Ming Thein explains why the A7rII seems to be the best camera for the new Milvus line:
Much has been said about manual focus, and I agree with the current state of DSLR viewfinders, it’s not very practical in the field. Sony has solved this problem for us to some extent with the A7RII. Live view magnification and the stabiliser extend the working envelope of the Otuses – and any MF lenses – enormously.
And Zeiss photographer Greg Watermann shot a video with the a7R2 and Milvus 35/2 lens:
More Milvus tests:
First look at Newsshooter.
Why You Should Look Into the New Zeiss Milvus Lens Lineup (Cinema5D).
A cool Zeiss meeting repor at DearSusans.
Official Zeiss image saamples on Flickr: Milvus 21mm, Milvus 35mm, Milvus 85mm, Milvus 50mm 2.0, Milvus 100mm, Milvus 50mm f/1.4,
Hands-on with Zeiss’s Milvus lenses (Dpreview).
Zeiss Milvus Distagon 21mm f/2.8 Sample Photos (ePhotozine).
Review: Zeiss 21mm f2.8 Milvus (ThePhoBlographer)
Zeiss Loxia vs Milvus (SonyAlphaForum).
Meet the family – Zeiss Milvus Lenses (Adorama Blog).
Zeiss Milvus 1.4/85 brief review (DearSusans).
Zeiss Milvus Planar 85mm f/1.4 Sample Photos (ePhotozine).
Zeiss Milvus 85mm F/1.4 Sample Images (Photographyblog).
Zeiss Milvus 21mm F/2.8 Sample Images (Photographyblog).
Here are the detailed Lens info and preorder links at BHphoto:
Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2M ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2M ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8 ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/2M ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/2M ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 85mm f/1.4 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 85mm f/1.4 ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
45 Responses
Yet, Zeiss made them in Nikon and Canon mounts only!
I know they are manual focus, but electronic connection still matters for MF lenses.
No E-mount, no buy!
You get electronic connection through appropriate adapters.
Only if you buy the Canon version plus adapter, right? But then you might get both IBIS plus EXIF data in camera, PLUS focus peaking and magnification ….. seems like a no brainer.
Nikon adapters with electronics would provide exif too but those are slightly longer due to the greater registration distance requirement.
given they are the same lenses it wont make much difference, nikon in theory provides greater flexibility as you can mount it to nikon,canon and mirrorless…
i did say before the a7ii, that a a99 would be the best camera for otus, but from that same era many prefered a replacement focusing screen in their dslr, so you dont have to magnify to check focus, so if u needed full view then dslr was better
No, it’s the opposite, those lens will be longer for Canon because of shorter flange.
The Canon versions lack an aperture ring.
21mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm are covered by Loxia and Batis. I’d only seriously look into the 100mm, but at that price I’d rather wait for a native version. 100mm Batis would be quite epic.
Easy answer, they’re not optimized for the shorter flange distance of mirrorless, Zeiss understand this point, Ming does not. Buy Batis, they are 100% optimized.
Love it how these guys took two years to figure this stuff out………….meanwhile, back at the ranch!
If we have plenty of time to shoot, we can use A7R with a tripod, but for many of the situations we need fast AF.
Ambitious videographers often are interested in manual focus lenses. They have similar characteristics, de-clickable aperture, precise focusing mechanism.
I only take photos.
Then don’t use “WE” and use “I” on your statements instead.
Okay, I know you do not need fast AF.
There are situations where autofocus don’t work or is not accurate enough to capture the image desired. Manual focus with zoom and a photographer’s sharp eye does, Ming explains that in the article. And I agree with him.
The video doesn’t really tell me that these lenses are unique in any way or motivate me to want them. Not sure what they are going for there, pretty girl, bad lighting, blown highlights, extreme compromises in color correction..????
Read the article, Ming gives a very in depth explanation. To summarize; the line of lenses render a very similar if not identical look when switching between various focal lengths. This gives a continuity when using multiple focal lengths to cover a scene in a production.
I didn’t see an article. Meanwhile I am a director/ Dp and that looks like it could have been shot with any video cam that can achieve shallow DOF. Could have been C mount lens’s on a micro 4/3rds or old nikons with a speed booster. But I guess I should go and spend 10+K on these because somebody made a poor music video using them? (Said nobody ever)
I only watched a minute or two of the video (and agree with your assessment), Ming’s article on the Zeiss engineering & manufacturing facility was quite interesting and informative.
Ok, I’ll check out the article which I did not see, just watched the video and scratched my head. 🙂
That was my impression too. I saw nothing I can’t do on any camera.
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That is correct. However, nowadays this is kind of a basic feature, what you should expect in any serious cine lens lineup. For me, this makes the Milvus lenses a very good choice for video, but not unique in this regard. Maybe this is what the OP had in mind.
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It would be the best only if it worked like the Loxias.
Sony makes manual focusing so much fun that users actually prefer manual lenses over auto focus, truly an amazing feat to pull off.
specially since most E-mount lenses uses Focus-by-wire crap.
Ming Thein uses a Zacuto Z-finder with his Nikon. With 2.5x or 3x zoom it’s slightly better Sony’s EVF for precise focusing. The only downside – the camera looks even more bulky and awkward 🙂
Ming said he uses the Nikon/Finder magnifier in studio on a tripod and the A7Rii for everything else with these manual focus lenses.
So good for FE, they aren’t even releasing them with the native mount.
Don’t need to, but it’s the best body to use for shooting with these manual lenses according to Ming.
Don’t need to? What about ppl who don’t have the adapters or don’t want adapters?
Well, they can buy a camera with a mount which natively accepts these lenses. It’s as easy as that.
Or wait for Zeiss to fill out the Loxia lineup which is a much better match size wise.
Thats exactly what I’ll be doing. I’m not going to buy more adapters for my camera. its pretty annoying to change it back and fourth.
Honestly if you bought into the FE mount system for its native lenses and you don’t want to use adapters you are in the wrong system.
You can use these MF lenses on Canon or Nikon but good luck using them with their imprecise focusing screens with zero MF aids.
That’s a bit short sighted Brendon. I myself bought into FE system for compactness. I knew eventually I’ll be getting IBIS in my system too so I did this early so I can afford lens coming out(which they are). I started from Canon and transitioned from Canon using adapters for awhile on the first Sony A7. Using adapters is no fun if you have multiple systems to use from. I got adapters for Minoltas also, although I like those lens, it gets really annoying changing all the time. Sometimes when you put on adapters, it doesnt connect properly and some of the AF for some reason doesnt work, or some electronic mechanism doesnt properly link. Other reasons to transition to FE body was that I felt Amount bodies will probably disappear, the FE lens are pretty amazing, the dynamic range adjustments are alot better than where I started from in Canon sensors. Smaller size is nice and I’m going to repeat again….IBIS is important to me. The ability to also shoot videos is a reason I prefered it over Nikon. It was not better than what Canon had with Magic Lantern on the 5d, but I figured eventually it will get there and it has.
Also the idea of adapters don’t really bother me, its just the fact that Zeiss decided to make a mount for Canon and Nikon only, but is saying how it works better on FE system is kind of funny to me. Why not make a mount for the FE system if it works so well? Instead for people who don’t already have adapters, they have to spend extra money to get one for their system.
Then you don’t use these lenses.
Adapters do complicate the overall handling. If that doesn’t bother you, fine. But there is no reason to talk down others, who wish native lenses. Arrogance and ignorance seem always come together.
I can shoot the same looking video with Sony A6000 + 35 1.8 OSS.
Optimized for photo, sure. They seem to be perfect for the a7 shooter. For video, they leave something to be desired as the Batis lenses lack external aperture ring, aren’t a true manual focus lens, and are only available in 2 focal lengths. The Loxia lenses, with their external and click-less aperture rings would be a better option, but again, they are limited in their focal length options, and at this point there is no word as to whether or not new lengths will be matched like a proper set of cine lenses.
I’d put all the “focus-by-wire” lenses firmly in the “multi-media” camp, they’re the Leatherman/Swiss Army option. Getting the job done if you’re a modern, multi-media photographer is job one, the A7 series cameras are, and were designed to be, 21st century multi-media tools. They’re neither, photography or cinematography centric.
I would agree. Only challenge is, Loxia isn’t a focus by wire lens. It’s a manual lens. Cine lenses are being developed because the sensor is powerful enough to do higher quality work. Batis and the FE lenses have huge limitations when being used for video work. The focus by wire system isn’t designed for, nor does it do will with manual focus. Click-less aperture is also mandatory for serious film work.
I think Ming is losing his mind. A-mount lenses are being updated by Sony so I wouldn’t call it dead. Also, canon and Nikon are more likely to ditch current mounts as they pursue mirrorless for full frame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbU3zdAgiX8