Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar T* ZE Lens for Canon

by Zeiss

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• ASIN: B0028BJHLM
• Item model number: 1.4/85 ZE
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

This short telephoto is a classic portrait focal length which is further enhanced by the long barrel rotation for precise control of the focus point in the image. The Planar T* 1,4/85 is optimized for medium to longer distances and provides distortion-free performance, which only improves as the lens is stopped down. The fast f/1.4 aperture is very useful for creatively controlling the depth of field and the nearly circular diaphragm creates a pleasing 'bokeh' in the out-of-focus areas. The Planar T* 1,4/85 is available with the EF bayonet (ZE) lens mounts and is designed for use with full-frame SLR and DSLR cameras. Combined with a DSLR with a 1.5 crop factor, the lens becomes a focal length of 128 mm.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Zeiss magic!, December 24, 2011

By 

TONEPUB "Music reviewer" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar T* ZE Lens for Canon (Electronics)

If you are working more in the studio or in an area that quick, autofocus is not an issue, this lens is the purist's choice - and it exceeds expectations. Razor sharp at maximum aperture (which is where the standard Canon 85mm 1.8 falls down somewhat, the Zeiss 85mm is equally crisp throughout the range.

Comparing the Zeiss to the rest of the Canon range, there is a slightly warmer cast to the T* coatings, reminiscent of the T* lenses produced for the Contax 35mm system some years ago.

Using the lens with a Canon EOS5D Mk. II, with studio lights, I've never experienced better quality with the camera. The images reminded me of ones I've taken with a Leica M9 and their optics. When you enlarge the photos on screen in photoshop, there is no visual distortion and lens artifacts are minimized. Interestingly, the biggest difference was when shooting objects that were solid red, typically a tough challenge for digital. The images shot with the Zeiss lens had more contrast, nuance and variation of tone than before. There was also more shadow detail than before.

While limited in application, if you are looking for the ultimate capture where autofocus is not needed, this is the ticket. Highly recommended.

10 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Correction, March 31, 2010

By 

Oh_Yeah "Brian" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar T* ZE Lens for Canon (Electronics)

"Combined with a DSLR with a 1.5 crop factor, the lens becomes a focal length of 128 mm." Not true, it's still has a focal length of 85mm regardless of the sensor size, or "crop factor". Basically, the Field of View is equivalent to 128mm on a camera with "with a 1.5 crop factor", but the Angle of View stays the same. 85mm lens is an 85mm lens/focal length, regardless of the sensor size behind it. With a "crop factor", you're basically not capturing/recording the outside edges (significant in the case of 1.5) of the image coming through the lens.

I'm rather surprised that a product description coming from a company like Zeiss is so blatantly inaccurate. Hopefully this was just a PR snafu. And I'm sure anyone purchasing this caliber of a lens is rolling their eyes about now because they already know all this.

The primary reason I posted this, is because this topic is very important when it comes to portraiture photography. It is very misleading to advertise that this lens on a 1.5 crop sensor/camera would be equivalent, for example, to a Canon 135 f/2L on a full frame (no crop) camera. With equivalent framing of the subject between these two combinations (85mm + 1.5 crop vs. 135mm + FF) would result in noticeably different results.