As you know it’s still almost impossible to find a Zeiss Batis Lens in Stock somewhere. There are a few in Stock on [shoplink 39613 ebay]eBay Japan (worldwide shipment)[/shoplink] and with 2 weeks shipment at Digitalrev. That’s it. A couple of SAR readers contacted Zeiss and got the answer that the request of Batis lenses is much higher than the production. So we will have to wait some more time before everyone can get their preorder fulfilled.
In the meantime check out those new reviews:
Michael Reichmann and Kevin Raber share their thoughts on the Zeiss Batis Lenses
Luminous Landscape writes:
I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute to recommend the Batis lenses, but I would say that as a photographer using the Sony camera line you have choices and those choices should be factored in when determining which lens you need. For me, I will order the 25mm Batis lens as soon as possible. The 85mm lens can wait since I already have the 90mm Sony Macro lens. As I mentioned, I have a number of primes already, but I lust after the 55mm Sony 1.8 lens which is one of the sharpest lenses on the market. I am curious to see what Zeiss Batis lens comes next. A 135mm, 50-50mm and a 200mm would be on my wish list. What’s on yours?
Sony A7RII/ Batis 25mm , Batis 85mm and Sony 35mm 1.4 System Tests at Getdpi.com.
Batis store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
52 Responses
The demand for Batis 85/1.8 might slow down if Sony releases an FE 85/1.4
Zeiss obviously will sell a lot of them before this happens
Think so too. I find it incredible and I like it more and more with every shoot.
Does it have nice character, colours and microcontrast?
In my opinion, yes. Better sharpness than Nikon 85/1.8g, almost no CAs.
ORLY?
As I said before, pretty sure that they would have already announced the Batis 2/135 if wasn’t for this.
How does one pronounce BATIS: [BƏ-tis] or [BAY-tis]?
https://translate.google.com/#de/en/Batis
Bad Ass
Tony Northrup pronounces as bah-TEES. So it must be the right way.
Bah’tis
Batis is a Latin word, used as a zeiss subbrand by Germans, where it becomes a personal name with internationally variable pronounciation. So, the answer is, pronounce it as you like it 🙂 If you want to pronounce it as a Roman, than Bah`tis. There is no “Ə” sound in Latin language, vowels are clean and hard.
Bat-iss.
But then I am from Yorkshire.
Pre-ordered mine (85/1.8) May 11th from B&H, still no ship date.
funny..a 50-50 mm lens is pretty high up on my wishlist too
Nice, but i prefere like a fisheye 15mm and more close like a 135mm.
Sony needs to release the 70-200/2.8 soon!
Man, only imagine if they released a 135mm F2 Batis. It would single handedly shut Zeiss down.
I’m looking forward to a Loxia version of the 25/2 and 85/2. (and presumably the faster Batis versions of the 35 and 50). A 135 addition to both lines would also be greatly welcomed. A Loxia Vario would also be a dream come true.
The 85 is more likely to be a f4 tho, just see the Zeiss M-mount lineup.
New designs might come to batis, but Loxias will be ZM lenses adapted for e-mount
Digital rev just sent me an email yesterday informing they had cancelled my order due to no stock.
They have relisted it at a higher price and taking orders!!!!
“It has come to our attention from our suppliers are unable to source the Carl Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 (For Sony E) and we have not been informed when this item can be stocked. Therefore we have cancelled your order as our suppliers are not able to confirm with us when the next available stock can be ordered”
Same for me – 3 weeks after ordering it they just cancelled it and so I’m no longer in a queue at all – very annoyed
Wow! That is unprofessional. 🙁
I sent an email complaining about this and got a reply back from them today.
They said it was due to PayPal and how long they could hold an item so had to cancel it. They also said they would let me know when it is back in stock and would give it to me for the price I was initially quoted.
Have to admit, the first email was badly written and could have had better explanation. Apart from that my faith is restored in them, they couldn’t do much better than that and they wrote a long personalised email. Good on them!!
Ah good to know!
I agree with Kevin in that I prefer the Sony 90mm Macro lens over the 85mm Batis as well. Since I’m not nearly rich enough to own both, the 90mm will make do fulfilling both roles.
Ironically he already owns THE sharpest lens, the 90mm Macro lens. But I’m sure he’s aware of that, and it’s probably the reason he got that one first.
I looked at the MTF charts for the 90 and the minolta 100mm 2.8. Now I know, I know….it’s an old lens. I’m telling ya- they aren’t that far apart in performance. I’ll still give it a try though.
The older AF Minolta, is already quite top. But the FE 90 really ups it to the top. Question is, if it is worth 1000+ to oneself.
Shocked that Sigma has yet to come out with an FE line of primes
Shocked that Sigma has yet to come out with an FE line of primes
Instead of a 135 prime, i wish Zeiss/Sony can give a 100/2 FE lens. 90mm Macro 2.8 is not my cup of tea.
For realz? Not much different if you ask me. How about a 200mm 2.8? Now..we…are….talkin!
Got the 85, absolutely love it. Ordered 25 late, but cancelled it as I rarely shoot that wide, figured I’ll get it later on and shelled the dough for the new RX10ii instead to play with video. Now, if we get the 135 Badass, which I’m betting will be their next move since that’s a gap in FE lineup, I’m ordering that the second it gets released. Good times!
when did you put your preorder in and are you in u.s?
85? As soon as it was available for pre-order on B&H, probably within the first hour. I shoot this FL 90% of the time, so it was a biggie for me. 25 I ordered (and subsequently cancelled) weeks after. I’m in the US.
crap! 05/26/2015WEB
Canceled
i had them ordered then cancelled to order the a7r2, then changed my mind and decided to just burn all the money at once and reordered in early july.. so i guess its going to be early october. i could be dead by then..
That was my letter. Adorama, when I ordered, didn’t seem to think the wait would be that long. They told me they didn’t have too many pre-orders. This was back in June.
As for the Digital Rev pre-orders, check the reviews. Apparently they’re canceling everybody’s preorders. That ship date is probably false.
In the clip he is saying the OLED is only working in manual mode – that’s false.
Before advertising in a video they should play a while with it…
It is quite excusable for zeiss representative not to know all details about tamron products.
BS, full stop.
Btw, has anyone teached you, that in a democracy it is indeed a fundamental right to have an opinion BUT one doesn’t have to!
Common sense has nothing with democracy: “batis + tamron” search request’s first link provides info about tamron patent, that describes one of the Batises exactly.
Your sense is no common sense seemingly.
The Batis are Zeiss products, even if they would be based on a Tamron design.
Zeiss products because there’s zeiss badge on it? We don’t know what zeiss did for this lens. But we do know tamron did some work has been done by tamron.
You are really naive: words are just words and can have no relation to what had happened in reality. We already have sony “zeiss” examples with zero german zeiss technical involvement.
Kid, you are strange to my nervs.
Learn the difference between manufacturing to standards and manufacturing to order.
We are talking about Batis, and not about Sony-Zeiss.
Batis is Cosina MTO, as all Zeiss Photo lenses are.
Regarding the Sony-Zeiss I am not claiming these being “pure” Zeiss lenses. They are manufactured based on Zeiss standards and the quality assurance process is supported by Zeiss. So you are wrong about “zero involvement”. Licensing agreements do have contractual requirements by the way.
Exactly my thinking
Tough call for Zeiss. Produce a lot and risk having unsold stock, or produce less and risk people dumping their preorders due to the wait. The formidable sales success of the Loxia should have been a good indicator though.
Has to be the most pathetic reply from Zeiss one of the most prestigious lens makers in the world. They launched the lens onto the web way before the lens was due in store. A company of that size could easily have boosted production when the volume interest was shown around the world, shoddy service from another major photographic company.
Some are waiting for A-mount. Some are waiting for innovation from Canon or Nikon. So I can easily wait a few months for a well made lens.
I prefer quality over availability. See what happens with the Sony lenses. The A7RII with his 42mp require higher quality checks. If you have a A7RII you have to make now brickwalltests (in the store 🙂 ) to be sure you don’t buy a copy that struggles over the amout of 42mp. You hardly saw this differences on the 24mp sensors, but now you do.
and if you really need the lens, use a 28/2 or 90/2.8 until then. I think you can handle the differences with your knowledge doing pictures. 🙂
For Loxias, I feel Zeiss should release on the wider end, macros or tilt-shift lenses (15mm/16mm, 21mm, 100mm Makro?)
For Batis, more of longer end lenses as manual focusing gets very tough, so 135m and possibly a 200mm and 300mm?
Will be interesting if Zeiss decides to release Super Tele Batis lenses.
so next time set a higher price.
either Zeiss are saying bs, or they are just incompetent.
I clarify: if demand is so high, they could have set a higher price and sell the same quantity of lenses, earning more.
Move production to China!
See my above comment. Hope you can get it sorted.
I’m off on a long trip through Iran next month and really wanted this lens before I left. Trying to decide whether to wait, order the 90mm macro or use a 90mm Leica Summarit lens which takes great pics but I am hit and miss with snap manual focussing.
Any thoughts??