Looks like Zeiss engineers are finally allowed out of their basements after completing (and launching) the Loxia lens line last week and releasing a new Otus today. Just a few minutes ago, Zeiss announced the release of a new Otus family lens – the Otus 85mm f/1.4. This is the second high end Otus lens after the ZEISS Otus 1.4/55.

The lens, classified as a short telephoto, should be an optical marvel. According to the press release:

A view inside the Otus 1.4/85 reveals how such quality is realized: The lens consists of eleven lens elements in nine groups. One of the lens elements has an aspheric optical surface and six are made of special glass. The optical design is based on the Planar. Because the Otus 1.4/85 is apochromatic, chromatic diagonal aberrations (longitudinal chromatic aberrations) are corrected with the help of lens elements made of special glass with anomalous partial dispersion. As a result, practically no perceptible color fringing appears on contrast-rich edges in front of and behind the focal plane. Bright-dark transitions in the image, and in particular highlights, are rendered free of color artifacts. In addition, the variable air spaces between certain lens groups (“floating elements design”) enable a consistently high imaging performance across the entire focusing range from 0.8 m to infinity.

As with the more affordable Loxia line the lens should serve both still photographers and video photographers. The focus ring rotates a full 261 degrees. (yet it cannot be declicked).

Zeiss is clearly targeting both Nikon and Canon photographera with the lens coming with either an F-mount or an EF-mount.

The only question remaining is: is this lens worth its $4,500 price tag?

Sample photos (click for bigger versions)

Here are the full specs

Focal length – 85 mm

Aperture range – f/1.4 – f/16

Lens elements / Groups – 11 / 9

Focusing range – 0.8 m m (31.50″) – infinity

Working distance – 0.65 m (25.59″) – infinity

Angular field** (diag. / horiz. / vert.) – 28.24° / 23.71° / 15.97°

Diameter of image field – 43 mm (1.69″)

Coverage at close range (MOD)** – 278.85 mm x 185.61 mm (10.97″ x 7.31″)

Image ratio (MOD) – 1 : 7.7

Rotation angle of focusing ring (inf – MOD) – 261 °

Filter thread – M86 x 1.0

Diameter max. – ZF.2: 101 mm (3.98″) – ZE: 101 mm (3.98″)

Diameter of focusing ring – ZF.2: 92 mm (3.62″) – ZE: 92 mm (3.62″)

Length (without lens cap) – ZF.2: 122 mm (4.80″) – ZE: 124 mm (4.88″)

Length (with lens cap) – ZF.2: 138 mm (5.43″) – ZE: 141 mm (5.55“)

Weight – ZF.2: 1140 g (2.51 lbs) – ZE: 1200 g (2.65 lbs)

Camera mounts – F-mount (ZF.2) – EF-mount (ZE)

[Otus 85mm f/1.4 | Zeiss]

P.S. if you have some spare $4,500 you can pre order at B&H: Nikon, Canon.