider available range of lenses to both of those systems.Click here for available adapters
Click here to learn more about ZEISS ZM Lenses
Lenses available in the ZM family:
CLICK THE LENSES ABOVE FOR PURCHASING LINKS
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