Image courtesy: ePhotozine.
ePhotozine tested both batis lenses. About the 85mm lens they write:
The Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 is another lovely lens. The design and handling are a pleasure. The results ooze quality. The OLED display is an innovation that looks to be actually quite useful. The construction quality is impeccable. The only thing not to like is perhaps the price, but it starts to look much better value when pitched against other premium quality lenses. This Zeiss lens certainly delivers the goods for Sony 7 users.
Aand about the 25mm batis they write:
The Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 is just a lovely lens. The design and handling are a pleasure. The results ooze quality. The OLED display is an innovation that looks to be actually quite useful. The construction quality is impeccable. The only thing not to like is perhaps the price, but to be fair it looks as though it’s at the right level for what it is. Sony Alpha 7 series owners have a lens here to aspire to.
Admiringlight also tested the 25mm Batis and writes:
The only real downside to the lens is the price, which at $1,299 US is going to be a steep barrier to entry for many shooters. Still, the lack of readily available stock for the 25mm and its 85mm brother show that there’s plenty of demand for this lens, even at this price. I personally wasn’t quite as enamored with the lens as I was with the 85mm Batis, but I still very much enjoyed shooting with the lens and realizing the quality of images it produces. If you want an excellent wide-angle prime, the Batis 25mm will fit the bill handily. It’s an outstanding addition to the Zeiss lineup and the Sony FE system.
Yep, availability is still not there in Europe and USA. Only Japanese stores seem to have them in Stock and for sale on their [shoplink 42312 ebay]eBay sites (Click here. WWW shipment)[/shoplink] and on Amazon US (Click here).
Batis store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
67 Responses
I could not be happier with my Batis lenses. Really looking forward to Zeiss expanding this line…
Back in myyy days 85mm slower than f/1.4 was considered budget glass.
Because IQ means nothing.
Yes, but those F1.4 lenses were also quite soft wide open with a lot of aberrations, unlike modern F1.8(2) lenses which are generally good wide open and outperform them at any equal aperture.
Of course modern glass outperforms old glass. It’s just as far as tech goes. It’s just a proof that with modern glass and coatings even Tamron can design and Cosina can assemble something that is very sharp (but not too fast) and can be sold at double the price.
APS-C? LOL
Not from Zeiss.
Image quality is not reflected by f-stop. It is clear that A7-users wants high quality in a small package. I’m happy someone is making high quality f/1.8 glass rather than the various Canikon budget options.
Back in myyy days Tamron design and Cosina make were considered budget glass.
Back in my day Skoda made really s**t cars.
…
Freakin sweet. That color- man. Only a granny could love that.
Actually back in myyyy days Skoda was considered a good car, and today it’s just another VW ripoff with previous-generation tech, loose paint and windshield that gets completely scratched in a year.
You must be younger than me. In my day Skoda’s had the engine note of a lawnmower. Some lawnmowers were better actually better looking… and faster.
Everyone had those engines back in the day. And was looking about the same.
Budget glass, hah. Or just smaller and yes, more affordable glass that is almost always still great. But please do get yourself an 50mm APO-Summicron to go with your 28mm Otus. Wouldn’t want to be seen slumming it, would you?
Now if I can just get my 85mm, I would be happy!
I’d settle for a Sony branded 24/2.8 at around the £300 mark…
Now if only I could just actually buy a 25/2….
ePhotozine must be the laziest reviewers ever. So much copying and pasting. The summarys are practically identical.
The MTF figures on that 25/2, though. Damn!
I think the reviews were lovely.
From what I’ve seen there is very little advantage for the Batis 25 over the FE 16-35 at comparable apertures.
For instance, download the images of the trucks from Luminous Landscape (https://luminous-landscape.com/zeiss-batis-85mm-and-batis-25mm-lens-review-for-the-sony-e-mount-cameras/) and compare them yourselves. There’s very little difference at f/4 and essentially none at f/8.
From the article: “The results are like splitting hairs. We found that while the Batis lenses are really good, they run a tight competition with the Sony lenses. The Sony 16-35mm set to around 25mm was a super lens and quite surprisingly so, for a zoom.”
you don’t buy the Batis for F8
I don’t buy a $2k lens (what they cost here) for f2.
Well if it was better than a zoom at f/8 then you could!
As it stands it’s only useful for f/2 -> f/4 which reduces its value proposition quite a bit when compared against the flexibility of the FE 16-35. As a landscape photographer, this makes the FE 16-35 the better buy. For astrophotography, however, the Batis would be awesome.
f/2 vs f/4, different story when you’re indoor, and in certain circumstances the bokeh of a f/2 lens can be useful, even at 25mm . And although the batis is not small for a prime, it’s still smaller than the 16-35. Different lenses… But I would understand that a landscape shooter could hesitate.
I fully appreciate that there are times when you want the faster aperture, which is why I said “at comparable apertures” in my initial post. What I was saying is that unless the times you need those fast apertures are worth the fairly substantial cost, you can get away with using the FE 16-35 🙂
…and the weight and size too 😉
Astro is a lot easier with the Batis 25/2, not so much with the 16-35/4 due to being 2 stops slower – that’s my main motivation for the Batis. Whether or not there is an advantage depends on what you are doing and where in the frame you are looking. I own and love the 16-35 and it is my most used FE lens but there are times when I need something like the Batis. I am currently using the 25/2 ZF2 that the Batis was derived from but fumbling around with adaptors in the dark isn’t all that fun.
On a related note, I took the identical shot with the Zeiss 21 f/2.8 and the 16-35/4 at 21 mm. Aperture was f/8 on both using an a7R2 and the corner resolution difference was surprisingly large to me. On the Zeiss I was able to make out fine detail in leaves all the way into the corners despite using an adapter (Novoflex) and that same area was relatively smeared looking on the 16-35. In the center, you’d be hard pressed to see a real visual difference but not in the corners. I could do the same thing with the Zeiss 25 f/2 and from my experience with that lens, I’m sure I would find the same thing.
nice comparison. have you tried a-mount zeiss 16-35mm F/2.8 with adapter on a7rii? i use that lens on a7rii with LA3 for astrophotography with great results. preordered but still waiting for batis 25mm but not sure it’s worth getting for small improvement
I have not tried that comparison.
Agreed — for astrophotography the Batis is a good choice. I currently use a Samyang 24/1.4 which isn’t as sharp but does a great job. Should I find myself shooting astro more and more, then I’ll get the Batis as it seems to perform really well when it comes to coma and is more compact.
Interesting to read about your experience with teh 21/2.8. Looking at the photos on the Luminous Landscape I lined to earlier, there is a difference in the corners between the Batis 25 and the FE 16-35, but it isn’t all that drastic at the apertures I use for non-astro.
Forget it. What you are saying is nonsense. Try it for yourself if you need to. The Batis is sharper at f/2 than the 16-35 at f/4.
Have you had a look at the sample images I linked to? I guess not…
Don’t like the 85’s bokeh still. Will be hanging onto my f1.4’s for the foreseeable future.
You up the resolution, you lose bokeh. It asways was like this.
Yeah, pretty much.
Fuji had the same story with 56 1.2.
even with the 56apd. I see no apd magic on that lens at all.
I would say that makro planar 100/2 is both sharp and great bokeh lens. Nikkor 135 dc, zeiss 135 1.8 etc etc
I like it. And I like the sharpness, up to the task for 42MP.
Back in myyyy days we didn’t shoot portraits with macro lenses due to excessive sharpness and some lens smoothness was a plus for portraiture.
It is very easy to slightly soften a photo or skin (PS), but to get a soft photo sharp …
Bokeh can be very nervous if the background is complex. but most of the time it very good.
The bokeh is not as good as bokeh-monster lenses, that are built for bokeh instead of sharpness. But it’s still good enough.
I see how marketing finally managed to convert “sensor megapixels” to “lens sharpness” in consumer minds.
I love the bokeh. Similar to the Loxia 2/50 but smoother. Love it.
what do they think about the Batis 50/2 and Batis 100/2.8 ?
What would you get with that 50 which isn’t already covered? Other than AF- we now have two optical designs in the 55 and 50 loxia. 100mm 2.8 might be a hard sell given the 90 macro, proximity to 85 and those who are awaiting a 135mm. Don’t know really but that’s my guess.
Batis 2/50 would be a macro. Just like the ZM and the Milvus.
And a Batis 2/100 macro would potentially be the best FE lens ever.
50 macro would be nice.
I do like ephotozine’s contention that 80cm is not close enough for an 85mm portrait lens.
Shucks, I might have to crop heavily…
Really? Nikons lenses have 80/85 cm MFD. Canon 85/1.2ii 95cm, as far as I know. Zeiss Otus 80cm. Nobody complained so far. In case one needs it, 42MP are enough to crop.
Just in case you misunderstood, my post should be interpreted as with just a tad of sarcasm…
I wasn’t sure. But now I know 😉
I use a very thin auto extension tube; prevents infinity focus but still gives a wide range of focus for portrait use….
Anyone stack this up against the 85mm 1.4 Sony Zeiss yet?
I’d actually like to stack this up against Samsung’s 85 1.4
APS-C lens, different use due to crop factor. Has to be compared with a 135 in FF…
Right.
Based on the MTF charts they are quite comparable https://www.zeiss.com/content/dam/Photography/new/pdf/en/downloadcenter/datasheets_batis/batis_1885.pdf vs http://kurtmunger.com/sony_85mm_f_1_4_carl_zeissid264.html, take into consideration the Sony is at 1.4, so at 1.8 the curves would look better. Both lenses produce some visible CA (I don’t have the Batis, but I saw the samples :).
What happened to that SR1/2 A99II rumour posted earlier today?
it went from SR2 to SR1 and finally SR0 so was deleted by admin. GBear was probably not a reliable source
SR2 that the name is not A99ii
SR1 that the camera is coming
Admin deleted it, probably because he wants this site to have only SR4 rumors and above.
I’ll hold on to my sigma 85mm 1.4 for a little longer. Most of the listing have a dec-january ship date which means they more that likely do not have it in stock. Good luck canceling an ebay order.
I really don’t like rubber focusing rings.
Well, it looks that Sony A900 with Sigma 1,4/85 is pretty better combination…